Restore Windows XP When Not Admin and No Password

[magical_one]

I purchased a laptop from a person named Ryan Altman who had bought it from a
local Circuit City. I have tried to establish my own account on the system
so that I could then delete or disable his account. However, after creating
the new account for myself, and disabling his, it will now not allow me to
delete his account, and mine is set up as limited. This of course means that
I do not have full rights to use some of the programs or change anything in
regards to the system. (ie. I have attempted to log on to an installed Juno
account but it will not allow me to do so) I have also tried to restore the
entire system as it was when purchased, but it will not allow me to do so
since I do not have administrator rights.

Can you please provide guidance on how I can restore the laptop or any other
way I can correct the problem say that I will be able to use it?

I have no disk or manual to refer to. I do know that some versions have a
quick-key that you can press when system is booting up to go into restore
mode. The laptop I have is Toshiba PM740 Satellite M45 - S2692. Oddly
enough, the sticker on the bottom says Windows XP Home but the system info in
Windows on screen says Windows XP Professional - Service Pak 2. (not sure
how they could be different)

I anticipate your reply.

Thank you in advance for any help you may be able to provide.

 

[Nepatsfan]

I purchased a laptop from a person named Ryan Altman who had bought it from a
local Circuit City. I have tried to establish my own account on the system
so that I could then delete or disable his account. However, after creating
the new account for myself, and disabling his, it will now not allow me to
delete his account, and mine is set up as limited. This of course means that
I do not have full rights to use some of the programs or change anything in
regards to the system. (ie. I have attempted to log on to an installed Juno
account but it will not allow me to do so) I have also tried to restore the
entire system as it was when purchased, but it will not allow me to do so
since I do not have administrator rights.

Can you please provide guidance on how I can restore the laptop or any other
way I can correct the problem say that I will be able to use it?

I have no disk or manual to refer to. I do know that some versions have a
quick-key that you can press when system is booting up to go into restore
mode. The laptop I have is Toshiba PM740 Satellite M45 - S2692. Oddly
enough, the sticker on the bottom says Windows XP Home but the system info in
Windows on screen says Windows XP Professional - Service Pak 2. (not sure
how they could be different)

I anticipate your reply.

Thank you in advance for any help you may be able to provide.

Every installation of XP includes a built-in account named Administrator. This
account is hidden by default. See if the following procedure allows you to log
in to that account and restore your access to the computer.

While logged on with your new account, go to Start, click Log off, and log off
from your account.
This should bring you to the Welcome screen.
Hit the Ctrl + Alt + Del key combination twice.
This should bring up the Logon to Windows dialog.
Enter Administrator in the User Name box.
Hopefully, the previous owner did not assign a password to the built-in
Administrator account and you can leave that line blank.
If you can log on with the Administrator account, go to Control Panel -> User
Accounts and change your new account from Limited User to Computer
Administrator.

If you can, I would strongly suggest that you restore the system to the state it
was in when it left the factory. It's always a good idea to start with a clean
slate when dealing with a used computer.

Good luck

Nepatsfan