I have a teenager living with me now and I have put passwords on all the user accounts especially the system administrators. Somehow he was able to get into the system administrator account and create new user. He says he used functions keys to get in...is this possible? I really think he just figured out the passwords...Do you know if you can use the function keys to by pass security and create system admin accounts and is there any way I can trace his steps? Much help would be appreciated. BTW, I'm using XP.

You probably have XP Home and he just started the machine in Safe Mode (by repeatedly tapping F8 at computer startup to get to the diagnostic menu). Then he logged into the normally hidden built-in Administrator account and did whatever he wanted. Any computer running any operating system can be accessed by someone with 1) physical access; 2) time; 3) skill; 4) tools. There are a few things you can do to make it a bit harder though: 1. Set a password in the BIOS that must be entered before booting the operating system. Also set the Supervisor password in the BIOS so BIOS Setup can't be entered without it. 2. From the BIOS, change the boot order to hard drive first. 3. Set strong passwords on all accounts, including the built-in Administrator account in XP (it is disabled by default in Vista). 4. If you leave your own account logged in, use the Windows Key + L to lock the computer (and/or set the screensaver/power saving) when you step away from the computer and require a password to resume. 5. Make other users Limited accounts in XP Home, regular user accounts in XP Pro. All users should be on a Standard account in Vista with an Administrator account only used for elevation purposes. 6. Set user permissions/restrictions: If you have XP/Vista Home, you don't have the built-in ability to create fine-grained limitations, so use either MVP Doug Knox's Security Console or the MS SteadyState program to set the restrictions the way you want. SteadyState supports Vista now. http://www.dougknox.com http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/sharedaccess/default.mspx More on SteadyState - http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=27570 SteadyState support - http://social.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/windowssteadystate/threads/ SteadyState how-to (not supported in Windows 7 yet) - http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/6520/windows-steadystate/ If you have XP Pro, Media Center, Vista Business or Vista Ultimate, you can use Group Policy to set restrictions (gpedit.msc). Be very careful using the Group Policy editor; it is completely possible to lock yourself out. Questions about group policy should be posted here: microsoft.public.windows.group_policy Please understand that these are technical responses to what is basically a non-technical problem and there are ways around all of these precautions. This is a family/interpersonal issue that can't be solved by technical means.MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!