login password appeared mysteriously

[sdlomi2]

A friend just called. Tried to reboot system , using XP Pro, after it
had run constantly for several days. Been doing this routine 2 years. This
time, reboot/login (wasn't clear to me exactly where) was halted asking him
for USER'S password--he never had one and "USER" was the username he had
provided 2 years ago when installing OS. Gave him an alternate username,
one he never heard of before, to supply a password for--something with,
maybe, "spa" in the name.
Walked him thru Safe Mode--same bottleneck. Told him I suspected
malware had hijacked his system. Where should I begin, as I agreed for him
to bring it in the AM? I recently used "thatcomputerguy" to successfully
rid my own of malware, using "hijackthis" program where we reciprocated info
over a couple of days. BTW: I know precious little about dos.
Thanks for all help you guys can provide, including name of proper group
to send
this plea to, if this group is incorrect. s

 

[Malke]

A friend just called. Tried to reboot system , using XP Pro,
after it
had run constantly for several days. Been doing this routine 2 years.
This time, reboot/login (wasn't clear to me exactly where) was halted
asking him for USER'S password--he never had one and "USER" was the
username he had
provided 2 years ago when installing OS. Gave him an alternate
username, one he never heard of before, to supply a password
for--something with, maybe, "spa" in the name.
Walked him thru Safe Mode--same bottleneck. Told him I suspected
malware had hijacked his system. Where should I begin, as I agreed
for him
to bring it in the AM? I recently used "thatcomputerguy" to
successfully rid my own of malware, using "hijackthis" program where
we reciprocated info
over a couple of days. BTW: I know precious little about dos.
Thanks for all help you guys can provide, including name of proper
group
to send
this plea to, if this group is incorrect. s

I don't think you're really qualified to fix your friend's computer
seeing as there's nothing wrong with it. He's probably referring to the
ASP.NET account which appeared probably because he installed some
program that required .Net 1.1. All your friend needs to do is either
update .Net 1.1 with the patches which fix the issue.

http://www.mvps.org/marksxp/WindowsXP/aspdot.php

He can also use this workaround to log in automatically:
Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) -
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm

Whether you know "precious little" about DOS is irrelevant since there
is no DOS in XP nor does it have anything to do with the issue on your
friend's computer.

Malke