Guest Panic Posted August 10, 2007 Posted August 10, 2007 My friend got a computer from his daughter which had belonged to her boyfriend. He has an attack program he can't get rid of. I tried some "stuff" to help him but he is set up to boot up in his own identity which doesn't have Administrator privileges. When I tried to switch to Administrator it wanted a password and he doesn't have it. His daughter is on the outs with her boyfriend and they're not speaking so getting the password is "difficult". He also did not get the Win XP installation CD that was used to load his system. Can another XP CD be used? I know a lot depends on whether it's an OEM or retail purchased operating system. Any ideas that I can help him with. He's considering taking it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy.
Guest Malke Posted August 10, 2007 Posted August 10, 2007 Re: Administrator privilages Panic wrote: > My friend got a computer from his daughter which had belonged to her > boyfriend. He has an attack program he can't get rid of. I tried some > "stuff" to help him but he is set up to boot up in his own identity which > doesn't have Administrator privileges. When I tried to switch to > Administrator it wanted a password and he doesn't have it. His daughter is > on the outs with her boyfriend and they're not speaking so getting the > password is "difficult". > > He also did not get the Win XP installation CD that was used to load his > system. Can another XP CD be used? I know a lot depends on whether it's an > OEM or retail purchased operating system. Any ideas that I can help him > with. He's considering taking it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy. > > GeekSquad is one of the last places I would ever take a computer. Ditto for any BigComputerStore you have in your area. Ideally you should wipe this computer and start over. You have no idea what's on it. If you have the Product Key, you can use any matching XP installation CD. This means that if the machine has XP Home Retail you need an XP Home Retail disk; if XP Pro OEM, then a generic (or branded if available) XP Pro OEM disk. See these links for how to do a clean install of XP: http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Reinstalling_Windows - What you will need on-hand If this is a branded OEM computer (Dell, HP, Sony, etc.) where Recovery Disks are normally used, the smartest thing to do is contact the OEM and buy the Recovery Disks. This is usually very inexpensive, under $25 USD. If this is a generic or branded OEM machine, there will be a sticker on the back or side of the machine with the Product Key. If this is a generic machine where XP retail was installed, use one of these free product key finders (after you get into the machine, obviously): http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml - Key Finder http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html - Nirsoft Key Finder You can get into the machine without the built-in Administrator password by using NTpasswd: http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ If all this seems daunting, there is no shame in admitting this isn't your cup of tea and taking the machine to a professional computer repair shop. However, as I said earlier I would not recommend GeekSquad or the like. Instead, get recommendations from friends, family, colleagues for a good local professional. Malke -- Elephant Boy Computers http://www.elephantboycomputers.com "Don't Panic!" MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Guest Panic Posted August 10, 2007 Posted August 10, 2007 Re: Administrator privilages Thanks for your response. I forwarded it to my friend. To determine if his system is OEM or retail is this the way? On my computer when I right click My Computer and choose Properties.... General tab it shows under "Registered to" my name and other information and then "55377-OEM-0011803-01105". I believe this means my system is an OEM version. I assume he can check his computer the same way. Right? "Malke" <notreally@invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:OXVOuQ32HHA.4880@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl... > Panic wrote: >> My friend got a computer from his daughter which had belonged to her >> boyfriend. He has an attack program he can't get rid of. I tried some >> "stuff" to help him but he is set up to boot up in his own identity which >> doesn't have Administrator privileges. When I tried to switch to >> Administrator it wanted a password and he doesn't have it. His daughter >> is on the outs with her boyfriend and they're not speaking so getting the >> password is "difficult". >> >> He also did not get the Win XP installation CD that was used to load his >> system. Can another XP CD be used? I know a lot depends on whether it's >> an OEM or retail purchased operating system. Any ideas that I can help >> him with. He's considering taking it to the Geek Squad at Best Buy. > > GeekSquad is one of the last places I would ever take a computer. Ditto > for any BigComputerStore you have in your area. > > Ideally you should wipe this computer and start over. You have no idea > what's on it. If you have the Product Key, you can use any matching XP > installation CD. This means that if the machine has XP Home Retail you > need an XP Home Retail disk; if XP Pro OEM, then a generic (or branded if > available) XP Pro OEM disk. See these links for how to do a clean install > of XP: > > http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To > http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Reinstalling_Windows - What > you will need on-hand > > If this is a branded OEM computer (Dell, HP, Sony, etc.) where Recovery > Disks are normally used, the smartest thing to do is contact the OEM and > buy the Recovery Disks. This is usually very inexpensive, under $25 USD. > > If this is a generic or branded OEM machine, there will be a sticker on > the back or side of the machine with the Product Key. If this is a generic > machine where XP retail was installed, use one of these free product key > finders (after you get into the machine, obviously): > > http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml - Key Finder > http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html - Nirsoft Key > Finder > > You can get into the machine without the built-in Administrator password > by using NTpasswd: > http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ > > If all this seems daunting, there is no shame in admitting this isn't your > cup of tea and taking the machine to a professional computer repair shop. > However, as I said earlier I would not recommend GeekSquad or the like. > Instead, get recommendations from friends, family, colleagues for a good > local professional. > > > Malke > -- > Elephant Boy Computers > http://www.elephantboycomputers.com > "Don't Panic!" > MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Guest Malke Posted August 11, 2007 Posted August 11, 2007 Re: Administrator privilages Panic wrote: > Thanks for your response. I forwarded it to my friend. To determine if his > system is OEM or retail is this the way? > On my computer when I right click My Computer and choose Properties.... > General tab it shows under "Registered to" > my name and other information and then "55377-OEM-0011803-01105". I > believe this means my system is an OEM version. I assume he can check his > computer the same way. Right? That's right. Also if the machine is a brand-name computer - Dell, HP, eMachines - then it is OEM. Malke -- Elephant Boy Computers http://www.elephantboycomputers.com "Don't Panic!" MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Guest Panic Posted August 11, 2007 Posted August 11, 2007 Re: Administrator privilages "Malke" <notreally@invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:%23EKtgz72HHA.4476@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl... > Panic wrote: >> Thanks for your response. I forwarded it to my friend. To determine if >> his system is OEM or retail is this the way? >> On my computer when I right click My Computer and choose Properties.... >> General tab it shows under "Registered to" >> my name and other information and then "55377-OEM-0011803-01105". I >> believe this means my system is an OEM version. I assume he can check >> his computer the same way. Right? > > That's right. Also if the machine is a brand-name computer - Dell, HP, > eMachines - then it is OEM. > > Malke Thanks for the info. I would assume your last statement would only be true if he was sure his present OS was the one that came with the computer. His is pretty old and might have come with an earlier system and upgraded to Win XP.
Guest Malke Posted August 11, 2007 Posted August 11, 2007 Re: Administrator privilages Panic wrote: > Thanks for the info. I would assume your last statement would only be true > if he was sure his present OS was the one that came with the computer. His > is pretty old and might have come with an earlier system and upgraded to Win > XP. Naturally. There's no way for me to tell what your friend's system has because if I had a crystal ball like that I'd be independently wealthy and not doing tech support. ;-) Malke -- Elephant Boy Computers http://www.elephantboycomputers.com "Don't Panic!" MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
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