Help me please

[ren]

Ok so I got this computer for Paige and it's a nice lil computer for her. Problem is I need to get admin rights. It's passworded gasp someone help !! I can't install the router with out it. It has windows XP prof and my computer has windows XP home. ~sniffle~ help. And no I can't get ahold of the previous owner.

 

[Ahhlee]

Ok so I got this computer for Paige and it's a nice lil computer for her. Problem is I need to get admin rights. It's passworded gasp someone help !! I can't install the router with out it. It has windows XP prof and my computer has windows XP home. ~sniffle~ help. And no I can't get ahold of the previous owner.

Oooh, I have the same weird issue on my pc. My new "friend" is a computer guru so when I get back he's going to walk me through it and get me set up as the admin. I will try to write down the steps and see if I can help you, but one of the wiz kids here will probably be able to help you out before then.

What are you running? Windows 7?

 

[ren]

windows XP prof

Thx Ali maybe you can put it on note pad and pm me with it and I'll print it out. My poor kidlet thought she was going to be able to do her club penguin on her comp after school

 

[ImWithStupid]

Ok so I got this computer for Paige and it's a nice lil computer for her. Problem is I need to get admin rights. It's passworded gasp someone help !! I can't install the router with out it. It has windows XP prof and my computer has windows XP home. ~sniffle~ help. And no I can't get ahold of the previous owner.

Was it a used comp?

 

[eddo]

Have you tried logging on in safe mode (Holding down the f8 key while the computer is booting)?

Safe mode should pop up with a screen with an admin account. click on it.

If the original installer didn't actually set up and "Administrator" account and password, this should allow you to create one, or change the password on the default one.

this worked for me last week when I was trying to get into a friends computer to clean out a mean virus she got. Good luck.

 

[emkay64]

Have you tried logging on in safe mode (Holding down the f8 key while the computer is booting)?

Safe mode should pop up with a screen with an admin account. click on it.

If the original installer didn't actually set up and "Administrator" account and password, this should allow you to create one, or change the password on the default one.

this worked for me last week when I was trying to get into a friends computer to clean out a mean virus she got. Good luck.

Was it a vista security virus? ****...yay for ComboFix!

 

[eddo]

Was it a vista security virus? ****...yay for ComboFix!

no, it was some sort of vicious phishing bot. It would only appear on banking sites, and I thought I had it cleared out at least 5 times but it kept coming back.

it beat absolutely everything I tried. I had to do a fresh install (which she probably needed anyway)

all better now. )

 

[emkay64]

no, it was some sort of vicious phishing bot. It would only appear on banking sites, and I thought I had it cleared out at least 5 times but it kept coming back.

it beat absolutely everything I tried. I had to do a fresh install (which she probably needed anyway)

all better now. )

Get Malwarebytes....it's free...

wicked antivirus.

 

[ren]

it is a used computer and I've tried safe mode , cmd prompt . The admin is passworded. There are three accts. I can only get into one and that one is a limited acct

 

[ren]

I have my windows xp disk for my computer but the new used one has windows xp pro so can I use my disk to help me?

 

[eddo]

Get Malwarebytes....it's free...

wicked antivirus.

this virus/bot kicked Malwarebytes ***. lol

 

[eddo]

it is a used computer and I've tried safe mode , cmd prompt . The admin is passworded. There are three accts. I can only get into one and that one is a limited acct

I don't know of a way around the password in XP. Someone else here may, but I don't. I used to know one for 98, but if I remember right, they fixed it for XP

Honestly, I would do a fresh install anyway- as there is likely a lot of stuff that is unneeded on the computer (especially if there are two accounts you cannot access,) and cleaning it up will just help everything to run better. adn then you won't run into this issue ever again.

That is assuming that the other two users won't want their stuff back...

 

[emkay64]

I have my windows xp disk for my computer but the new used one has windows xp pro so can I use my disk to help me?

