Guest Larry Mauriello Posted October 1, 2007 Posted October 1, 2007 Someone just gave me an old pc. I am looking to clean it up and give it to someone w/o a pc. When I boot it up it comes up w/the name/pswd scrren. The person who had it doesn't even remember the password. Hitting esc.it seems to load up. I can see the drives and all. I haven't tried connecting to an ISP yet. I am curious if there is a way to get it to start w/o that sign-on prompt w/o loading the OS all over? It is an AMD K6 cpu. w/what looks like 312Meg RAM and a 25GB HD. I don't think it's a bad machine for someone who never had a pc. Outside of the fact it had this HUGE CRT monitor (17').. Thanks for the feedback.
Guest Detlev Dreyer Posted October 1, 2007 Posted October 1, 2007 Re: XP Pc identity... "Larry Mauriello" <larrym6833@verizon.net> 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. -- d-d
Guest Larry Mauriello Posted October 1, 2007 Posted October 1, 2007 Re: XP Pc identity... 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@flashmail.com> wrote in message news:4c55658e77f6e61c988f6edd5c0109b1@d-d.mvps.org... > "Larry Mauriello" <larrym6833@verizon.net> 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. > > -- > d-d
Guest Malke Posted October 1, 2007 Posted October 1, 2007 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@flashmail.com> wrote in message > news:4c55658e77f6e61c988f6edd5c0109b1@d-d.mvps.org... >> "Larry Mauriello" <larrym6833@verizon.net> 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 http://www.elephantboycomputers.com "Don't Panic!" MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Guest Detlev Dreyer Posted October 1, 2007 Posted October 1, 2007 Re: XP Pc identity... "Larry Mauriello" <larrym6833@verizon.net> 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. When reformatting, you need both the product key (CoA) and the install media. Otherwise, the previous owner let you just the piece of hardware and using the existing WinXP installation won't be legal anyway. -- d-d
Guest Ken Blake, MVP Posted October 1, 2007 Posted October 1, 2007 Re: XP Pc identity... On Mon, 01 Oct 2007 12:07:09 GMT, "Larry Mauriello" <larrym6833@verizon.net> wrote: > Someone just gave me an old pc. I am looking to clean it up and give it to > someone w/o a pc. > When I boot it up it comes up w/the name/pswd scrren. The person who had it > doesn't even remember > the password. Hitting esc.it seems to load up. I can see the drives and all. > I haven't tried connecting to an ISP yet. > I am curious if there is a way to get it to start w/o that sign-on prompt > w/o loading the OS all over? "Loading the OS all over" is exactly what you *should* do. If I acquired a used computer, the first thing I would do with it would be to reinstall the operating system cleanly. You have no idea how the computer has been maintained, what has been installed incorrectly, what is missing, what viruses and spyware there may be, etc. I wouldn't want to live with somebody else's mistakes and problems, possibility of kiddie porn, etc., and I wouldn't recommend that anyone else do either. -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User Please Reply to the Newsgroup
Guest Larry Mauriello Posted October 1, 2007 Posted October 1, 2007 Re: XP Pc identity... Ken, While I agree that is the way it prob. *should* be done. a) this pc is an older AMD K6 (P-2) compatible (?). b) It has a special keybd w/special keys from Compaq and c) The guy I am looking to give it to has never owned a pc and has no $ to pay for Inet svc. He doesn't even have a phone. Just looking ot give him some *basic* knowlwedge*. I have a call to the person who gave it to me to see if they have a set of Restore Discs. This way I can roll it back to facotry specs. "Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@this.is.am.invalid.domain> wrote in message news:2g52g3p9aups7stsn38fsnf1saehhhcs6i@4ax.com... > On Mon, 01 Oct 2007 12:07:09 GMT, "Larry Mauriello" > <larrym6833@verizon.net> wrote: > >> Someone just gave me an old pc. I am looking to clean it up and give it >> to >> someone w/o a pc. >> When I boot it up it comes up w/the name/pswd scrren. The person who had >> it >> doesn't even remember >> the password. Hitting esc.it seems to load up. I can see the drives and >> all. >> I haven't tried connecting to an ISP yet. >> I am curious if there is a way to get it to start w/o that sign-on prompt >> w/o loading the OS all over? > > > "Loading the OS all over" is exactly what you *should* do. If I > acquired a used computer, the first thing I would do with it would be > to reinstall the operating system cleanly. You have no idea how the > computer has been maintained, what has been installed incorrectly, > what is missing, what viruses and spyware there may be, etc. I > wouldn't want to live with somebody else's mistakes and problems, > possibility of kiddie porn, etc., and I wouldn't recommend that anyone > else do either. > > -- > Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User > Please Reply to the Newsgroup
Guest Ken Blake, MVP Posted October 1, 2007 Posted October 1, 2007 Re: XP Pc identity... On Mon, 01 Oct 2007 18:39:15 GMT, "Larry Mauriello" <larrym6833@verizon.net> wrote: > Ken, > While I agree that is the way it prob. *should* be done. a) this pc is an > older AMD K6 (P-2) compatible (?). What does its age have to do with it? > b) It has a special keybd w/special keys from Compaq and What does the keyboard have to do with it? (and by the way, a new standard keyboard cam be bought for under $10) > c) The guy I am > looking to give it to has never owned a pc and > has no $ to pay for Inet svc. He doesn't even have a phone. Just looking ot > give him some *basic* knowlwedge*. OK, but a machine that works properly is much better than one that doesn't. He won't learn much if he gets frustrated by a problem-ridden installation. > I have a call to the person who gave it to me to see if they have a set of > Restore Discs. This way I can roll it back > to facotry specs. OK. My advice stands, but what you do is your decision, not mine. > "Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@this.is.am.invalid.domain> wrote in message > news:2g52g3p9aups7stsn38fsnf1saehhhcs6i@4ax.com... > > On Mon, 01 Oct 2007 12:07:09 GMT, "Larry Mauriello" > > <larrym6833@verizon.net> wrote: > > > >> Someone just gave me an old pc. I am looking to clean it up and give it > >> to > >> someone w/o a pc. > >> When I boot it up it comes up w/the name/pswd scrren. The person who had > >> it > >> doesn't even remember > >> the password. Hitting esc.it seems to load up. I can see the drives and > >> all. > >> I haven't tried connecting to an ISP yet. > >> I am curious if there is a way to get it to start w/o that sign-on prompt > >> w/o loading the OS all over? > > > > > > "Loading the OS all over" is exactly what you *should* do. If I > > acquired a used computer, the first thing I would do with it would be > > to reinstall the operating system cleanly. You have no idea how the > > computer has been maintained, what has been installed incorrectly, > > what is missing, what viruses and spyware there may be, etc. I > > wouldn't want to live with somebody else's mistakes and problems, > > possibility of kiddie porn, etc., and I wouldn't recommend that anyone > > else do either. > > > > -- > > Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User > > Please Reply to the Newsgroup > -- Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User Please Reply to the Newsgroup
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