original admistrator account missing, unable to access crutial fol

[Guest]

i recently created another account and made some of my folders password
protected, so that my friends could use my computer. the next morning i come
to find that the account that i had created is now the adminstrator and the
files i protected are unaccessable. the original administrator account
doesnt even appear as an option on the log in menu. where is it or how do i
view these files? thank you to anyone who can help.

chris
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

For XP Pro, with no users logged on, press CTRL-ALT-DEL twice at the Welcome Screen. You'll get the old style logon. Enter Administrator and any password you set for that account.

For XP Home, boot the computer into Safe Mode and you'll see the built in Administrator account on the Welcome Screen.

Additional note: Bad idea to use the built in Administrator account for day to day usage. It may be your only way into the system in the event of profile corruption, or other user specific problems that cause the computer not to boot.