Password setings and files
 

You know how Windows XP or 2000 has this security feature called the Local Security Policy were you could limit the number of bas login attempts, set the min. pass lenght, max. pass lenght etc.....????

Where could I go in Mandrake Linux to set these policies?

And does Linux store password info in file somewhere? If so, then where would I clear it or delete those password files?

You may want to visit the following locaiton to check for password file.

/etc/password and /etc/shadow

Hope this helps.

--Hitesh

But what do I need remove from there as far as removing sensitive data or passwords???

do you want to just lock the accnt, or remove it entirely?

To lock the accnt, use (see man passwd)
passwd -l username

To remove the user (see man userdel)
userdel -r username

of course you have to be root to do either.
passwd has a whole list of options, so have a good read :)

I just want to remove any stored passwords in the one of the password files.

How could I do that without removing my User Account? I do not want to remove my User Account.

As i understand u want the user to login with out entering passwd(passwdless).

Here is the steps :

if you are in GUI (login as root user) to open a console and type :

press alt+f2 [run command]

type : konsole [to open konsole]

Now type:

[root@mail root]# passwd -d <username> [enter]

It will show you some thing like this:

[root@mail root]# passwd -d hitesh
Removing password for user hitesh.
passwd: Success
[root@mail root]#

Now press Ctrl + Alt + F3 [to go terminal]

Login with that user <username> [i.e. hitesh] and check it.

Hope this helps.

-Hitesh

I think there's a misunderstanding here. I do want to be logged in as a User Account with logging in with my password. Yes.

But, here is what I'm asking. Incase a hacker or someone snoops around, I am afraid that they will look in a file that passwords are kept and stored. How could I prevent that from happening?

they are stored as oneway hashes, and the file need to exist.