Please help me

[Guest]

I didn't know where to put this, and I'm sorry that it's in the wrong forum,
but I desperately need help. I just did something -really- stupid. I was in
Internet Explorer, and I had 5 or six tabs open, and it froze. I figured I
just had too many things open at once, so I hit ctrl alt delete to go to the
task manger and close the windows from there, seeing as how the x at the top
of the page didn't work. I hit user twice, until I saw both Internet
Explorers listed in the first part of the task manger window (under
processes). Normally I can tell which is the actual program and which is just
a web page because of the file size thing on the side. I had had so many tabs
open though, that the numbers were nearly the same. So I closed the smaller
one. Suddenly my entire desktop was gone (the pic is there but no icons) and
the grey bar at the bottom of the screen that says Start and stuff was gone
too. The IE window was still up, though, so I hit end task for that IE too.
Now the only things I can get to are the AIM window I was chatting in, and
here. I went to file on the task manager, hit browse, and then found IE
hoping I could get here, and it worked. Now, you're probably just going to
tell me to restart my computer, but there's a problem with that too. As soon
as this computer reboots, you need a password to get back on, and I don't
know it but I need to finish my work tonight. PLEASE tell me theres a way to
fix this. I really need your help. Thank you ^^

(Also, I just realized that I posted this in some newsgroup thing for media,
I'm sorry, I thought I had posted it here, this is kind of confusing, I'm
sorry.)

 

[bud]

I didn't know where to put this, and I'm sorry that it's in the wrong
forum,
but I desperately need help. I just did something -really- stupid. I was
in
Internet Explorer, and I had 5 or six tabs open, and it froze. I figured I
just had too many things open at once, so I hit ctrl alt delete to go to
the
task manger and close the windows from there, seeing as how the x at the
top
of the page didn't work. I hit user twice, until I saw both Internet
Explorers listed in the first part of the task manger window (under
processes). Normally I can tell which is the actual program and which is
just
a web page because of the file size thing on the side. I had had so many
tabs
open though, that the numbers were nearly the same. So I closed the
smaller
one. Suddenly my entire desktop was gone (the pic is there but no icons)
and
the grey bar at the bottom of the screen that says Start and stuff was
gone
too. The IE window was still up, though, so I hit end task for that IE
too.
Now the only things I can get to are the AIM window I was chatting in, and
here. I went to file on the task manager, hit browse, and then found IE
hoping I could get here, and it worked. Now, you're probably just going to
tell me to restart my computer, but there's a problem with that too. As
soon
as this computer reboots, you need a password to get back on, and I don't
know it but I need to finish my work tonight. PLEASE tell me theres a way
to
fix this. I really need your help. Thank you ^^

(Also, I just realized that I posted this in some newsgroup thing for
media,
I'm sorry, I thought I had posted it here, this is kind of confusing, I'm
sorry.)

Open the task manager again and on the tool bar click on file and then on
new task. Type in explorer.exe and click on ok. That should bring back the
desktop.

 

[Guest]

I didn't know where to put this, and I'm sorry that it's in the wrong forum,
but I desperately need help. I just did something -really- stupid. I was in
Internet Explorer, and I had 5 or six tabs open, and it froze. I figured I
just had too many things open at once, so I hit ctrl alt delete to go to the
task manger and close the windows from there, seeing as how the x at the top
of the page didn't work. I hit user twice, until I saw both Internet
Explorers listed in the first part of the task manger window (under
processes). Normally I can tell which is the actual program and which is just
a web page because of the file size thing on the side. I had had so many tabs
open though, that the numbers were nearly the same. So I closed the smaller
one. Suddenly my entire desktop was gone (the pic is there but no icons) and
the grey bar at the bottom of the screen that says Start and stuff was gone
too. The IE window was still up, though, so I hit end task for that IE too.
Now the only things I can get to are the AIM window I was chatting in, and
here. I went to file on the task manager, hit browse, and then found IE
hoping I could get here, and it worked. Now, you're probably just going to
tell me to restart my computer, but there's a problem with that too. As soon
as this computer reboots, you need a password to get back on, and I don't
know it but I need to finish my work tonight. PLEASE tell me theres a way to
fix this. I really need your help. Thank you ^^

(Also, I just realized that I posted this in some newsgroup thing for media,
I'm sorry, I thought I had posted it here, this is kind of confusing, I'm
sorry.)

Try System Restore to before that Date and does the IE freeze before or is
it first time?.

Click Start >> All Programs >> Accessories>> System Tools >> System Restore.

