used computer

hi majorgeeks,kildar here again.i have a friend who just received a used computer through a give me a computer program.there is a password in place to log on to it...now she has a good computer that she can not use.i was hoping maybe that you could help me out with this problem.chaslang helped me a ton with malware removal on mine.hope you can help?

 

Is this a BIOS power on password or a Windows login password?

 

windows login,thanks for the quick reply.

 

is it xp? and is it the welcom screen? or the login window? if it's the xp welcome screen, hit ctrl-alt-del twice to bring up the login window. try administrator as user name with no password...

 

One thing you can try to do that may help. Firstly let me make sure I am understanding your situation. You have a used computer that has a password on windows.

One thing to try: Create a new "Administrator" account

When turning the computer on, before you see the winows splash screen, press the F8 key a couple times until you see a black and white menu, should show options like safe mode, safe mode with networking, etc.

Choose the option Sfae Mode...

When booting into windows you should see an account called "administrator"

click on administrator and it should (normally) log you in.

Once you log in click on the Start button

Click on Control Panel

Click on User Accounts

Click on Create A New Account

Type in a Name that you want for the account and then click Next

Be sure that Computer Administrator is selected and then click next

If you want a password type one in. However, leave the field for "Make my file private" unchecked, as this will make it diffcult to retireive data if you forgot your password or if windows crashes and doesn't boot.

After you create the account, reboot normally and you should be able to use your computer. However, the old user account will still show up and be inacessable. Only specialized software can remove the password, such as "Passware"

If you still cannot do this, I'll need to know more information about the computer, such as what make and model.

 

Once youre logged in as administrator using safe mode you can change the password of any other user account without any sort of special software. I and several friends have done this in the past in xp.

 

Should the above advice not work, then you might try this, http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html.

 

thanks for the information novice,she has said she tried to create another user administrator and it would not allow the change.so il tell her of the site you posted for me.i think after she is up and running she too will be a majorgeeks regular lol.kildar..i will let you know how it turns out soon.thanks again for your time and reply.