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Richard MacCutchan12-Apr-23 20:39

Richard MacCutchan

12-Apr-23 20:39

My son already has one that hates me.

dandy7214-Apr-23 5:07

14-Apr-23 5:07

Richard MacCutchan wrote:
Given that the PC never leaves the house, who is going to hack it?

Clearly you've never been burgled.

Richard MacCutchan14-Apr-23 5:12

Richard MacCutchan

14-Apr-23 5:12

Are you sure?

dandy7214-Apr-23 5:21

14-Apr-23 5:21

Not at all.

But I think you might be a little more worried knowing a thief could take your PC back home and start trying to guess a 4-digit pin at a leisurely pace.

Richard MacCutchan14-Apr-23 5:22

Richard MacCutchan

14-Apr-23 5:22

Well even if he did, there is nothing in there that he would find useful.

dandy7214-Apr-23 7:32

14-Apr-23 7:32

I see, not worried because you have nothing to hide.

Carry on your merry way, citizen!

jschell14-Apr-23 13:21

jschell

14-Apr-23 13:21

If you insist on carrying the computer around the house to random places it does make it easier to walk off with it.

Now mine is locked to my desk. So they are going to need to do some sawing through metal to get to it. Does slow down the get in get out quick case.

FreedMalloc12-Apr-23 11:52

FreedMalloc

12-Apr-23 11:52

Win 10 started nagging me to switch to pin over pwd quite some time ago. They gave some whodeewhatsis about it somehow being more secure. My thought was, "How is 4 digits more secure than my much longer alphanumeric pwd?" But, then I discovered that I could set my pin to alphanumeric characters and more than 4. So I did. When I login now it shows a box to enter my PIN and I enter my longer alphanumeric value and I'm in.

So, I don't know if by using alphas when I set the PIN it just silently fell back to pwd or if I really am using their fancy new pin. It stopped nagging me so I stopped caring. To me it just looks and acts like a password.

To be honest, in my case I don't think it matters. My copy of windows is a virtualbox vm which is only started once or twice a week if and when I need it and closed when I'm done.

Sander Rossel12-Apr-23 21:57

Sander Rossel

12-Apr-23 21:57

The pin is more secure because it's tied to your device, while your password isn't.
In other words, when hackers steal your password, they can break in to your Microsoft account, email, all your logged in devices, etc.
When they steal your pin they can only enter your PC (and then probably everything else by extension) Big Grin | :-D

Best,
Sander

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FreedMalloc12-Apr-23 22:06

FreedMalloc

12-Apr-23 22:06

Ah, thank you. Tying it to a specific device makes sense. I'm sure that was explained to me when the switch to using a PIN was offered. I'd just forgotten.

dandy7214-Apr-23 5:17

14-Apr-23 5:17

Thanks for that reminder. I had forgotten MS's "explanation" for the PIN being somehow "more secure".

And it really isn't; in fact the bar is seriously lowered. Anyone looking over my shoulder could probably make a pretty good guess as to what my PIN is - not so with my password. Once logged in, I can access an awful lot of my data without ever being prompted for anything else.

Being tied to the device doesn't prevent anyone from using it where it is, unless MS thinks I'm going to start paying armed guards to stand at my door.

trønderen14-Apr-23 6:32

trønderen

14-Apr-23 6:32

I'm not getting it.

If I select the same PIN for all my devices, it is not unique for any of them. If I select different PINs for each device, they are 'unique' for each device. (How many devices exist? Divide the number by 10000 to see how many devices, on the average, share that 'unique' PIN!)

If I select the same password for all my devices, it is not unique for any of them. If I select different passwords for each device, they are unique for each device.

Some years ago, there was a web page publishing all the PIN codes in the world (4-digit). Your PIN code is publicly known!

Being somewhat more serious: A brute force attack against a 4-digit PIN hardly requires any brutality or force! I've met people who use a 3-5 char password, and argue along the lines 'But inside the computer, a perfectly safe RSA 2048 key is used!' A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!

dandy7214-Apr-23 7:36

14-Apr-23 7:36

...and the part I'm not getting is whether you're agreeing that a PIN is any better than a strong password.

Dan Neely13-Apr-23 3:21

Dan Neely

13-Apr-23 3:21

when I was setting my win11 laptop up I couldn't find an option to not use a "pin", but I was able to enter a pin with the same length/complexity as a password.

Quote:

Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius

WSO CCC OTD 2023-04-12

OriginalGriff11-Apr-23 21:32

Re: WSO CCC OTD 2023-04-12

11-Apr-23 21:32

Once - but not now - I judge and pardon? (9)

"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
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pkfox11-Apr-23 21:59

pkfox

11-Apr-23 21:59

Nice one

In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP

Re: WSO CCC OTD 2023-04-12

OriginalGriff11-Apr-23 22:08

Re: WSO CCC OTD 2023-04-12

11-Apr-23 22:08

I liked it!

FreedMalloc11-Apr-23 22:01

FreedMalloc

11-Apr-23 22:01

Exonerate

Once - but not now: EX
I: ONE
Judge: RATE

Pardon = EXONERATE

Re: WSO CCC OTD 2023-04-12 - we have a winner!

OriginalGriff11-Apr-23 22:08

11-Apr-23 22:08

And you are up tomorrow! Thumbs Up | :thumbsup:

Wordle 662 5/6

Shane010311-Apr-23 18:05

Shane0103

11-Apr-23 18:05

⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

OriginalGriff11-Apr-23 19:46

11-Apr-23 19:46

Wordle 662 5/6*

🟨🟨🟨⬜⬜
🟨🟩🟨⬜⬜
🟨🟩🟩⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

ChandraRam11-Apr-23 20:26

ChandraRam

11-Apr-23 20:26

Wordle 662 5/6*

⬜⬜🟨🟨⬜
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🟨🟨⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟨🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have. -Anon

Re: Wordle 662 5/6 - 3 4 me

Amarnath S11-Apr-23 21:09

Amarnath S

11-Apr-23 21:09

Wordle 662 4/6

🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟩🟨
⬜🟩🟩🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

I thought this is a proper noun.

pkfox11-Apr-23 21:24

pkfox

11-Apr-23 21:24

Wordle 662 3/6

⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟨🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Very lucky guess

In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP