PC help please...

I have a friend who received a used Dell desktop as a gift.<br>Unfortunately he can not log-in because Windows keeps asking for the administrator's password.<br>How can he override this?<br>Can he start up from the Windows CD and erase the hard drive and start over?<br>Thank you.<br><br><br><br>

Put the CD in and reboot, it should come to a screen asking what device you want to boot from, as long as the bios is set to look for the CD as a boot drive.<br><br>If not it's F2, F8, or F12 to get to the bios setup. It says what key to push in the upper right of the boot screen.<br><br>My Dell shares it's screen with the SO's Mac so I can't check now, she's busing it.<br><br>Man I love Windows, so user friendly. <br><br>Edit - I would recommend a wipe anyway since they have no idea what shape it may be in, viruses etc.<br><br>------> JD's Trivia game<br><br>------> MCF-MM Trivia game<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Reboot on 02/13/08 03:00 PM (server time).</EM></FONT></P>

Yep, I'd wipe it clean as well and start from scratch. And make sure there's at least an active firewall, preferably a virus scan also before going online to get all the updates. Otherwise it might be a second go on the wipe&install.<br><br>

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>How can he override this?<p><hr></blockquote><p>A phone call to the dude/dudette who gave it to them asking WTF?? would help ;)<br><br>What version of winders are we talking?<br><br>In XP you can reset the password without reinstalling the OS.<br><br>Look here for step by step instructions It's easy, you can easily do it -->linky<br><br>It also gives instructions on how to make a reset disk if they have a floppy.<br><br>Also there are some programs to do it -->Linky<br><br><br>Hey I'm an F'n Jerk!®

Thank you<br><br>

My response is usually, "I'm so sorry for you." <br><br><br>

Seven years ago I probably would have said that.<br>Now I just figure it's their loss.<br>I just thought of something...<br>I've convinced a lot of people to buy Macs but as far as I can remember I've never convinced a PC person to switch to a Mac.<br>Some of my friends have switched but I don't think it was because of me.<br><br><br><br>

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>I have a friend who received a used Dell desktop as a gift.<p><hr></blockquote><p><br>Now THAT is a depressing Valentine's tale <br><br>Granted, there are worse viruses one could get.<br><br>nagr[color:red]o</font color=red>mme<br><br>I require stroyent!<br>TeamMacOSX.com | MacClan.net

So what did your friend do to piss off the person that gave him the Dell ? <br><br>man someone giving you a PC is like getting the flu from a friend. "Thanks for NOTHIN' !! <br><br>David (OFI)

The main thing is it isn't me.<br>As a matter of fact, my 8800 GT Mac Pro should ship to me today.<br><br><br>

You people have no mercy. Where's Akula?<br>As I was saying to Nagromme, at least it isn't me.<br>I haven't even seen the computer so I don't know if it's really, really bad or just plain bad. <br><br><br>

"You people have no mercy. Where's Akula?"<br><br>hey, we like to keep excitement in the forums !!<br><br>keep the "edge" up !!<br><br>Akula is probably off repairing his Windows. <br><br>David (OFI)

Seriously, I'd do the wipe and reinstall. I'd recommend that if it were a Mac, too.<br><br>

Yes, that's what I would do if I had a Mac also <br>My problems with the PC are two fold...<br>1. I've never done a wipe and reinstall on a PC. I figured that would be a a good way to do it but I wasn't sure it could be done.<br>2. The PC is not in front of me. I'm not sure what the guy is working with.<br>Thanks<br><br><br>

It's behind you! mwahaha...<br><br>[color:purple]A lopsided man runs best along the little side-hills of success<br>- Frank Moore Colby</font color=purple>

That is a good question. I've never had to do that on a Widows machine, since I don't own one. I'm assuming that your friend does not have a Windows install disk? (Gawd! He'd have to install all of the service packs, too!)<br><br><br>

It's pretty much the same with Windows, as it is with Macs. Apart from the service packs, of course.<br><br>Oh, the d/l and install of the service packs (and all the security updates and whatnot) shouldn't take too long*, depending on the connection. However, I wouldn't really recommend downloading them with any connection under 1 MB/s. In any case though, for that stuff one should book the whole evening at least.<br><br>*relative expression<br><br>

