Re: Re-registering your Computer to a Differnt Name
- From: Bruce Chambers <bchambers@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 20 May 2007 09:00:18 -0600
DonmarcoXP wrote:
I bought a computer from someone and it says Registered to: And has their name. I'm trying to figure out how to change that name to mine. Anyone know how to do this ? Like in the Documents and Settings Folder in there a folder has their name on it as well and I cant change that. Any help would be great =)
With second-hand computers, especially if acquired from strangers but perhaps even if acquired from a family member or friend, your wisest course of action would definitely be to format the hard drives and start fresh. You don't want to get in trouble because the original owner may have filled the hard drive with kiddie porn, or have problems because the original owner downloaded/installed viruses or other malware.
However, to fix the "Registered to" information for WinNT/2K/XP, you can use Start > Run > Regedit.exe to edit:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\RegisteredOwner
and:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current
Version\RegisteredOrganization
How this will affect the name displayed in previously installed applications will vary depending upon each individual program; some read the registered owner information dynamically, while others read it only during installation.
The user profile folders (C:\Documents and Settings\Username)
_cannot_ be renamed, without risky registry editing, even if the associated user account has been. So, your best course of action would be to log on using the built-in Administrator account, create a new user account, with the username desired. Once you've logged in using this new account (and transfered any data you need to preserve, you can then delete the old user account(s).
HOW TO Create and Configure User Accounts in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;279783
How to Copy User Data to a New User Profile
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;811151
--
Bruce Chambers
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