9 replies to this topic

[Eldmannen]

I dont know my password to my user account on Windows XP.
Maybe I dont have any password?

I only have one user account on the system, and when I start the computer, I dont have to specify the password, it automatically logs in, just like I want it.

Do I have any password?
Is there any way for me to retrieve my password?

[rridgely]

If it just automatically logs in than you probably dont have a password.(I dont think I do either.)

I think you can change it under user accounts in the control panel

[Eldmannen]

Yeah, I suspect I a might not have a password, but not 100% sure since I havent needed to "login" in many years.

In control panel, it says "Set password" which also lead me to think I dont have any password. But if I dont remember wrong, I think I once enabled the "password protect" checkbox for the screensaver and then couldnt escape back from the screensaver when it asked for password.

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I have only one user account (it has administrator privilegies).
But I was wondering if I could setup another account, so that I have one with administrator privilegies and one without. But it should never ask me to login or ask me to choose what user I want to be logged in as. It always should autologin (like it does now) to the user account without admin privilegies then when I need admin prvilegies I right-click on the .exe and select "Run as..." and select administrator, and type the password.

What do you think about that? sounds like a good idea, dont it? is it possible?

[rridgely]

Your doing it for security reasons right?(limited access to registry)

It sounds like a good idea but like you I dont think its possible. You could easily set up a new account but I dont think there is a way to automatically boot to one of them.

To be honest as long as I have been using computers I never used accounts, so I dont know all the ins and outs with them. Maybe someone else might know more.

[Eldmannen]

Yeah, I had thoughts of doing it for security reason.

Most of the time using computer you dont really need administrator privilegies, so its just an unneeded risk to run with previlegies when you dont need them.

I never really used accounts either, I enjoyed just having one account that it automatically login to and no hassle. But recently I thought if I could improve the security.

[YoKenny]

I only have one administrator account but have EXTENSIVE protection on Internet Explorer, run Kerio v2.1.5 firewall, WinPatrol and Microsoft anti-spyware and have never had a problem. (knocks on wood)

The only question is how to log back into the administrator account after automatically loging into the user account.
Maybe you have to log off then the two accounts would show up so that you can select the next one to log into.

I would prefer installing prevention protection than messing around with user accounts that still can get infected with some of the nasties out there.
The malware purveyers are getting more and more devious these days.

[rridgely]

YoKenny, on Dec 27 2005, 01:30 AM, said:

I only have one administrator account but have EXTENSIVE protection on Internet Explorer, run Kerio v2.1.5 firewall, WinPatrol and Microsoft anti-spyware and have never had a problem.  (knocks on wood)

Everyone does this but having limited access not only limits your access but the access of everything(good or bad). I would consider doing this but I'm too lazy to have to log in everytime I boot my pc.

Quote

The only question is how to log back into the administrator account after automatically loging into the user account.
Maybe you have to log off then the two accounts would show up so that you can select the next one to log into.

Thats exactly how I would expect it to work.

[Andavari]

A major problem with a limited-user account is not being able to remove some stuff, especially things related to spyware infestation in the registry, however changing the account type to an admin account can alleviate that problem. The only thing I don't like about multiple user accounts is the utter pain when cleaning up an infected system since each account has to be cleaned individually due to spyware registry keys, etc.

Although I was bitten just a couple of months ago using an admin account, and then decided after a full format and OS reinstall to strickly use a limited-user account when online I quickly found after a few days that I absolutely couldn't stand the limited-user account and thus deleted it with much joy.

[Eldmannen]

YoKenny, on Dec 27 2005, 06:30 AM, said:

The only question is how to log back into the administrator account after automatically loging into the user account.
Maybe you have to log off then the two accounts would show up so that you can select the next one to log into.

It should autologin (like it does now) to the user account without admin privilegies then when I need admin privilegies I right-click on the .exe file which need admin privilegies and select "Run as..." from the menu and select administrator, and type the password.

[Mike Rochip]

Unfortunatetly this post won't be helpful but...

I think what you want to do IS possible because I somehow did it accidentally on my PC. My computer always booted to one account, no password needed, but I could go to the start menu and Log Off the current user, click Switch User and Log In to another account that appeared to be almost identical to the first one. I eliminated the second account once I found it. If I can figure out how I did it I will post again. What was strange to me is that the second account never appeared in the Users section of the Control Panel. I had started a thread some time ago asking if anyone else had encountered this but got no replies.