Password Protection..

ldog · 12-15-03, 03:45 PM

I did a search on this and found some info, but I have more questions.. and instead of bringing up an old 2 page thread, I decided to start a new one for clarity, hope thats ok.
As far as I can see you can put a password on your Axim via the OS. Can you put a password on the actual system (like when you set a password in the BIOS of a PC). Also would there be any way around this if say you forgot your password? Can you format an Axim yourself?
The reason I'm asking is that if god forbid someone stole my Axim I want to be sure they wouldn't be able to access any of my stuff (provided my memory cards weren't in there).
What do you guys do? Thanks!

doogald · 12-15-03, 04:31 PM

I use Visual Key PPC. I have it set to go to a password screen after 30 minutes, and the only way past it (that I know of) is to either guess a password which consists of any number of taps on a specific area or doing a hard reset (which is essentially a format of the Axim).

Howard2k · 12-15-03, 10:51 PM

If you use the system password it means that to get to information stored in your Main Memory they need to know it. Alternatively they can hard reset and wipe the built in memory but still access anything in Storage Card or Built In Memory.

There are encruption tools available too that will encrypt stuff on Storate Card or Built In Memory.

ikehiker · 12-15-03, 11:40 PM

Just to ease your mind a bit more, there is a feature in WM03 and PPC02 that each time you enter a wrong password at the startup, it takes longer before it will accept another try. We had someone report a few months back that he set the password on his girlfriend's Axim and let her guess. Eventually, after a few tries it wouldn't respond at all and they had to do a hard reset to get it working again (I'm not sure if he still has the same girlfriend :) ).

As Howard said, anything in Built in memory or on auxillary cards could be accessed after a hard reset but anything you have in RAM should be pretty secure even with just the 4-digit password.

doogald · 12-16-03, 08:07 AM

I never tried this with the four digit password, but does anybody know if giving a wrong guess on ActiveSync also create the same extended delay after each wrong guess?

I just like VisualKey because I can clear the password with a series of taps rather than having to try to tap the numbers in the SIP. And it looks nice...

Howard2k · 12-16-03, 11:27 AM

I heard that through AS does NOT give the extended delay. I haven't tried it though.

If it's a big issue you could use a stronger alpha password.

doogald · 12-16-03, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Howard2k
I heard that through AS does NOT give the extended delay. I haven't tried it though.

If it's a big issue you could use a stronger alpha password.

It's no big deal to me, but that's one example of a really good idea not completely thought through. ;)