Re: XP Pc identity...

Larry Mauriello wrote:
d-d I know what you are saying. The pc afa I know is clean. It was connected to an ISP before. I can see if connecting to my current ISP will let me d/l the current updates from MS. Unfrt. I don't have a copy of XP to try reforematting that system.

"Detlev Dreyer" <detdreyer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:4c55658e77f6e61c988f6edd5c0109b1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Larry Mauriello" <larrym6833@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Someone just gave me an old pc. I am looking to clean it up and give it
to someone w/o a pc.
Do that guy a favour and install Windows from scratch. He/she's not really
interested in all the viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, dialers and the
misconfigurations of the previous owner.

When I boot it up it comes up w/the name/pswd scrren. The person who had
it doesn't even remember the password.
Installing Windows on a freshly formatted system does not require the old
password.

You need to have the XP cd. If this is a generic OEM machine, it should have the COA sticker with the Product Key on the side or back. If it does, you (or a local tech) can install with a generic OEM XP disk. If it doesn't have a sticker on it and you didn't get the XP operating system, ask the person who gave you the computer to give it to you.

You will not be doing the person to whom you want to give this machine a favor unless you also provide the XP CD. But since you are probably going to go ahead in this half-a**ed fashion anyway, see below for standard instructions (which would have been easily found by Googling).

*****
If you have forgotten your password, if you have another user account with administrative privileges you can log into that account and change your original user account's password from the User Accounts applet in Control Panel. If you don't have another account like this set up or don't have the password to it, you'll need to log into the built-in Administrator account. In XP Home, boot the computer into Safe Mode. Do this by repeatedly tapping the F8 key as the computer is starting up. This will get you to the right menu. Navigate using your Up arrow key; the mouse will not work here. Once in Safe Mode, you will see the normally hidden Administrator account. The default password is a blank.

In XP Pro, you do not need to go into Safe Mode. At the Welcome Screen, do Ctrl-Alt-Del twice to get the classic Windows logon box. Type in "Administrator" and whatever password you assigned when you set up Windows.

If you reset the built-in Administrator account's password in Home or have Pro and don't remember the password, use NTpasswd to change the built-in Administrator account's password to a blank.

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

Then go to the User Accounts applet in Control Panel and set passwords that you will remember and make other desired changes.
*****

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
.

Relevant Pages

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