The thing I like most about Joomla and for that matter Mambo, is the ability to create menus and set different permissions for different menus and menu items. For example, you can offer many more menu items to registered users than guests which makes sense for a lot of reasons. Why would you show a menu link to guests for a section of the website that is only accessible to registered members? More importantly, Why would you show the link to the Admin Control Panel to anyone other than your staff? It is unbelievable the number of Joomla based websites I have visited that show the link to the ACP. The first thing I always do is hide that link. That is just a very small step to adding a bit of security to your website. I'll explain the process here.

There are a couple of ways to "hide" your ACP link. The first is to create an Admin menu and place the link in that menu instead of the "other" menu. The second is to just change the permissions for the menu item to "Special". I did both!

To create a new menu, use the following menu at the top of your ACP page:
Menu -> Menu Manager
Then click on the "New" icon in the top right corner.
Type in the name of the new menu like "Admin"
A new module will automatically be created for this menu.

To move the ACP link from another menu do the following:
Menu -> Click on the old menu the link is in "Other"
Place a check in the box next to the item you want to move
Click on the "Move" icon in the top right corner
Select the menu to move the link to
Click the "Move" icon in the top right corner an you are done

To change the permissions of a menu item do the following:
Menu -> Click on the menu that contains the menu item you want to edit
Click on the name of the menu item you want to edit
Select the "Access Level" from the drop down menu
Click on the "Save" icon in the top right corner

To change the permissions for the entire menu do the following
Modules -> Site Modules
Click on the name of the module that matches the name of the menu
Select the "Access Level" from the drop down menu
Click on the "Save" icon in the top right corner

Using this type of menu system will not only add a bit of security to your website, it will make it look more professional.