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following steps to reset your password. Please note that resetting your password in this manner will prevent future access to any files that have been encrypted using the "Encrypted File System" (EFS) available in Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista.

1. Click on the "Start" button in the lower left-hand corner, and choose the "Run..." option.

2. Type in "CMD" and click once on the "Ok" button.\

3. Type in the following phrase and hit the "Enter" key on the keyboard: NET USER <your account name> <your password>

You should replace the <your account name> with the name of the account that your normally use to log in to the computer, and <your password> with the password that you want to set on your account.

4. You should now be able to log off the Administrator session and log in using your normal account with the new password that you just set.

If this does not work because the Administrator account password has been reset and you cannot log on, there is still one other thing you can do. However, you may need to go to another computer that has a CD-burner installed in order to create the bootable CD with the password cracking software.

This second method requires you to download the appropriate file located at http://ophcrack.sourceforge.ne t. The file at this location will download as an "ISO" file, which is basically an image file that can be easily burned to a blank CD to turn it into a bootable CD with the password crack software preinstalled and ready to go. Once you have downloaded the file, you will need to burn this image to a blank CD, and take it to the computer to which you have forgotten the password.

Insert the CD into the CD-Rom drive, and reboot the computer. If the computer does not boot from the CD-Drive, you will need to follow your computer's operating instructions to reset your BIOS to allow your computer to start from the CD.

Once the CD has booted up, you can simply sit and wait. It will automatically detect most computer configurations, and start "hacking" the passwords of all user accounts on the computer almost immediately. On most systems, I have found that it takes anywhere from three to fifteen minutes to obtain a full list of all user accounts and their associated passwords.

There are two last things to consider:

1. All passwords returned will show as being all uppercase letters. For some reason, the Ophcrack program does not return passwords showing the appropriate case. However, once you see the password, it should be relatively quick to attempt the possible password permutations to determine what the actual password is. For example, if your password is "CaPiTaLlEtTeR", it will be displayed as "CAPITALLETTER".

2. If the security of the computer has been enhanced, the ophcrack software may not be able to access the database that stores the user passwords. In this case, it cannot be used to recover your password and an alternative system will be required.

Losing your password may be one of the most frustrating things that happens to you, but recovery is not impossible. It just takes being a little bit smarter than your computer.

Learn more about this author, Alan Fernald.
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