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>Oh, the d/l and install of the service packs (and all the security updates and whatnot) shouldn't take too long*<p><hr></blockquote><p>Very relative expression. If I remember right after installing XP with SP2 there were over 70 updates done in at least three different restarts. <br><br>------> JD's Trivia game<br><br>------> MCF-MM Trivia game

I updated XP a few months ago and 60 or 70 sounds about right... but it was worse than you describe:<br><br>Windows (and Microsoft's update site too!) did not know the ORDER that those updates must be done in! And it does matter. When Apple Software Update shows ONLY those updates you are now ready for, and then afterward shows news ones (if any), that's a privilege we should not take for granted.<br><br>Windows Update offered a ton of updates, about HALF of which could not actually be completed because others were needed first. Reboot and retry. A few more made it this time. Repeat. Repeat. MORE than three times. And it didn't just check an update and then fail--it would actually download the whole update, THEN spend time trying it, and eventually fail... and then discard the update so the system had to re-download it to try (and probably fail) the next time. <br><br>But the icing on the cake: the failures were for a very simple reason--the system was not YET ready for them--but Microsoft displayed no intelligible message to that effect! I got obscure, technical sounding, and non-specific error messages instead. Along with a suggestion to see the help site for more info--but naturally, no actual LINK to the help page! So I manually TYPED the help address shown in the error dialog, got to the help site, and had to now search manually for the terms in the error. The multiple help page(s) for the error said LESS--that's right, less--than the original error message.<br><br>And not one hint in the errors or the help docs suggested this might be a normal expected part of EVERY large Windows update, caused by updates being attempted (by Windows itself and not in your control) out of order. People see these errors thousands of times a day, yet Microsoft has never phrased them clearly, nor even documented their clear and explanable cause. Not anyplace I could find--and I wasted a LOT of time looking.<br><br>And nowhere in the errors or the help did it say what to DO about the errors. The answer is simple and they could have told me instead of letting me flounder: just keep rebooting and retrying. But nothing told me that. I figured it out eventually.<br><br>Naturally I wanted the update done RIGHT, not just completed after a ton of errors and wondering what state my system was in and what the future might hold. But I had no indication of whether this procedure was "OK" or not. (I guess it was--it's what Windows users expect and accept?)<br><br>I could not believe it.<br><br>nagr[color:red]o</font color=red>mme<br><br>I require stroyent!<br>TeamMacOSX.com | MacClan.net

Hmmm. I just did a recent reinstall of XP Home SP2 on the kid's pc because I was putting in a fresh hard drive (old hard drive has my files). I used Express Mode and didn't have any problems. 95 or so percent were done within 20-30 minutes. The other 5% were spread out and installed transparently enough. <br><br>Where I see that one problem you mentioned is the update KB934238* which is slotted to install first but actually requires .Net Framework 3.0 SP1 which should've come first (or maybe not. See below). I might've missed other similar problems because I did the reinstall a month ago. But, the rest of the updates were in the right sequence and installed fine.<br><br>Looking at Review Update History, there were a total of 60 items. 40 of those were KB934238.* It was the only item marked red. All the other updates were green.<br><br>KB934238 concerns updates to the printing components of XP. That pc has no printer hooked up (it's connected to kid's Mac Mini). Since there's no printer hooked up, XP quit looking for that particular update. <br><br>*So with XP SP2, the total updates were 20........at least on my kid's pc.<br><br><br> <br><br><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by tahoegazer on 02/16/08 10:10 PM (server time).</EM></FONT></P>

