user password

[Lisa C]

so i left for a month and during this time my computer was
left unused. when i came back and tried to turn my
computer on, my user password seemed invalid. the "did
you forget your password" pop up appears. does the
computer lock up after a certain amount of time of not
being used? is there any other way i can access my
computer and allow it to fully load without using a user
name?

 

[Guest]

Hi Lisa

The password is set by default as requiring to be changed every 30 days. You must ahve a new PC.

Only way that you may be able to get into your PC and fix the password is to log on as Administrator. Yes it is also password protected, but not everyone sets a passowrd on this account. Dammed foolish!

When you do set a new password on the user account, you can make it so that it never requires changing.

To log in as administrator:

At the log-in screen, press Ctrl/Alt/Del twice quickly
Type "Administrator" and leave password blank.
Windows XP Home:
Reboot, tapping F8 each second.
Select Safe Mode at the menu.
Select Administrator, leave password blank.
Then go to User Accounts in Control Panel.
Select the user and change the password.
If you are using Windows XP Pro and have encrypted data, you may permanently lose access to the encrypted data.

Or remove the hard drive and insert the hard drive in another computer. From there you can read the data. It may be necessary to Take Ownership to regain access to the data.

Another option is to install Windows XP on another partition and take Ownership of your data.

You could also perform another installation on the same partition, although this is not a permanent fix and it is recommended to perform a Clean Installation after retrieving your data.

As a last resort you can perform a Clean Installation of Windows.
After this is resolved, take precautions to not lose the password.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Lisa;
Something here should help:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/lostpass.htm