= ... First, try to clean up your caches, Internet files and delete cookies
by doing this:
Click Start >> Control Panel >> Double click Network and Internet
Connections >> Double click Internet Options.
On the IE properties windows you will see these Taps:
General | Security | Privacy | Content | Connections | Programs |
Advanced
Under General Tab clear your History, Internet Files and Cookies.
Then click on Advanced tab and scroll down to under the Browsing Option:
[&] Browsing
[ ] Enable Third-Party browser extensions (Req Rest) uncheck this box.

Then click on Programs Tab and click Manage Add-Ons and Disable all non
Verified Add-Ons (You should Renable them later one-by-one and see the
culprit and update it or remove it.

Then download this software and update it then run a scan for malwares:
http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php

HTH.
nass
===
www.nasstec.co.uk

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I didn't know where to put this, and I'm sorry that it's in the wrong
forum,
but I desperately need help. I just did something -really- stupid. I was
in
Internet Explorer, and I had 5 or six tabs open, and it froze. I figured I
just had too many things open at once, so I hit ctrl alt delete to go to
the
task manger and close the windows from there, seeing as how the x at the
top
of the page didn't work. I hit user twice, until I saw both Internet
Explorers listed in the first part of the task manger window (under
processes). Normally I can tell which is the actual program and which is
just
a web page because of the file size thing on the side. I had had so many
tabs
open though, that the numbers were nearly the same. So I closed the
smaller
one. Suddenly my entire desktop was gone (the pic is there but no icons)
and
the grey bar at the bottom of the screen that says Start and stuff was
gone
too. The IE window was still up, though, so I hit end task for that IE
too.
Now the only things I can get to are the AIM window I was chatting in, and
here. I went to file on the task manager, hit browse, and then found IE
hoping I could get here, and it worked. Now, you're probably just going to
tell me to restart my computer, but there's a problem with that too. As
soon
as this computer reboots, you need a password to get back on, and I don't
know it but I need to finish my work tonight. PLEASE tell me theres a way
to
fix this. I really need your help. Thank you ^^

(Also, I just realized that I posted this in some newsgroup thing for
media,
I'm sorry, I thought I had posted it here, this is kind of confusing, I'm
sorry.)

....so you are presently locked out of your computer because you don't know
the user password? And there wasn't one set up, or you can't find who
would know it?

How you fix that depends on your version of XP, and whether or not a
password was placed on the Administrator account. Basically, if you don't
know or have lost your password or if it's been corrupted, you have to reset
it.

If you have XP Home, shut the machine off, wait a few seconds, and restart
it. As it starts, press the F8 key and you should see a black screen with
white text offering you startup options. Choose Safe Mode, and when you
get to the Welcome screen, click on Administrator. In XP Home, you can
only get to this account in Safe Mode. By default, this has no password (you
just press enter).

Once you're in, go to Control Panel, User Accounts, click on your user
account, and then on Remove Password. Exit all the way back to the desktop
and shut down, letting the machine restart normally. You should now be
able to get into your account and do your work.

In XP Pro, there's an issue you *must* be aware of prior to continuing. It
does not apply to XP Home or Media Center, so if your version is not PRO,
you don't need to worry about it.

The issue is this: XP Pro supports file encryption, and the encryption is
tied to the account credentials, which include the password. If those
credentials, or the password, are changed from outside that user account
(like resetting it from the Admin account) you will not ever, ever, be able
to access the encrypted files again. If you have a backup of the account
credentials, you can restore them, but if you've lost the user password, you
still have a problem with logging back in.

But, if you did not encrypt the files, you don't need to worry about this.
At the welcome screen, press control-alt-delete.. twice, I think, enter
Administrator as the user name, and press Enter. If there was no password,
your're in and can just go to Control Panel, Users, and change the password
as above. Log out of Admin, back into your account, and you're off.

If there are any scheduled tasks that run on your system, like backups, you
may find that they fail if there is no password, so you may need to set one
up.

If there *was* a password on the Administrator account, you again have to
consider if it's Home or Pro. If it's Pro, consider the warning above.
In either case, there are bootable CD images you can download that have XP
password removal utilities. This is more advanced, so I'm not going to go
into that now, and you might need to seek some physical help.

Finally, it's also possible that you are being asked for a password before
the OS loads, and that isn't a Windows issue. Most systems have a BIOS
password you can turn on for security. On Desktop systems, you can usually
clear that by shutting down and unplugging and opening the system, removing
the CMOS battery, and moving the CMOS CLEAR jumper. Wait a few seconds,
put the jumper back, replace the battery, close the case and plug it in
again. The time and date should be wrong and there should be no password.
Things like drives and memory should be detected automatically.
Ultimately, the date will be reset by Windows.

On Laptops, the approach is different and you may have to contact the
manufacturer for help. This is again a security measure - laptops get
stolen all the time and this is a line of protection.

HTH
-pk