Administrator(s)

[Curtis]

I have been the "administrator" since I installed XP
months ago. Now my son has changed the "administrator" to
himself and won't give me his password to change it back.
Besides threatening him, what can I do to regain
administrator capabilities.

 

[Guest]

-----Original Message-----
I have been the "administrator" since I installed XP
months ago. Now my son has changed the "administrator" to
himself and won't give me his password to change it back.
Besides threatening him, what can I do to regain
administrator capabilities.
.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Curtis;
This link may help:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/lostpass.htm

Also see and password ALL profiles with Administrator access including
the default Administrator:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/Private.htm

The real problem is that your son has to much control.
If this was a business, he would probably be disciplined, possibly
fired or worse.
There should be stiff penalties for attempting to tamper with computer
security, not just succeeding.
Appropriate action needs to be taken at home as well unless you want
you son to be in control.

 

[Pavel]

I have only one question. Did your son take over a user that has
administrator privileges or he changed the actual Administrator's password?
They are two different accounts. Let' us know. In worst case.....install
fresh copy of Windows.

 

[Jeff]

Don't know your sons age but it doesn't really matter. Let him spend a night
in juvenile detention and see if that gets his attention. It sounds like it
needs to be captured soon!! I have a family member that did a similar thing
and it seems to have helped. I will be thinking of you.

JT

 

[Samboca]

I agree with the others. This is not a Windows question. This is a
parenting problem.

You're probably not happy that your son changed the password on you -
sneakily. Yet, you are surreptitiously attempting to gain access to the
system again. I wonder where you son learned such behavior?

I have an easy solution - take the computer away and be more direct and
honest with your motives.

Samboca

 

[Roger Abell]

After you have used the tool to zap a new, known
password on the Administrator account, if you are
unable to extract it from the child (which would be
safer for your system), then
log in as the admin
strart run a cmd window and at its prompt enter
net localgroup administrators
That is the complete list of admin accounts.
Now, change each and every one of them to
strong passwords.

Strong passwords are long, contain digits, special c
haracters, even alt characters, do not contain word,
and can be remembered without being written down.
How long ? Well definitely more than 8 characters,
but XP can use passwords that are longer than 200
- you choose. 10 or 12 ?

Next, locate any account that he has and disable it.
Next, list out the limited accounts
net localgroups users
and see how many you do not recognize.
There may be some that you need but do not recognize,
but others you should be able to say which is used by
what family member. Diable any that you believe this
child has knowledge of.

The point of all this is to let the child experience your
exerting control over your property/computer and perhap
some withdrawal from not being allowed to use it.

As a part of this you need to make sure there are no back
door programs now installed.
Scan for things that may have been installed and remove
any dangerous junk like Kazaa, etc.. that you do not use.

Turn on the firewall, get the machine up to date on critical
updates, and scan it for spyware/trojans (not just antivirus).
etc.
Finally, wait a couple weeks and see if anything changes
(in your machine or your child).