Wife lost/forgot password to her xp machine, I've heard you can boot to linux, then go into windows and make yourself admin. Restart windows and reset or make new accounts. Anyone ever done this before?

Heres a better way, when you turn ur PC on hold F8 a menue should soon pop up and select Boot In Safe Mode when you get to the login screen there should be a new account named Administrator. Select Administrator and once your logged in windows will ask you if you want to contune in Safe Mode, select yes, then go to the user account settings and from there you can delete the password.

Hi there, to enthersise on what broken89 has just stated, in normal mode, when you come to the welcome screen press ctrl + alt + del twice, type the user name Administrator, then click ok, this will then log you onto another account, now just follow these easy steps:

*Click Start
*Control Panel
*User Accounts
*Click your wifes username
*Then click change the password
*Type your new password
*Confirm it
*Set a reminder if you wish
*Logoff
*Logon to your wifes account with the new password

Its probably best to set a reminder this time , If you have any problems lets us know

Well i had never known you could do that lol i guess you learn something new every day

Thanks! You guys are great. Now, how can I prevent someone with the same information from getting into my pc?

"how can I prevent someone with the same information from getting into my pc?"

set admin password on administrator account your lucky one was not set. There is a linux boot cd that edits the .sam file it's great I have a copy of it. It's good if an admin password has been set

So many people leave the admin password blank! I think MS should have put a note about it when you first get the PC tbh.