If her frustration with the lack of access lasted for a long enough period of time for her to create notes "all over", I would suspect that she would take the easy way, and wait for her dad to leave the computer unattended long enough to hijack his session and create her own account, or as Rocky said, watch him long enough to discover where the password note is, or even bring a friend over who has the expertise, tools and skills to crack the Admin password. She obviously isn't going to "fess up", since she probably wants to be able to use the same method the next time. My suspicion would be the Social Engineering method. In my experience, XP and 2000 are not trivial to crack. -----Original Message----- From: Rocky Gregory [mailto:rockygregory@dsl-only.net] Sent: Wednesday, January 01, 2003 10:07 PM To: emetzler@private; crime@private Subject: RE: CRIME Microsoft Windows XP question Was the password long and difficult enough that he had to write it down to remember it? -----Original Message----- From: owner-crime@private [mailto:owner-crime@private] On Behalf Of Edward J. Metzler Sent: Wednesday, January 01, 2003 9:10 PM To: crime@private Subject: CRIME Microsoft Windows XP question I recently built a computer for a friend using Windows XP Pro. I made very sure that I used a nine digit reasonably strong password - number, special character, upper and lower case letters. I made him the administrator and the only person with an account. I updated his installation with all of the available XP updates from Microsoft. His daughter, who does not seem to have strong computer knowledge, cracked in and made herself administrator and her login appears on the front screen. My friend assures me that he has not related his password to his daughter. He said that she had notes all over as she apparently was trying to break in using various words that she thought her dad might use. When I asked his daughter how she did it, she said something about reconfiguring the startup....she couldn't remember what she did. Here are my questions: 1. How is it possible to login to Windows XP without knowing the password? 2. What can I do about it? Any ideas out there? Edward J. Metzler aCCredo Corp. -- Proactive Risk Management 13267 SW Bull Mountain Road Tigard, OR 97224 Direct: 503-624-2124; Fax: 503-624-5723; Cell: 503-805-7758 http://www.accredo.com emetzler@private This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately.
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