Well, Sally, you might look at it that way. But I think you could have got
into this same sort of trouble with Windows XP or Windows 2000, too. Lots of
people do. You start using a lower level user account and forget the password
on your admin level account because you've stopped using it. Happens all the
time, and not only in Windows. The UAC (User Account Control) really has
nothing to do with your situation.
I understand how frustrating this can be, but I think you'll be a lot
happier with this OS (or with another one) if you take some time to study the
way user accounts and logons work and take some precautions so this doesn't
happen to you again. For instance, you could have created a password disk. (I
think Windows even tries to offer you that opportunity somewhere during the
initial installation and configuration of the OS, doesn't it?) You could also
have just written down the password and stored it somewhere safe.
Frankly, I think UAC is something that has been needed sorely for quite some
time, and I'm delighted the MS finally took steps to protect users and their
systems. There are a lot of (misguided, IMO) people who are turning off UAC.
If you're interested in learning why it pesters you with those popup dialogs
and the darkened screen you could read this:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsvista/aa906021.aspx
One point that a lot of people miss is that, if you understand how UAC
works, you won't just click on the Continue or Allow buttons without
thinking. A lot of processes that you might wish to start could also spawn
other processes that you wouldn't wish to start. It's true that, if you're a
careful user who doesn't (for instance) download software from unknown sites
to install on your system, you'll seldom actually encounter a situation where
UAC warns you of something that shouldn't be happening. But that one time in
several years that UAC does warn you of a problem before it happens will make
the minor annoyance seem what it is -- a reasonable precaution.
Warning - Car Analogy: If you're like most of us, you probably don't inspect
the interior of your car from outside before getting into it. But if you'd
ever got into your car and had someone jump up out of the back seat to try to
take you hostage or do bodily harm to you, I'd be willing to bet that you'd
take the precaution from them on. And you'd think that anyone who told you
that you were foolish for taking the precaution was welcome to keep his
advice.
BTW, you actually have TWO admin accounts on that system, the one you
created and for which you forgot the password and another built-in
Administrator account which has NO PASSWORD. The problem you have is that, as
long as you have an intact admin account (the one you created) you won't be
able to use the built-in account to log on to the system (in Safe Mode). You
could probably boot to a Win PE environment on disc and do something to
disable your admin account (without damaging the data stored in its profile).
After that admin account is disabled, a boot into Safe Mode would make the
password-less Administrator account available. But that's all pretty iffy
unless you're pretty used to doing stuff like this and have the disc
available to you. It's also possible that one of the third party solutions
will work.
If you have data on the system which has not been backed up to another
system or external media you could still get access to it for saving by
performing a PARALLEL installation of the OS (into another directory or into
another partition or disk, if such is available). You would boot into that
second instance of Vista, take ownership of the user profile under which your
data exists, and copy it off of the system -- or at least to a different
partition or disk. Then, once your data was safe, you could do a clean
installation of the operating system, blowing away the whole mess. And this
time, of course, you'll make note of your admin password or create a password
reset diskette (at least 2 of them -- I don't trust diskettes.).
Sorry I can't think of an easier way to fix the situation. But, if the
password / logon sequence were easier to get around, then it wouldn't be very
secure, would it?
