xp user account security

[Guest]

After the mobo went on my XP Home system, I purchased a new system loaded
with Vista Home Premium and installed my old hard drive as a slave to see if
I could retrieve any data. I was pleased to discover that I could access
everything, including the documents under the password protected
administrative account that were not shared. I was under the impression that
these files were held securely and am now wondering if this was never the
case, and if so, if there was a way to make any documents secure in Vista if
anyone were to remove the drive?

 

[Roger Abell [MVP]]

It is not possible to fully answer you without looking at the details
of the settings on the drive. There are a few accounts and groups
that are recognized as the same in any install of Windows, such as
the Administrator account and the Users and Administrators groups.
If for example your old disk had a grant on everything to the group
Administrators then after placing into the new system and logging
in with an account in that machine's Administrators group you then
would have access to everything.