runtime/doc/kcontrol/passwords/index.docbook

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  10
  11 <authorgroup>
  12 <author>&Krishna.Tateneni; &Krishna.Tateneni.mail;</author>
  13 <!-- TRANS:ROLES_OF_TRANSLATORS -->
  14 </authorgroup>
  15
  16 <date>2003-10-16</date>
  17 <releaseinfo>3.2</releaseinfo>
  18
  19 <keywordset>
  20 <keyword>KDE</keyword>
  21 <keyword>KControl</keyword>
  22 <keyword>password</keyword>
  23 </keywordset>
  24
  25 </articleinfo>
  26 <sect1 id="passwords">
  27
  28 <title>Passwords</title>
  29
  30 <sect2 id="passwords-intro">
  31 <title>Introduction</title>
  32
  33 <para>This module of the &kcontrol; gives you options for configuring the way in
  34 which the &kdesu; program treats passwords. &kdesu; will ask you for a password
  35 when you try to carry out some privileged actions, such as changing the
  36 date/time stored in your system clock, or adding new users on your
  37 computer.</para>
  38
  39 <para>Privileged actions such as those described above can only be
  40 carried out by <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> or a
  41 user with administrator permissions on your system. You will need to
  42 enter the password for the root account when you want to carry out
  43 such actions.</para>
  44
  45 <important><para>The options in this module do not affect the behavior of
  46 passwords in other programs such as &kmail;.</para>
  47 </important>
  48
  49 </sect2>
  50
  51 <sect2 id="passwords-use">
  52 <title>Use</title>
  53
  54 <para>There are two configuration options for passwords. The first is
  55 to control the visual feedback that you receive when you type a
  56 password. The actual characters in the password are never shown on the
  57 screen. You can choose to have each character represented by a
  58 <token>*</token> character. If you want to make it harder for someone
  59 who might be watching your screen to figure out how many characters
  60 there are in the password, you can choose to have each character in
  61 the password be represented by three asterisks rather than just
  62 one. Still another option is not to have any visual feedback at all,
  63 so nothing appears on the screen when you type a password.</para>
  64
  65 <para>If you work in a reasonably secure environment, you can check
  66 the option labeled <guilabel>Remember Passwords</guilabel>, and then
  67 choose a time period in minutes using the spinner labeled
  68 <guilabel>Timeout</guilabel>. (You can either type a number between 5
  69 and 1200 minutes, or use the arrows on the spinner.)</para>
  70
  71 <para>If the <guilabel>Remember passwords</guilabel> option has been selected,
  72 <application>kdesu</application> will not ask you for a password for the length
  73 of time specified, after you have given the password once. Keep in mind,
  74 however, that this makes your workstation less secure.</para>
  75
  76 <important><para>You should avoid selecting the <guilabel>Remember
  77 passwords</guilabel> option if you are working in an insecure area, such as a
  78 publicly accessible workstation. Also, note that choosing a shorter timeout may
  79 be better if you are in a less secure environment.</para></important>
  80
  81 </sect2>
  82
  83 </sect1>
  84 </article>