Remote Security Best Practices

Only administrators and members of the Remote Desktop Users group can connect to a computer remotely. It’s recommended that you add remote users to the Remote Desktop Users group for your computer. Remote users should not be members of the Administrators group, and all users should avoid running the computer while logged on as an administrator unless they’re performing tasks that require administrator-only privileges. For most computer activity, users can log on as a member of the Users or Power Users group. If users need to perform an administrator-only task, they should log on as an administrator, perform the task, and then log off.

Running Windows XP as an administrator makes the system vulnerable to Trojan horse viruses and other security risks. The simple act of visiting an Internet site can be extremely damaging to a system. An unfamiliar Internet site might have Trojan horse code that can be downloaded to the system and executed. If you’re logged on with administrator privileges, a Trojan horse could do things such as reformat your hard disk, delete all your files, and even create a new user account with administrative access.

It is strongly advised that you require all Remote Desktop Users to log on with a strong password. This is especially important if your computer is connected directly to the Internet by means of a cable modem or DSL connection.