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Windows XP - Recommended Settings
Adopted from
Karagiannis K., Security Watch: Dangerous Defaults on the XP Desktop, PC
Magazine, 11 March 2003, page 76.
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Disable simple file sharing.
Go to My Computer and click on Tools | Folder Options and
the View tab. Uncheck the box next to Use simple file sharing
(Recommended).
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Disable the guest account.
Go to Start | Control Panel | (in Categories view:
Performance and Maintenance) | Administrative Tools | Computer
Management. Expand the Local Users and Groups in the left-hand pane
and double-click on Users. In the right-hand pane, double-click the
Guest account and check the box next to Account is disabled.
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Disable the administrator
account. Go to Start | Control Panel | User Accounts.
Make sure that at least one account has Administrator rights (total rights),
and then disable the Administrator account.
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Set your machine to clear the
system paging (swap) file at shutdown.
Go to Start | Run, and type regedit, and click OK. Find
HKEY_local_machine\system\currentcontrolset\control\sessionmanager\memorymanagement.
Find or create the ClearPageFileAtShutdown Dword and make its value
1.
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Disable POSIX. Go to
Start | Run, and type regedt32, and click OK. Find
HKEY_local_machine\system\currentcontrolset\control\sessionmanager\subsystems.
Click on the multistring called Optional in the right-hand pane.
Delete the value Posix and leave the space empty (but don't delete the
Optional multistring). Then click on the multistring called Posix.
Delete the %SystemRoot%\system32\psxss.exe value and leave the space
empty (but don't delete the Posix multistring). Then use the Windows
Explorer to delete the file psxss.exe in the c:\windows\system32 subdirectory.
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Consider disabling other
services.
Provided you do not need the following services, go to Control Panel
| (in Categories view: Performance and Maintenance) |
Administrative Tools | Services and disable:
NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Registry
Routing and Remote Access
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