New password for previously unpassworded user

[Guest]

Hi,

In order to protect our kitchen PC from the ravages of a teenager who now
has her own in her bedroom, but still gets stuck to the kitchen PC to her
mother's despair, we removed her account. I was then going to give my partner
a password for her account (mine as admin is already password protected).
Control Panel says that if I do that, all web entered passwords will be
wiped. My partner can't remember half of hers - has them kept with "remember
password", so I wanted to check whether this was really the case (and if so
WHY??????!!!!!) - and if there is any way round it, or of pushing the
passwords from the registry and popping them latter?

Thanks

Jeremy Poynton

Frome, England

 

[Nepatsfan]

In

Hi,

In order to protect our kitchen PC from the ravages of a
teenager who
now has her own in her bedroom, but still gets stuck to the
kitchen
PC to her mother's despair, we removed her account. I was
then going
to give my partner a password for her account (mine as admin
is
already password protected). Control Panel says that if I do
that,
all web entered passwords will be wiped. My partner can't
remember
half of hers - has them kept with "remember password", so I
wanted to
check whether this was really the case (and if so
WHY??????!!!!!) -
and if there is any way round it, or of pushing the passwords
from
the registry and popping them latter?

Thanks

Jeremy Poynton

Frome, England

That warning is displayed when you try to change or create a
password for an account other than the one you're logged on
with. Log off your account and log on with your partner's
account. Now when you go to Control Panel -> User Accounts and
try to create a password for that account you shouldn't see the
warning.

Make sure the password you create is one that your partner will
be able to
remember but the teenager won't be able to guess. It's also a
good idea, if the system has a floppy drive, to create a
Password Reset disk.

How to create and use a password reset disk for a computer that
is not a domain member in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305478

Here are some other articles with more info on recovering user
account passwords.

Reset user account passwords
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

What is the Windows XP Password Reset Disk and how can I use
it?
http://www.petri.co.il/what's_the_password_reset_disk_in_windows_xp.htm

Here's a program that displays saved web site passwords.

IE PassView v1.01
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/internet_explorer_password.html

Additional password recovery tools
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/index.html

Keep in mind that it does not take a whole lot of time or
expertise to circumvent Windows passwords. If this teenager is
fairly tech savvy, it will not take her long to get around any
passwords you create. You're looking for a technical solution
to a problem that really needs a disciplinary one.

Good luck

Nepatsfan