Renaming the Administrator account in Windows XP

The Administrator account exists on all computers running
Windows XP Professional and Home. This gives potential hackers, half the
information they need to access your computer—all they have to do is guess your
password.

You can make it more difficult for unauthorized persons to
get into your system by renaming the Administrator account. Follow these steps
for a Windows XP Pro machine:

1. Go
   to Control Panel and open Administrative Tools. Double-click the Local Security
   Policy.
2. When the Local Security Settings snap-in appears, open the Local Policies\Security Options branch and double-click the Accounts: Rename Administrator Account policy.
3. When the Accounts: Rename Administrator
   Account Properties dialog box appears, type a new name in the text box, and
   click OK.

Follow these steps to rename the Administrator account in
Windows XP Home:

1. Press
   [Windows]R to access the Run dialog box.
2. In
   the Open text box, type Control
   userpasswords2 and click OK to access the User Accounts dialog box.
3. Select
   the Administrator Account from the list and click the Properties button.
4. In
   the User Name text box, type a new name, and click OK.

Note: This tip applies to
both Windows XP Home and Professional editions.

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