Found this..

http://www.petri.co.il/forgot_administrator_password.htm

 

[timesjoke]

eddo is right, you need to strip it down and start from a fresh install, there is no telling what is on that computer and what viruses might be on it.

There are several ways to crack the password including a small program I keep on a jumpdrive but all that will do is get you in, you need to stip it down and start over.

The computer should have a sticker on the case with your windows key on it, get a xp disk and reinstall the operating system, put an antivirus on it as your first step after that then do your updates. This really is the best thing to do.

 

[ren]

I don't have a the disks to it for installation of the cd's , video cards ect. Will it find it? I've never done a fresh install gulp

 

[eddo]

I don't have a the disks to it for installation of the cd's , video cards ect. Will it find it? I've never done a fresh install gulp

What kind of computer is it?

Dell has a majority of their stuff on the Dell website, and can even tell you what you need based on your computer's ID number (plus, much of it has been updated since the computer was new.)

I dunno about others...

XP itself will see a lot of the hardware attached to the computer.

 

[ren]

What kind of computer is it?

Dell has a majority of their stuff on the Dell website, and can even tell you what you need based on your computer's ID number (plus, much of it has been updated since the computer was new.)

I dunno about others...

XP itself will see a lot of the hardware attached to the computer.

I have a dell and windows xp so how do I back up stuff and what stuff do I back up?

 

[eddo]

I have a dell and windows xp so how do I back up stuff and what stuff do I back up?

The easiest way that I have found (and use) is to buy a flash drive big enough for the documents and such on the computer.

Copy to the flash drive the "My documents" folder (make sure you get the folder and all it's contents, not just a shortcut,)

the drivers folder, and whatever other documents you want to save. If this is new to Paige, then I wouldn't worry about any of the documents, and just copy over the drivers folder (again, making sure you are getting the contents of the folder, not just making a shortcut to your drivers folder on the flash drive.)

Reinstall Windows XP, add an anti-virus, update everything that the Windows Update website tells you do to, and then worry about the drivers- which you should just be able to copy the folder back off of your flash drive onto the computer in the C: drive.

Make note: When I did this last week, after reinstalling XP, I had to go back into the CD and "Add features" and install the networking stuff (and games, and other things) to get the computer online. It would not go online til I did that.

It's not to hard, but it is pretty time consuming. Especially the Windows Update part.

and you can go to Dell.com and create an account and put in the service tag number and it will have all kinds of driver updates you can use.

 

[timesjoke]

Ren, do you have a relatively older teenager near by? Someone in the 15 to 17 range who is still in school? If you do then ask them if they are or they know a computer guy, I can almost gurantee you they will. One of those guys can take your machine and in a couple hours return it clean, fully updated and protected.

Either that or ask around with friends and find someone if you can. While reinstalling is not difficult, it can be confusing at certain points and small errors can show up that are simple to get past but may trip you up if you let it get you frustrated, and that is normal for someone who has never done this stuff before.

Now if you are really patient and would like to learn something, then go for it, the most important thing is to select the existing partition when it asks you, you want to overwrite what is there, not create a new partition that will leave the old stuff there. You should see a warning that formatting the partition will erase all data, that is a good thing.

Everything else eddo told you is perfect, Dell is a great source for all your drivers and information. It is a good idea to have a second computer around if possible, that way if you get an error you can use the other machine to look it up or to download drivers if your having conflicts for some reason. The ethernet driver is going to be one of the most important because that is how your going to get this machine on the internet to download updates for the OS. I would have that driver if nothing else on a jump drive as the first thing to add because many times the base operating system cannot use a generic driver for that.

Good luck Ren, it is not as hard as it seems if you like puzzles and are patient.

PS

Like eddo said, if this is new for you I would not worry about trying to save any files from the computer, you never know if there might be viruses and stuff in there you also saving and moving. If your on a budget you can send small files in your email to yourself that you want to save but again I would not mess with that, just erase it and start over.