What sort of account allows someone to access a computer without providing a user name or password?

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Understanding user accounts

A user account allows you to sign in to your computer. By default, your computer already has one user account, which you were required to create when you set up your computer. If you plan to share your computer with others, you can create a separate user account for each person.

At this point, you may be wondering why you would even need to use separate user accounts. But if you're sharing a computer with multiple people—for example, with your family or at the office—user accounts allow everyone to save their own files, preferences, and settings without affecting other computer users. When you start your computer, you'll be able to choose which account you want to use.

Administrator, Standard, and Managed accounts

Before you create new user accounts, it's important to understand the different types.

• Administrator: Administrator accounts are special accounts that are used for making changes to system settings or managing other people's accounts. They have full access to every setting on the computer. Every computer will have at least one Administrator account, and if you're the owner you should already have a password to this account.
• Standard: Standard accounts are the basic accounts you use for normal everyday tasks. As a Standard user, you can do just about anything you would need to do, such as running software or personalizing your desktop.
• Standard with Family Safety: These are the only accounts that can have parental controls. You can create a Standard account for each child, then go to the Family Safety settings in your Control Panel to set website restrictions, time limits, and more.

Generally, it's safer to be signed in to a Standard account than an Administrator account. If you're logged in as an Administrator, it may actually make it easier for an unauthorized user to make changes to your computer. Therefore, you may want to create a Standard account for yourself, even if you're not sharing the computer with anyone. You'll still be able to make Administrator-level changes; you'll just need to provide your Administrator password when making these changes.

Adding and managing user accounts

The process for adding and managing user accounts is quite different for each version of Windows. To learn more about adding and managing user accounts, review the appropriate lesson from these Windows tutorials:

Switching between user accounts

If you have multiple user accounts on your computer, it's easy to switch between users without signing out or closing your current apps. Switching users will lock the current user, so you won't need to worry about someone else accessing your account.

To switch between user accounts (Windows 10):

Click the current user icon on the left side of the Start menu, then select the desired user from the drop-down menu. The user will then need to enter a password to sign in.

To switch between user accounts (Windows 8):

Click the current user in the upper-right of the Start screen, then select the desired user from the drop-down menu. The user will then need to enter a password to sign in.

You can switch back by selecting the desired user from the drop-down menu. You'll need to re-enter your password to unlock the account.

To switch between user accounts (Windows 7):

Click the Start button, click the arrow next to Shut Down, and select Switch user.

If you're finished using the computer, you can also choose to log off. This will allow other users to sign in to the computer with different accounts.

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The home office idea is rapidly expanding and users cannot always rely on a user on the physical remote device to accept their connection request.

Furthermore, on login screens such as those on Windows and macOS, only background services are available so that GUI-based windows such as AnyDesk's Accept Window cannot be displayed.

With this in mind, AnyDesk provides the ability to connect to a remote device using a password which bypasses the need for a user to accept the connection request.

Note: While not required, it is highly recommended that AnyDesk is installed on the device where Unattended Access has been configured. This ensures connectivity with the device even after a system restart or the account has been logged out of.

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Setup

By default, Unattended Access is disabled on the AnyDesk client and will not allow unattended connections to the device. In this case, connection requests need to be manually accepted or rejected using the Accept Window of the client being connected to.

Unattended Access settings can be found in Settings > Security > Unattended Access for non-Windows versions of AnyDesk or versions of AnyDesk for Windows before AnyDesk 7. 

For AnyDesk 7 for Windows and newer, Unattended Access can be enabled in Settings > Security > Permissions > Permission Profile on a per profile basis.

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Permissions (Pre-AnyDesk 7)

Override standard permissions: When disabled, the permissions from "Settings" > "Security" > "Standard Permissions of Remote Users" are used instead.

Allow the connecting user to:

• Hear my computer's sound output
• Control my computer's keyboard and mouse
• Access my computer's clipboard
• Access my computer's clipboard to transfer files
• Lock my computer's keyboard and mouse
• Restart my computer
• Use the File Manager
• Lock account on session end
• Request system information
• Print out my documents on their printer (See Remote Print)
• Draw on computer's screen (See Whiteboard)
• Create TCP tunnels (See TCP-Tunneling)
• Enable privacy mode (See Screen Privacy)
• Show a colored mouse pointer when the connecting user does not have permission to control my device

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Permissions (AnyDesk 7+)

Please see Permission Profiles.

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Two-Factor Authentication

See Two-Factor Authentication.

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Enabling Unattended Access

By enabling "Enable Unattended Access", a prompt will appear where the user can set the password used for Unattended Access. An existing password can be changed by clicking "Set password for unattended access".

Password Constraints:

• At least 8 characters.
• At least sufficiently safe (no consistently repeating characters or basic identifiable passwords (e.g. "password")).
• Recommended: A mix of letters, numbers, and symbols.

Caution:

The password should be very secure. Anyone who knows the password and your AnyDesk ID can potentially have full access to your computer depending on the available permissions. A password that exceeds at least 12 characters is highly recommended.

AnyDesk also supports Two-Factor Authentication for the best security.

Always double-check when a third-party contacts you and demands your AnyDesk Address. We (AnyDesk Software) will never ask for your password and legitimate companies will never contact you without you having initiated the communication first. In case you are seeking the help of a PC repair service, please make sure you know the vendor.

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Automatic Login

Enabling "Allow other computers to save login information for this computer" will allow users connecting to the client via Unattended Access to select "Login automatically from now on".

When this option is selected and the Unattended Access password is correct, the connecting client will receive a token from the remote AnyDesk client. With this token, future connections from the connecting client to the remote client will allow the connecting client to have his requests accepted automatically without the need of typing the Unattended Access password for subsequent sessions.

Resetting the Token

The token can be reset by the remote device by selecting "Clear all tokens", or changing the unattended access password.

Resetting the token will force all Unattended Access users to manually type in the Unattended Access password again.

You can disable the feature to allow login information (the password) by unticking "Allow other computers to save login information for this computer". Please note that already existing tokens will remain functional, but no new tokens will be generated.

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Security Considerations

• This feature does not save the password itself. Instead, the remote machine generates a specific token. This token can only be used by the authorized client. A client can only get authorization if the correct password was entered.

• Even if someone has full access to your client that has this feature enabled, there is no way to gain access to your password in cleartext.
• Changing the password to the same password will also invalidate all tokens. This is useful if you have entered the password on the client in the past, but the owner of the client does not know the password.

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Exclusive Unattended Access

To force the AnyDesk client to only be accessible using the Unattended Access password, "Never show incoming session requests" can be enabled in Settings > Security > Interactive Access.

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