Archive for the ‘Tips & Tricks’ category

3 Handy Password Recovery Tips In Case You Forgot Windows Password

June 12th, 2012 by Admin

As it’s known to us, a strong password is an important aspect of computer security. Many computer users set an extremely complicated Windows password consisting of various numbers, characters and symbols. It will greatly improve the system security without doubt. But if the user has bad memory, the complex Windows password can be easily forgotten. At that time, one has to find some Windows password recovery tips to unlock the computer.

Have you thought of some tips to avoid the problem of forgetting Windows password? Never write your password on a sticky note plastered to a desk or monitor. If you are easy to forgot Windows password, you can make full of features in Widows: set a password hint to help you recover your Windows password, and create a password reset disk to reset Windows password if your password is forgotten or lost.

1. Set a Windows password Hint

Some systems, like Windows 7, Vista and XP, allow you to create a password hint so that you can get some clues to recall your forgotten Windows password. You can create a password hint easily when you set a Windows password to log on to computer. Please note if your computer is on domain (Active Directory), you cannot create a password hint.

The Windows password hint should be something that can help you recall your forgotten Windows password while it will not leak your Windows password to others. But don’t set a password hint that is easy for others to guess your actual Windows password.

2. Create Windows Password Reset Disk

If you think password hint is not a good option or you can’t think of a good password hint, you can turn to the option of creating a Windows password reset disk. It will be useful for you to reset Windows password if you forgot Windows password in further. Follow these steps to create a Windows password reset disk in advance:

  1. Click Start button, Control Panel, User Accounts and Family Safety and User Accounts.
  2. Click Create a password reset disk in the left pane.
  3. The Forgotten Password Wizard will open, insert a USB flash drive and then click Next.
  4. Select the USB drive which you want to create a password reset disk on, and then click Next.
  5. Enter your current password, and then click Next.
  6. When the progress indicator shows 100% complete, and then click Finish.

Once the Windows password reset disk is created, it can be repeatedly used to reset Windows password without limitation. If it falls into hands of others, he or she will be able to enter your computer by performing Windows password reset with the USB drive. So please keep your password disk in a safe place.

3. Windows Password Recovery

With the development of technology, you can not only set a Windows password composed of letters, numbers and symbols, but also create a password with fingerprint. If you are a Window 7 user, you can enable fingerprint logon.

If you forgot Windows password and don’t have a password disk, you can resort to Windows Password Recovery software such as Password Recovery Bundle. It allows you to easily reset lost or forgotten Windows password by burning a bootable password reset disk. Boot your locked computer from it and you can remove forgottten Windows password instantly.

Create a Windows System Repair Disc for Emergency Use

June 11th, 2012 by Admin

When faced with a computer that won’t start most people tend to panic, worried that all the data on their PC is gone forever. There are many reasons why a computer won’t boot up, it may be due to a blue screen, virus infect or some critical system files are missing or damaged. I don’t know when you are going to have your next computer disaster but I’m sure you are going to have one. So it is always a good idea to prepare a Windows System Repair Disc for emergency use.

Windows System Repair Disc allows users to boot the computer and load Windows Recovery Environment. Windows Recovery Environment offers users a set of recovery tools to help diagnose the problems, recover serious technical errors and restore the computer from a system image. Users can create this repair disc and bring along with their computer/laptop for any emergency use.

Let’s go through the steps you need to do to create a system repair disc that you can use to repair your system.

Part 1: Creating A System Repair Disc

Before you proceed, insert a blank CD/DVD into your CDROM in order to create a system repair disk.

Press Windows + R key combination to bring up the Run box. Type recdisc and press Enter. Another option is to click Start > All Programs > Maintenance > Create a System Repair Disc.

The dialog box opens where you select the right drive and click Create disc.

Windows system will start to prepare the necessary files.

And proceed to create the disc.

After a while, a System Repair Disc will be fine. It only takes up 142MB of space.

Part 2: How To Use A System Repair Disc

If you are having problems with your machine  or the system is failed to boot, just pop in the System Repair Disc and boot from it and enter into Windows Setup [EMS Enabled].

 After it boots up you can access recovery tools or restore the computer back to a system image.

Now you can choose from different recovery options to help you get your machine back up and running.

You never know when an operating system disaster might occur, but having a System Repair Disc is advisable in case it does. Even though this repair disc doesn’t allow users to reinstall the whole Windows OS, it can be a pretty useful tool to boot up Windows and allow users to backup some important data without much delay.

How to Log on to Windows if You Forgot Administrator Password

June 11th, 2012 by Admin

I’m having trouble logging into my user account under Windows 7. It seems that my password is no longer valid and now I can’t get in. The only way I can login to the system is to do so under my son’s account which does not have administrative rights. Also, when I go to Control Panel -> Users (under my son’s account), my user account is not listed. Any ideas how I can resolve this? “

Depending on the access level applied to your son’s account, he may / may not be able to see any other accounts listed on the system. In his case, the access level is low enough that Windows 7 will not display any other user accounts.

