Answers to your questions
I have a laptop that has the administrator password set to restrict access but nobody knows what the password is.
Could there be a way to crack the password?
In Windows XP during setup it makes you create an account when you setup your computer. Compaq's generally make one for you called compaq_administrator. If you get to the Welcome Screen you should be able to press control alt delete (possibly twice can't remember) It will take you to the logon screen. Try administrator with no password. If you are locked out of both your account and this account then your out of luck. If you can get in your aco**** or the administrator account you can reset the password of the other account by going to computer management local users and groups and right clicking on the account and choosing reset password. If you have XP home this method may not work. Try booting into safe mode using f8 during boot and choosing safe mode. Safe mode will take you into the adminstrator account and you can use it to reset your password.
I can't go too much into hacking your OS, but I'll give you some tips. There is a bootable cd called Hiren's that'll do it, and ERD commander. Hiren's seems to be free and ERD is really expensive. Do a search and you should find it.
Can I just insert an XP CD and reload or will it tell me I don't have admin access? I would like to clean the PC up and get the network software off. Novell etc. Really makes the poor laptop a dog.
You can use the restore cd's or press the restore key to restore your computer without having to provide any sort of credentialls. If it's a clone or there are no restore cd's you can use your windows xp disk to reload your computer. I believe the repair option will perserve the passwords.
Any tips to reloading this would be appreciated.
Depends on your computer. From a normal XP disk, I believe it should be boot from CD choose enter, f8. It should detect your previous OS. Choose continue, choose format and install. The install is pretty straight forward. It will ask for a cd key, it should be on a sticker on the side of your computer. If it is a retail version it will be in the box it came with. If you have an upgrade version and you boot from the cd it ususally asks you to validate you have a previous version by putting it in for a sec while it scans the cd.
