Cannot logon to Windows

[Guest]

I have Windows XP Home edition. I have never used a password sign in to
Windows. Just recently, I rebooted and when trying to sign in it says
"invalid username and/password". I have not changed anything that I'm aware
of.
I tried booting to Safe Mode and using "administrator" to log in and and
tried using my user name to log in and still can't get it to work. I am the
only user of that computer. Normally, when I reboot the computer, the screen
already has my user name in there and I select "Enter" to boot to Windows.
How can I fix this and what could have caused this to happen????? Help,
please!!

 

[Galen]

In pce-help had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

I have Windows XP Home edition. I have never used a password sign in
to Windows. Just recently, I rebooted and when trying to sign in it
says "invalid username and/password". I have not changed anything
that I'm aware of.
I tried booting to Safe Mode and using "administrator" to log in and
and tried using my user name to log in and still can't get it to
work. I am the only user of that computer. Normally, when I reboot
the computer, the screen already has my user name in there and I
select "Enter" to boot to Windows. How can I fix this and what could
have caused this to happen????? Help, please!!

Malware and/or user error are often the cause of that.

Password Problems:
http://kgiii.info/windows/2k-XP/security/password_problems.html

If it is malware related:

Malware Cleaners and Repair:
http://kgiii.info/windows/all/general/malwarefix.html

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/ http://kgiii.info/

"Chance has put in our way a most singular and whimsical problem, and
its solution is its own reward." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[Ted Zieglar]

Once malware has infected your computer it's easy for it to find out
that an administrator account has not been password protected and then
to assign a password to lock the user out of the machine while it
performs its malicious work.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the ifnormation. I do have Ad-Aware SE and Spybot along with
Norton Antivirus installed and keep it updated. My question now is...since I
cannot get in to Windows and cannot get in to Safe Mode because it requires a
password, how can I run these utilities? Oh, I checked out the link you sent
for password problems, and I think I'll try the "Login Recovery" software. I
looked at that earlier today and thought that since my problem may be a
result of malware, that this wouldn't work. I'm going to give it a try
though! Thanks!

 

[Ted Zieglar]

Hope you can get into your account somehow.

If malware has locked you out of your account, you can put the hard
drive into a second computer and use the second computer's installed
antivirus and antispyware utilities to remove (hopefully) the infection.

You may also be able to use the second computer's internet connection to
run online scans of the damaged drive, since no one product is capable
of finding every variant of malware.

If that doesn't work, you may be able to use an administrator account on
the second computer to take possession of your data folders so they can
be backed up. Then you'll need to erase the damaged hard disk and start
from scratch.

 

[Guest]

If using the Login Recovery software doesn't work, then I will try the other
things you suggested! Wish me luck and thanks again for all of your help!