- Joined
- 8 Apr 2003
- Messages
- 6,376
well i have taken hard drives out of other pcs in the past and got peoples information from them - so i know for a fact it can be done, i have copied their programs, music, videos everything
The Windows account only having a password on them (without using Windows' feature of hiding files) doesn't keep you from copying files from anyone's documents folder, it simply keeps you from logging in to that account and is the default behavior of putting a password on an account. I have tried to access someone's documents when they did have their files hidden and I wasn't able to access them. Likewise if they only have a password but without hiding their files I was still able to access their files from another account.
Windows passwords don't affect Program Files, only user accounts.
If the user was using a third-party encryption, Windows wouldn't care if you copied the files so it wouldn't stop you. You wouldn't even need the encryption key to do that, only to actually open the files.
I plan on performing some controlled environment tests in VMWare Workstation and get to the bottom of this.