Welcome to windows/Switch user locked

[Joe]

First I am working with windows XP. When I try to log on
I no longer get the welcome to windows. Normaly It would
open and I would get to choose between my two user
accounts. I'll call them Act 1 and Act 2. Now when it
opens I get no choice, but get the following small window
which advise me of the following:

"This computer is in use and has been locked. Only Joe
or an account administrator can unlock this computer" It
has a block with my name, Joe, and below that a block for
a password.

I have no password nor did I ever have a pass word.
Below that it has block for Ok. When I hit OK it allows
me to get on the computer, but I cannot get to my user
account Act 2 which have files that I can only access by
geting into that account (I have them blocked from
sharing).

I need help in getting the welcome to windows back which
allowed me to access the two accounts. Any help will be
greatly apppreicated. Joe

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

Try this, when you come to the "This computer is in use...." message, hit
ctrl-alt-delete and see if it gives you the option to "unlock" the computer,
if yes, leave the password blank as you never created one, click unlock and
click ok or press enter.

 

[Guest]

I tried your remedy, but was unsuccessful. Nothing
changed. Do you have any other ideas.

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

Are you the only user? Computers generally must be locked before they can
be unlocked. Can you get to Safe Mode? If you are the only user, you might
have a virus that locked the computer. If you can get to safe mode, you
might be able to scan for viruses assuming you have such software installed
and that it is up to date. You could also try downloading, installing and
running Ad Aware, www.lavasoftusa.com, again from Safe Mode as you may have
malware on your system that has caused this issue.

 

[Joe]

Michael,

I hate to be a bother, but I would like one more opinion
if it's not too much trouble. I have a home computer,
one user running xp home edition. Its an emachine that
is about 1 year old. It has the latest def files and
has virus softwarwe running, scans are clean, and I have
xp firewall running. This same issued has appeared on
other newsgroups, but never a resolution. This problem
developed after updating MSN Messenger(6.1)this past
weekend. If you could take another look at the problem
and ask your colleagues if they know of a resolution I
would be most thankful.

Joe

 

[Michael Solomon \(MS-MVP Windows Shell/User\)]

You might get a more definitive answer on the messenger board. Go to the
following link, scroll the list on the left to windowsxp.messenger and try
your question there:
http://communities.microsoft.com/newsgroups/default.asp