Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Assigning a password to a database has an important secondary benefit. A database cre-
ated in Access is a
binary file
(a file that stores instructions and data in such a way that it
can usually be understood only by a computer). If you open the file in a word processor
or a text editor, its content is mostly unreadable, but if you look closely enough at the file,
you can discover quite a bit of information. It is unlikely that enough information will be
exposed to allow anyone to steal anything valuable. However, people can and do scan files
with computer tools designed to look for key words that lead them to restricted informa-
tion. When you assign a password to a database, the database is automatically encrypted
each time it is closed, making it more unreadable. Opening the file in Access with the cor-
rect password decrypts the file and makes its data readable again.
A caveat: it is easy to assign a database password, and certainly better than providing no
protection at all, in that it keeps most unauthorized people out of the database. However,
many inexpensive password recovery utilities are available, theoretically to help people re-
cover a lost password. Anyone can buy one of these utilities and “recover” the password to
your database. Also, because the same password works for all users (and nothing prevents
one person from giving the password to many other people), simple password protection is
most appropriate for a database that has only a few users.
In this exercise, you'll assign a password to a database, test it, and then remove it.
SET UP
You need the GardenCompany12 database located in the Chapter12 practice
file folder to complete this exercise. Be sure to use the practice database for this chapter
rather than continuing on with the database from an earlier chapter. Open the database,
and if you want, save your own version to avoid overwriting the original. Then close the
database without exiting Access, and follow the steps.
1
With Access running but no database open, display the
Open
page of the
Backstage
view.
2
Open the
Open
dialog box, navigate to the
Chapter12
practice file folder, and click
(don't double-click) your version of the
GardenCompany12
database. (We saved our
version as
MyGardenCompany12
.) Then click the
Open
arrow, and in the list, click
Open Exclusive
.
If other people need to work on the database, they cannot open it until you close it.
So it's now safe to set a password.
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