Did you lock yourself out of your Windows system? Â Forgot your Windows password? Â What is the best Windows password recovery?
The best way is to have a Windows Recovery disc ready. Â But this is something you must do BEFORE you get locked out.
reset-password
There are tools you can use to get into your system, but the first think you should try is to use “Administrator” as the user with no password. Â “Administrator” is a default account on Windows systems. Â On Windows 7 it is disabled by default but if someone has used the account you may be able to use it as backdoor into the system.
If their is not Administrator account and no Windows Recovery disc you will have to use a Windows password recovery tool. Â ONTP&RE is a password recovery tool that allows quick access to windows systems.
2. Â Unzip ONTP&E: Â Files are compressed into 1 folder named ( cd110511.zip). Â Unzip the file.
3.  Create CD with ISO:  Set the cd disc creator into ‘image to  disc’’. Burn the image to the cd.  Each CD burner software is different, so you will have to figure out how to create a CD from the ISO.  Sometimes its as easy as double clicking the ISO but it depends on the type of software.
4. Â Reboot & Insert: Â Actually, you need to make sure your Windows system is able to boot from the CD. Â Once its done , insert the cd back to the CD ROM Â and reboot your computer.
5. Â Computer Boot from CD: Â As your computer reboots, keep hitting F2 to go through the BIOS. Â Select “Boot Options”. Â Some versions of BIOS call this “Boot”. Â But the idea is the same. Â Go into the BIOS and make sure CDROM is on the top of the list for boot options. Â This means that the computer first looks at the CD before going to the Hard Drive. Â Instructions on modifying BIOS settings will be listed on the page.
6.  Boot into ONTRE:  Once the BIOS boot option is set, save and exit.  Your system will boot into your ONTRE disc.  Software will start running. Just follow the steps.  “Press enter” to boot into the “Offline NT Password & Registry Editor” CD.
screen shot of Offline NT Password & Registry Editor
7. Â Select an Account: Â It will ask you to select an account. Â If you hit “Enter” it will automatically boot into the [Administrator] account.
*note: Anything in [brackets] is the default value, so if you hit “Enter” it will auto-magically choose that [bracket] value.. its a linux thing.. you wouldn’t understand.
If you choose the “Administrator” account, you may need to Enable the account since the built-in Administrator account is  disabled by default in certain versions of Windows.
8.  Enable Built-in Administrator Account:  The Windows account  needs to be enabled.  Select 4  and enter ‘to Unlock and enable user Account’.
windows ontpre menu
9. Â Clear (blank) User Password: Â After selecting 4-Unlock and Enable user account, you will be sent back to the User Edit Menu. If you want to clear the Administrator password (if it has one) then hit enter or type Administrator and Select 1 and “Enter” – to clear the user password.
10.  Save Changes:  Once you have made all the changes you want (enabled the Administrator account & cleared any passwords), you are ready for the next step.  Hit  ‘!’ and enter.
Windows ONTP&RE password save change
On the screen it asks ‘What to do’?  hit q to quit. You will see:
Step FOUR: Â Writing back changes
“About to write file(s) back.  Do it ?’’
Hit   Y  and enter to save changes.
11. Â Last Step: Â Hit “Ctrl-Alt-Del” to reboot and eject the cd quickly. Â This will allow the system to boot into Windows on the Hard drive.
You can now login as “Administrator” with NO password.
Once you are in as Administrator you can change passwords of any local accounts in Control Panel | Users.
I like Windows XP, but I don’t much like Vista. I tried it for a few months and found it gorgeous to look at and fairly easy to navigate. I didn’t much care for the search feature. I actually use search for just about everything on Windows XP, but Vista would find everything. For example, if applications weren’t made for Vista, it would find them or show them in the Add/Remove Programs. Which brings me to that subject. Its so new that it still lacks the drivers to support even my fairly recently purchased printer. I also had trouble running VMWare and other applications. VMWare 6.0 must be purchased to work fully with Vista. I got VMWare 5.x to work partially, but it would do strange things like shut down the computer for seemingly no reason or not run certain operating systems (Ubuntu) from a disc. Ubuntu did work as an ISO image on my local computer, though.
