Major Logon Issues!

[Guest]

I have an issue with people getting on the computer on my account and going
through my pictures, documents, etc., and finally it became too much, and in
a fit of anger, made my account the only administrator account, and created a
password. Problem? I forgot my password. I can't remember what I made it, in
my fit of anger. I can't log back on!! I have no clue what to do....HELP!

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I have an issue with people getting on the computer on my account
and going through my pictures, documents, etc., and finally it
became too much, and in a fit of anger, made my account the only
administrator account, and created a password. Problem? I forgot my
password. I can't remember what I made it, in my fit of anger. I
can't log back on!! I have no clue what to do....HELP!

IMHO - everyone should have had a password in the first place and there
should have only been only one (well, maybe two - the original and another)
administrator level account and everyone - including you - should have been
running with limited accounts normally.

Windows XP Home or Professional?
Using the "Welcome" screen to logon I assume?

If Windows XP Home Edition, reboot into Safe Mode and logon as
"Administrator". Usually (if not setup by you) the password was either
given to you for this account or it has none - just pressing "enter" or
choosing the account will work fine.

If Windows XP Professional Edition, reboot and at the "Welcome" screen,
press CTRL+ALT+DEL twice. For the username type in "administrator" and if
you do not know the password - attempt to use no password (just leave the
password field blank) and logon.

Once in as the administrator, change your other users password.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I have an issue with people getting on the computer on my account and going
through my pictures, documents, etc., and finally it became too much, and in
a fit of anger, made my account the only administrator account, and created a
password. Problem? I forgot my password. I can't remember what I made it, in
my fit of anger. I can't log back on!! I have no clue what to do....HELP!

Why on earth would you wait for a "fit of anger" to initaiate a normal
security practice? Anyway....

Simply log in using the built-in Administrator account (which
cannot be deleted) and modify the desired account(s) and use Start > Run

"control userpasswords2" to modify the desired account(s) or reset

the desired password(s). By design, the only way to log into the
Administrator account of WinXP Home is to reboot into Safe Mode. For
WinXP Pro, pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL twice at the Welcome Screen will
produce the standard login dialog box.


--

Bruce Chambers

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They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

 

[Vanguard]

I have an issue with people getting on the computer on my account and
going
through my pictures, documents, etc., and finally it became too
much, and in
a fit of anger, made my account the only administrator account, and
created a
password. Problem? I forgot my password. I can't remember what I
made it, in
my fit of anger. I can't log back on!! I have no clue what to
do....HELP!

So whose computer is it? Yours or your parents? If it is a work
computer then you should have no qualms about others at work, like
your manager or IT admin, looking at your *work-related* files which
should be the only files on that computer. If it is the kids, simply
lock up the computer in room to which the kids don't have a key. If
you are the kid, your parents own the computer so they'll probably do
whatever they want with their property and you probably have exhibited
behavior which has them waste their time checking just what are these
pictures that you don't want anyone else to see.

It's not too difficult to get around the permissions-based security in
Windows XP since any administrator account can take ownership of your
files. In fact, your parents could do a second install of Windows in
another partition and where they are the only administrators and then
take ownership of all your files in the other partition. The only way
YOU are going to secure your files is to physically secure the
computer. If it's not your computer then you probably cannot
physically secure it (i.e., mom and dad will still have keys to your
room). If you can physically secure your computer then you won't have
a problem with "people" rummaging through your files unless they are
very, very determined.

Getting an admin-level account won't prevent anyone else from looking
at your pictures. That level of security is only enforced within the
instance of Windows in which those accounts are defined. You will
need other security measures. From your attitude in your post, I'm
not going to offer alternative solutions since it is unclear if the
computer is actually your property and why you need to hide all those
pictures. Start Googling on security and encryption. However, even
if you encrypt the files, that won't stop someone from deleting them.