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>I just did a recent reinstall of XP Home SP2 on the kid's pc because I was putting in a fresh hard drive<p><hr></blockquote><p>You know, I really wonder WTF people do to their comps. All I ever see on these forums is "well dammit, wipe and reinstall!!!"<br><br>Holy crap people, that's the idiot's way out, and you waste half your life doing so. Not to mention wear and tear on the HD.<br><br>This old beat up athlon I'm typing on at the moment has been around for damn near 7 years. Granted, I've updated it a dozen times to keep it as current as possible... but it has NEVER been wiped and restored. I don't take it easy on a machine either.<br><br>Now, a new HD is certainly a good time to install windows over, but even when I've replaced or upgraded the HD in this thing - twice - I've never reinstalled Windows because frankly it's a PITA. Why waste an hour when you can normally fix the problem in 10 minutes? Like the lost password.<br><br>Praise the lord I'm not a dumb ass MCSE or reinstall is all I'd ever do.<br><br><br><br>Hey I'm an F'n Jerk!®

The idiots way out is to use a PC on a regular basis in the first place. <br><br>Wear and tear on the HD? With MTBF's being at least 1 million hours or more that's a lame one.<br><br>------> JD's Trivia game<br><br>------> MCF-MM Trivia game

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p> With MTBF's being at least 1 million hours or more that's a lame one.<p><hr></blockquote><p>lol... tell that to the massive amounts who bought IBM drives a few years back to only have them become bricks.<br><br>Magnetic media has a finite life span, period. Every time you read from it, or write to it you weaking it's magnetic signal and you decrease it's life. A drive that isn't defragged weekly will outlive one that is by at least two fold.<br><br>The only thing lame is thinking defragging and wiping/reinstalling on a regular basis doesn't have a negative effect on the hardware.<br><br><br><br>Hey I'm an F'n Jerk!®

Well to be fair, the Dell pc in question had a previous owner. I would reformat even if there was nothing wrong just to be sure there's no carryovers from the previous owner. I'd do exactly the same if I received a used Mac.<br><br>But no. I too wouldn't just reformat because it's the easy way out.<br><br>

Yeah, I agree with you because it's used.<br><br>But, if they just want it working it takes 10 minutes to reset the password. Then they can reformat at leisure, if need be.<br><br><br><br>Hey I'm an F'n Jerk!®

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>Magnetic media has a finite life span, period. Every time you read from it, or write to it you weaking it's magnetic signal and you decrease it's life. A drive that isn't defragged weekly will outlive one that is by at least two fold.<p><hr></blockquote><p>LOL. We were talking erasing and installing, not weekly defragging. You'll argue anything to try and prove you're right.<br><br>See ya' in the next thread.<br><br>------> JD's Trivia game<br><br>------> MCF-MM Trivia game

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>You'll argue anything to try and prove you're right.<p><hr></blockquote><p>Yeah, okay.. what about those IBM drives again?<br><br><br><br>Hey I'm an F'n Jerk!®

Yep. Been running a W2K for I guess 5 tears now on a PII box -- got it used with Windows NT on it. Zero re-installs and the BSODs I've had can be counted with the fingers on my right hand.<br><br>I've tweaked and tuned the OS and kept it quite clean all the time. That wipe&reinstall only comes to play with a used computer, and that's it. I've had to move some installations manually on a separate drive in order to save space on the OS partition and then had to fiddle around the register as the installers gave only the C: drive and documents and settings folder as target.<br><br>Lot of people will do the wipe&reinstall thing every time windows starts acting up, because they think it is the easiest way out. Just goes to show how difficult the maintenance has been made, IMO, with hiding a lot of the stuff under various menus and submenus so it may seen easier to to just start from scratch, although then it takes a whole lot more time. Not to mention then you have to reinstall all of your software on top, which is another PITA to do.<br><br>Granted, I've used PCs since DOS days and 286 boxes. Macs more extensively since OS 8 days. The very first thing I noticed years ago with my first Mac, beige G3 with OS 8 was how much simpler the system maintenance was.<br><br>

That's why I buy only Seagate.<br><br>------> JD's Trivia game<br><br>------> MCF-MM Trivia game

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>The very first thing I noticed years ago with my first Mac, beige G3 with OS 8 was how much simpler the system maintenance was.<p><hr></blockquote><p>Exactly, like you mentioned that's why Windows users wipe and install more. Much less user friendly the way things are buried.<br><br>------> JD's Trivia game<br><br>------> MCF-MM Trivia game