Vista has potential to be a great Desktop OS in about a year when more vender’s support it and it becomes the new standard, but until then I will stick with XP and use Vista for practice. I really enjoyed the Media Center (which is also in some version of XP). I would NOT use it as any kind of operational system running critical resources. I’ve heard Windows 2003 Server is good stuff and I wouldn’t doubt it.
When XP first came out I was all about 2000 and not fully convinced about the new kid on the block. I now feel the same about Vista. One thing I am definitely sick of is that Microsoft releases Vista and then promises to completely stop supporting Windows XP some time in the summer of 2008. This forces everyone to move to Vista. That is pretty aggressive and I am personally not going to take it any more. I’m going to start moving to Ubuntu slowly but surely. I’d like to stay on top my MS OS skills but I don’t want to be completely at their mercy anymore.
The normal.dot error in MS Work 97-2003 is annoying to say the very least. The Normal.dot is the main default template file in Microsoft Word. Because it contains a lot of customization settings, it is prone to corruption.
1) Use Window 9x/2000/XP out of the box DO NOT bother to reconfigure it
Don't create any login accounts with strong passwords Do all work from the adminstrator account (Windows does this out automatically so don't do anything) Do not bother with patches no matter how critical (Windows will prompt you to update, just ignore it) Don't disable the guest account Don't change the name of default administrator account Enable as many network protocols as you can
2) Use Internet Explorer
If you want your system to get infected with all kinds of malware DO NOT use Firefox or anytype of pop up blockers When you use IE, don't increase the security under: Tools | Internet Options | Security tab, just leave it as is Ensure all Java and ASP scripting languages are enabled, allowing other computers to load software on your computer remotely Never patch Internet Explorer
3) Connect directly to the Internet
Do not use any kind of firewall Do not use Network Adress Translation (which will hide your IP adress) Do not load SP2 for Window XP
4) Surf the deadliest sites with no protection
Surf Serial/Crack/Warez sites and always completely trust their sites Porn sites with no protection Screen Saver sites “hacker sites” not all hackers sites just “black hats” and script kiddie type sites Find dark IRCs
5) Behavior that will help you get your system infected.
Download Screen Savers from site you are not sure about Open emails from people you don't know If you get a Security Warning that says “Do you want to download XXXXPROCUT NAMEXXX..” Don't even bother reading the rest just click yes.
6) Software that is more than likely infected
Tools bars that automatically download without your permission Kazaa and some other free P2P tools
List of Tools for faster Infection:
Internet Explorer (Firefox can affectively block malware) Broadband/DSL (use of a firewall using Network Adress Translation will hide you system) Windows 9.x/2k/XP (open source OSes such as Linux are less likely to be hacked)
I've surfing on my Windows 2000 system while completely exposed to the Internet on my DMZ. No firewalls, no anti-virus, not even a pop-up blocker. The box is exploited immediately.
Many of the default configuration on a fresh Windows 2000 box are just plain ridiculous. For example, the C$, and parts of the root are shared out on earlier versions of Windows 2000. Message services, port 139 and other very easy to exploit applications and services are turned on by default on Windows 2000.
It is no wonder Windows systems are always getting taken down. Just turning off some of those services do quite a bit to close some of the holes on Windows boxes. With broadband getting more popular, the combination of unprotected systems and the viral marketing of malicious code are creating a storm on the Internet. An unprotected system is rendered completely useless in a matter of weeks (days and hours if you surf porn or serial sites).
Here are some of the vulnerabilities on Windows systems at SANS.org.
In all honesty, if you have a good firewall, virus protection, maybe a pop-up stopper and a good security configuration you could have a Windows 98 machine and NEVER get a virus.
A Microsoft patch meant to fix critical security flaws in Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 is causing trouble for some users, the company said Friday.
