XP log on woes

[Guest]

Haven't seen this one.

My wife brought home a laptop from her work for me to check out. They had it
set up for the laptop to boot up to that "welcome screen". They had one logon
option on that page - "owner". Now, that logon option is gone when the laptop
boots to that screen.

You can hit ctrl + alt + del to bring up the logon box, but they don't know
what either the "owner" pwd is, or what the "admin" pwd is (we've tried
blank, what they're sure is their owner pwd, and a bunch of other combos).

- could someone have gone in and deleted the "owner" log on that used to
appear on the welcome screeen, so that then there are no options?

- Is having the logon option(s) disappear from the welcome screen a known
issue w/ XP Home Edition? And, if so, is there a workaround for it?

Any other ideas, like a virus maybe?

 

[Galen]

In jkotsonas <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Haven't seen this one.

My wife brought home a laptop from her work for me to check out. They
had it set up for the laptop to boot up to that "welcome screen".
They had one logon option on that page - "owner". Now, that logon
option is gone when the laptop boots to that screen.

You can hit ctrl + alt + del to bring up the logon box, but they
don't know what either the "owner" pwd is, or what the "admin" pwd is
(we've tried blank, what they're sure is their owner pwd, and a bunch
of other combos).

- could someone have gone in and deleted the "owner" log on that used
to appear on the welcome screeen, so that then there are no options?

- Is having the logon option(s) disappear from the welcome screen a
known issue w/ XP Home Edition? And, if so, is there a workaround for
it?

Any other ideas, like a virus maybe?

Someone or something could have. Smash the admin's password and get into the
OS with this tool:

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

Galen

 

[Guest]

Thanks. I actually tried that method, and it found no accounts/log ons
etc...anwhere on that laptop. Nothing in the, what was it...SAM Security,
nothing in the reistry.

Tried using the default, changing to "owner" etc...It's like any/all log on
accounts were somehow wiped out.

I ended up using their OS/Sys. restore discs and re-installed XP.

Thanks for the reply/help!

 

[Galen]

In jkotsonas <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Thanks. I actually tried that method, and it found no accounts/log ons
etc...anwhere on that laptop. Nothing in the, what was it...SAM
Security, nothing in the reistry.

Tried using the default, changing to "owner" etc...It's like any/all
log on accounts were somehow wiped out.

I ended up using their OS/Sys. restore discs and re-installed XP.

Thanks for the reply/help!

That makes me wonder what did it. Install a third party firewall before
going online with it or use the Windows Firewall. Immediately update to SP2.
Grab one of the freeware AV products (Avast is good.) In fact, here's a
collection of links for you.

Virus:
www.grisoft.com - AVG
www.antivir.com - AntiVir
http://www.my-etrust.com/microsoft/index.cfm - CA eTrust

Spyware:
www.lavasoft.de - AdAware
http://security.kolla.de/ - Spybot
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx -
Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta

Trojan:
www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/ - a Squared
http://swatit.org/ Swat It

Galen

 

[Guest]

Thanks. Are you suggesting to do all that after I've re-installed the OS?

There was no way to get into the machine in it's compromised state, so I
just wiped it out and re-imaged it.

They have Norton Anti-virus, and I've installed all the updates, plus
installed Spybot, Adaware, the beta MS spyware tool and CW shredder.

They should be good to go now.

Thanks,

Jim

 

[Galen]

In jkotsonas <[email protected]> had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Thanks. Are you suggesting to do all that after I've re-installed
the OS?

If not all of it in it's entirety it'd be good to load up the spyware stuff
at least and perhaps a separate trojan scanner. It's also a good idea to
load a second AV product but NOT to have it running full time or with real
time protection enabled. It's good for the times when you're still skeptical
about the file and want to double check it against another AV's opinion or
when you KNOW there's a problem and your AV is telling you that there isn't.
In those instances a second opinion is a good thing.

Galen

 

[Guest]

Thanks. I'll check some of your suggestions out.

Cheers,

Jim