S
Samuel
My laptop computer at home suddenly started requiring a password for me to
logon and run Windows. It never did that before and I didn't do anything to
set it up that way. I never had to use a password to use the computer in
the past. The computer is an HP xt155 and uses XP Home Edition. I live
alone and no one else has visited or had access to my computer.
I am thinking that it is some kind of virus because it just started last
night when I first turned on the computer. However, the last time I used
that computer (the night before last), my Norton AntiVirus program had
detected a virus when I accessed a newsgroup message in another newsgroup.
The antivirus program said it was a "JS.Fortnight" virus and
quarantined it. That's the first and only time that I have ever encountered
a virus alert. My computer is connected to a cable modem and I use Zone
Alarm. Both are up to date. My Windows XP Home Edition is also up to date
with all of the security patches, etc.
Here's the problem: I can't get into my computer at all because it keeps
asking for a password, and no matter what I put in there (blank space,
admin, owner, etc.) it doesn't work. So, I am completely locked out of my
own computer. No matter what I try, I keep getting some message about, "The
local policy on this machine does not allow you to logon on interactively"
(or something like that -- I wrote it down but forgot to bring it to work
today). I looked up the JS.Fortnight virus today from work and it doesn't
seem to have anything to do with passwords, or changing the password
settings, or locking people out of their computer, etc. Also, I brought my
laptop to work today but am not sure that I should connect it to my cable
access at work because I have two other computers networked together in a
peer-to-peer network through a router/switch. I am afraid that, if it's a
virus, I'll pass it to my work computers.
I am looking for any ideas or help that anyone can offer. Here's what I
have tried so far. I can get into safe mode, but the password problem still
exists. I can get into the setup program and set the user and admin
passwords to "clear" or set a password for each or both, but that doesn't
help. I can get to a c: prompt and can see the file directory but that
doesn't seem to help me.
I have a recovery disk, but if I use that, I will lose everything that I put
on my computer since I bought it. It's my computer. I bought it, I own it,
and I have the OEM software, purchase receipts, etc., so this isn't a trick
to try to hack into someone else's computer.
I have two more things that I could try.
One is to put my Norton AntiVirus disk in the CD rom drive and see if I can
do a virus scan/clean from there. I've never tried that before and don't
know if that's an option. I have Norton AntiVirus 7.0 Corporate Edition but
just installed the program separately on each computer -- not a
network-managed setup.
Another thing I could try is to install Windows XP Professional on the
laptop without doing a clean install -- just overwrite the existing
operating system. I am thinking that would basically reinstall an operating
system without erasing all of my files -- but, I don't know if that is
correct. Then I could get into Windows, the antivirus program, etc. and try
to figure out what's going on. Then, if it gets fixed, I could uninstall
the XP Professional version and go back to my XP Home Edition. I have
several licensed copies of Windows XP Professional that I bought for work
and haven't installed yet on the work computers. So, I'm figuring that I
could install one of them, not activate it yet, then uninstall it, and use
it later on the computer where it is going to end up and activate it then.
Sorry this is so long. Any ideas, thoughts, suggestions?
P.S. If the bottom line is that I just have to use the recovery disks and
lose whatever I have on my computer, that's probably okay. It's just that I
would rather not have to do that and start over.
P.P.S. I found something on the microsoft support site that indicates a
possible problem with duplicate entries in the Windows registry file. But,
I can't access the registry file to edit it or delete the possible duplicate
entry without first being able to run Windows. Is there any way to access
and/or edit the registry file from a C: prompt?
logon and run Windows. It never did that before and I didn't do anything to
set it up that way. I never had to use a password to use the computer in
the past. The computer is an HP xt155 and uses XP Home Edition. I live
alone and no one else has visited or had access to my computer.
I am thinking that it is some kind of virus because it just started last
night when I first turned on the computer. However, the last time I used
that computer (the night before last), my Norton AntiVirus program had
detected a virus when I accessed a newsgroup message in another newsgroup.
The antivirus program said it was a "JS.Fortnight" virus and
quarantined it. That's the first and only time that I have ever encountered
a virus alert. My computer is connected to a cable modem and I use Zone
Alarm. Both are up to date. My Windows XP Home Edition is also up to date
with all of the security patches, etc.
Here's the problem: I can't get into my computer at all because it keeps
asking for a password, and no matter what I put in there (blank space,
admin, owner, etc.) it doesn't work. So, I am completely locked out of my
own computer. No matter what I try, I keep getting some message about, "The
local policy on this machine does not allow you to logon on interactively"
(or something like that -- I wrote it down but forgot to bring it to work
today). I looked up the JS.Fortnight virus today from work and it doesn't
seem to have anything to do with passwords, or changing the password
settings, or locking people out of their computer, etc. Also, I brought my
laptop to work today but am not sure that I should connect it to my cable
access at work because I have two other computers networked together in a
peer-to-peer network through a router/switch. I am afraid that, if it's a
virus, I'll pass it to my work computers.
I am looking for any ideas or help that anyone can offer. Here's what I
have tried so far. I can get into safe mode, but the password problem still
exists. I can get into the setup program and set the user and admin
passwords to "clear" or set a password for each or both, but that doesn't
help. I can get to a c: prompt and can see the file directory but that
doesn't seem to help me.
I have a recovery disk, but if I use that, I will lose everything that I put
on my computer since I bought it. It's my computer. I bought it, I own it,
and I have the OEM software, purchase receipts, etc., so this isn't a trick
to try to hack into someone else's computer.
I have two more things that I could try.
One is to put my Norton AntiVirus disk in the CD rom drive and see if I can
do a virus scan/clean from there. I've never tried that before and don't
know if that's an option. I have Norton AntiVirus 7.0 Corporate Edition but
just installed the program separately on each computer -- not a
network-managed setup.
Another thing I could try is to install Windows XP Professional on the
laptop without doing a clean install -- just overwrite the existing
operating system. I am thinking that would basically reinstall an operating
system without erasing all of my files -- but, I don't know if that is
correct. Then I could get into Windows, the antivirus program, etc. and try
to figure out what's going on. Then, if it gets fixed, I could uninstall
the XP Professional version and go back to my XP Home Edition. I have
several licensed copies of Windows XP Professional that I bought for work
and haven't installed yet on the work computers. So, I'm figuring that I
could install one of them, not activate it yet, then uninstall it, and use
it later on the computer where it is going to end up and activate it then.
Sorry this is so long. Any ideas, thoughts, suggestions?
P.S. If the bottom line is that I just have to use the recovery disks and
lose whatever I have on my computer, that's probably okay. It's just that I
would rather not have to do that and start over.
P.P.S. I found something on the microsoft support site that indicates a
possible problem with duplicate entries in the Windows registry file. But,
I can't access the registry file to edit it or delete the possible duplicate
entry without first being able to run Windows. Is there any way to access
and/or edit the registry file from a C: prompt?