Posted by:
pete
(---.gtcust.grouptelecom.net)
you can either leave root with no password but make it so it can only be accessed localy (loopback: 127.0.0.1) or you can set a password and for each individual project you make, create a new user with its own username and password.
mysql administrator works really well for this but so do other tools like SQLYog. I myself haven't used phpmyadmin much at all..