You should do several things.
First, separate your application into two databases. One db contains only table (data only). This is called the back-end. The other database (front-end) will be your application and contains forms, queries, etc., and has links to the tables in your back-end.
One, use the Workgroup Administrator to create a custom Workgroup with user accounts and groups. Assign users to groups, then assign permissions to your database objects to the groups. For example, you can allow a certain group of users to have read-only access to some tables and edit access to others. Make sure to create a special account for yourself and put your account in the Admins group. Then take the Admin user (which you can't delete) out of the Admins group. The reason you want to do this is the Admin user is the default in Access. You can also control who can add or delete records, or even see the design view of tables. Although you can have any database open when you create the workgroup and user accounts, you should be in the back-end db to apply the permissions. The front-end db doesn't need anything done in the way of permissions. With user permissions set, you won't need a database password as no one without a valid account and password will be able to view data in your application.
Create a startup form. Go to Tools, Startup to specify that Access open your start-up form when the database is open. This will also hide your database window. You can also disable the Access special keys here (e.g. F11 which brings up the database window.)
If you have code, password protect the project. You'll have to do this from the Visual Basic menu.
When you deploy your application, remember to give users both the front-end and back-end dbs, as well as your custom security file. For best performance, the front-end file should reside on the user's hard drive, and the back-end on the network, of course. You can put the front-end on the network, though, if the performance is acceptable, you'll want to test it out. Don't forget to update the links in the front-end once you've moved the files to their new home. Also, Access won't automatically know to use the security file, so the user will have to use the Workgroup Administrator to connect to it first. Once connected, Access will always use the workgroup until you specify a different one.
I typed this rather quickly and left out a lot of detail, but this should be enough to point you in the right direction.