Solution for a lost password: a utility that gets around it
Q: My son forgot his Windows password. He didn’t tie it to a Microsoft account, and we don’t have an operating system disk or password reset disk. Is there a way to reset the password?
A: Passwords, by their very nature, are designed to keep people out of computers that don’t have the password to access the system.
That being said, Windows computers that are password-protected are not completely invulnerable.
There are a number of password crack utilities available that will allow you to bypass the password on this computer.
The tool I have successfully used is NTPASSWD, which can be downloaded from tinyurl.com/ helpline password.
It’s not a very intuitive process. You will need to create a bootable disk and manage to navigate some rather confusing menus to be able to reset the login password on the PC, but it will work.
Once you have regained access to the computer, I would recommend creating a password recovery disk to prevent this from happening again.
You can find instructions on how to do this with a web search on terms like “How to Create a Windows Password Reset Disk.”
When you have created the disk, put it someplace safe so you can find it if this happens again.
I would also suggest tying your Windows login to a Microsoft account. This would also help you get access to the computer if you find yourself in this position again.
You can find information on how to do this at tinyurl.com/helpinewin10account.
Q: Can you recommend a password manager? It is becoming quite difficult to keep up with all my different passwords.
A: In an ideal world, we should all use a different password for every service and system we access. But the truth is that it can be very cumbersome keeping track of them all.
This is where password managers can help.
With a password manager, you basically store all of your passwords in a vault that can then be used to automatically enter passwords into the various applications you need to access.
The vault is encrypted and protected with a master password.
I suggest taking a look at password managers like Dashlane, LastPass or 1Password. All of these are good solutions for managing passwords.