Change administrator

I bought this laptop used with 32 bit Vista. Recently I tried to uninstall a program but was unable to because I was told to sign in as administrator. I know its in User Control but I don't know how to put my name in. Also the old owners name shows up in other places too which I would like to purge.
Can you help?

Thanks

 

I use Windows XP & 7 but it should be similar in Vista.
Open Control Panel > User Accounts > Manage another account > Create a new account. Give it a name and ensure you select Administrator.

Check that the new account has been created succesfully - C:\Users\Your name. Go back to Control Panel > User Accounts > Manage another account. Select the previous owner's account and delete it.

 

If you still have the problem after creating a new Administrator account then try enabling the hidden Administrator account and logging in through that. Type cmd in Start > Search and when cmd.exe appears above, right click it and click Run as Administrator. In the command window type net user administrator /active:yes. restart the computer and log on to this new account and try again to uninstall.

 

1st I tried Eldons approach but that didn't work but I notice all my downloads show as C/users/Carol(old owner) instead of JoeU(me). She has no account showing. There are 2 accounts under User Control--one is me as Administrator and the other as Standard. How do I get rid of her-argh.

Then I tried Earthling way but I did hit Enter after typing net user administrator /active:yes.and then I restarted. This did not appear to work either.

Still confused

Joe

 

Do you mean that the new Admin user account did not appear at login or that it did but you were still unable to uninstall the program when logged in to it? Please try to be specific.

 

The admin user acct did appear and I did use it to uninstall a program. It appears to be OK but my downloads still show the old owners name. Actually I haven't tried a D/L since the fix so I don't know.

Thanks

 

I suspect you may find it difficult if not impossible to eradicate 'Carol' from that computer but I would expect you, as a later created user, to have your own set of personal folders, including Downloads. What folders are you offered when you click Start > <your username> ?

 

No her user name. Can I change that? I guess I just got used to it but now it irrates me but I can live with it.

Thanks

Joe

 

This is getting a mite confusing as I would have thought Eldon's post #2 would have sorted it. Assuming you have created and logged on to a new account named JoeU or whatever, just delete any other user accounts and when doing so be sure to check the option to delete their files as well. However I think it's still possible you may see the odd folder with a previous users name, I seem to recollect having some of that nonsense back in early Vista days. You will just have to live with that I think.

 

I deleted her acct long ago and me named as admin. I will be more diligent when I D/L to insert my name. Either way I can live with it.

Thanks for your patience and help.

Joe

 

To remove an account from the system completely click

• Windows start button
• right click Computer
• "properties" from the list
• "Advanced system settings" from the left hand menu
• User profiles "settings" button
• Select user and click delete

Will delete all references and folders associated with the user in most cases, sometimes you have to delete the primary user folder manually though.