Administrator privilages

[Panic]

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.

 

[Malke]

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

 

[Panic]

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]

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

 

[Panic]

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.

 

[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.

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