Warning - Administrators on your computer can hack your computer and gain administrator access.
Another contribution from Captain Obvious - I know Robert doesn't like the Windows Vista much but the Captain just felt this example of user foolishness was too good to pass up...
There is a serious bug found in Windows Vista Ultimate, which allow the user
to login in to Window Vista System without providing any credential. It just
requires the attacker to access the victim system, for the first time. To
gain access to victim system, follow these steps.
1) Open System32 folder of your windows.
2) Copy Cmd.exe, Magnify.exe and paste it in two different locations, for
safety purpose.
3) Rename the cmd.exe to Magnify.exe on the backup location.
4) Copy & paste the renamed cmd.exe to system32 folder, this asks for
replacing the Magnify.exe, just continue with replacing.
The Captain would like to point out that Step 4 requires you to be ALREADY logged onto the system you are attacking with administrator rights.
5) Now restart the system.
6) After restarting the system, the login screen will come, now select the
utility manager, which is on the below left on the screen.
7) Now check the Magnify check box, to open the Magnify.exe, but now this
will open the cmd.exe.
The Captain has just been advised by Lieutenant Deja-Vu that this is a re-hash of an old trick for breaking into Windows NT machines where one has 'forgot the password'.
7) In the command prompt, just type the explorer.exe, this will open the
explorer.exe, and desktop, without login in to the system. The user account
provided for login is the system account, so u can do anything with the
system.
You can also play with the windows registry, services, user account change,
and deletion of user accounts, anything you want.
I don’t understand why Microsoft is failed to look in to simple problems. This is the simplest way to hack the windows vista, without any detailed
hacking knowledge.
The Captain sez...
Arrgh! You already had admin access at step 4. You needed it in order to make changes to the \Windows\system32 folder as this is a protected part of the filesystem. If you already have admin access to the machine to complete step 4, why would you need to complete the rest of the steps?
The Captain has heard that if you get a windows Vista computer and put it in your
washing machine on hot rinse and a long spin cycle then neither the computer
or the washing machine will work properly afterwards.
This awful awful denial of service
attack against both computers and washing machines world-wide is clearly the fault of Microsoft and Captain Obvious demands an immediate policy and a software patch to fix this bug.