Charles, If telnet is enabled on a Linux system, then a user can telnet to it and log in if they have a valid user-id and password. It would be equivalent to the login procedure you get when logging into your shell account. It is generally better to use ssh rather than telnet since ssh, unlike telnet, does not send your password in clear text over the internet, so a cracker on a network somewhere between you and your destination cannot easily "sniff" your password. As far as controlling access goes, all files and directories have read, write, and execute permissions. Each file or directory is owned by a user and group (a group may contain one or more users) and has permissions stored for its user, group, and the rest of the world. --Michael Gorse / ICQ:22583968 / http://mgorse.home.dhs.org On Wed, 12 Dec 2001, cbowman wrote: > hi, ok your talking about servers has given me an idea. i heard it said > that in linux that you could telnet right to somebody elt's computer is > there a way to controle how much access they have, or is it just a matter > of trust? > thanks alot > charles >