Erik Ryberg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: ER> I have a home machine which I'm not too worried about security wise. If ER> I don't go on-line as root, is a difficult to type and remember password ER> really necessary?
What do you mean by "go on-line as root"? If your machine is connected to a network you don't completely control, it's a potential target, even if it's only by a dial-up connection. You definitely don't want to be connected to The World without a root password. If you are going to be connected to The World, you probably don't want to be running service you don't need or use; I disallow unencrypted telnet and rlogin connections, for example, since I use ssh for everything. This doesn't mean you need a "difficult to type and remember password". One might use a password like "Help! I forgot my password!", which would be written as "H!Ifmp!" If you remember the phrase, a mnemonic like this makes it relatively easy to remember the actual (cryptic) password. -- David Maze [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.mit.edu/~dmaze/ "Theoretical politics is interesting. Politicking should be illegal." -- Abra Mitchell