The best option here is to reset your account password. You can do this using Password Recovery Bundle. To reset Windows administrator password, first you need to download Password Recovery Bundle onto any other accessible computer (not your locked PC), then follow the steps below:

Part 1: Create a Windows Password Reset Disk

before the work, prepare a blank CD/DVD or a USB drive. Then install and run Password Recovery Bundle on your computer, and you’ll get the interface as follow.

Insert a blank CD, DVD or USB drive into the computer, and click on the Windows Password button. It will prompt a ISO Burning dialog. Choose your prepared disc and click Start Burn button, you’ll get a bootable Windows Password Reset Disk.

Part 2:  Set Your Locked PC to Boot from Windows Password Reset Disk

Boot your locked computer. When it is powered on, check the boot-screen for setup key (i.e. DELETE key, F8 key, F2 key) to enter BIOS Setup Utility.Use the arrow keys to select the BOOT tab, then change the Boot Device Priority:  Set 1st Boot Device to CDROM or Removable Device. Press F10 to save your changes.

Part 3: Reset Windows Administrator Password

Insert the Windows password reset disk you’ve created into the locked computer. Restart the computer. The computer will load the Windows password reset disk. Once it launches the Reset Windows Password program,  you can see Windows SAM registry hive and all user accounts available on your computer.

Choose the administrator account and click Reset Password button. The program will reset your forgotten administrator password immediately. The last step is to take out of the Windows password reset disk and restart your computer. You’ll find that the computer doesn’t ask you for any password, and you can log on to Windows successfully. To set a new password, make sure that it’s a safe password and you’ll never forget it anymore.

How to Change SA Password in SQL Server 2005

June 11th, 2012 by Admin

Forgot SQL Server password and unable to login using the SA account? If you happen to forget your SQL Server password for sa account, then here’s a simple query to help you reset it:

GO
ALTER LOGIN sa WITH DEFAULT_DATABASE=master
GO
USE master
GO
ALTER LOGIN sa WITH PASSWORD=N'MyNewPassword' MUST_CHANGE
GO

In case you remember your old password and want to change the sa password, use this query:

ALTER LOGIN sa WITH PASSWORD = N'MyNewPassword' OLD_PASSWORD = 'MyOldPassword';
GO

You aslo can get a third-party tool to change SQL password. SQL Server Password Changer is one of the best MS SQL password reset tools which can help you change SQL Server password in a few seconds. It allows you to change SQL sa password on SQL Server and Express 2000/2005/2008.

How to Recover MDB Password of MS Access Database

June 10th, 2012 by Admin

MS Access MDB files are used to save data in database form. We can protect MS Access database with password for the security reasons. Sometimes you may forget the password of those files. In some cases we have to search for sample databases or project source databases on the internet or copying from friend’s computer. After the downloading, the Ms Access files encrypt with password by provider. If there is no hint or password from the uploader, what will you do? There is always a way to recover or unlock MDB password of MS Access database.

Access Password Recovery
is a small yet powerful software to recover MDB password from protected MS Access database.  Instantly unlock MS Access database, if you don’t know the original password. This software recovers the password-protected MDB files created with Microsoft Access 95/97/2000/Xp/2003.

How to Recover MDB Password of MS Access Database?

  1. Launch the Access Password Recovery program.
  2. Click the Start Recovery button, the File Open dialog box will appear. Select your password-protected MS Access database, then click the Openbutton.Access Password Recovery
  3. The program will decrypt and recover your MS Access password instantly.Access Password Recovery

MS Access uses a very weak encryption algorithm to encode the password, so you can recover MDB file password easily and quickly, no matter how strong the password is set.

Cisco Router Password Recovery Tutorial

June 7th, 2012 by Admin

If you work with Cisco routers I guarantee you will at some stage attempt to login to a router only to discover you can’t remember the password. When this happens you will be forced to execute the Cisco router password recovery process. Please note this specific process is primarily for Cisco 3600 and 3800 routers although may work on other models. Please check the Cisco website for more details.

1. Connect a standard rollover cable (console cable) to the router using the console port. Open a terminal emulation application (such as Hyper Terminal on Windows) and connect with the following settings:

  • 9600 baud rate
  • No parity
  • 8 data bits
  • 1 stop bit
  • No flow control

2. Power on the router and execute the break sequence in the first 90 seconds. Each terminal emulation application has its own break sequence, for example in Hyper Terminal on Windows simply click the “Break” key.

3. The router will now enter ROMMON. Enter “config-register 0x2142” and press return. This step bypasses the startup configuration where the existing passwords are stored. Next type “reset”, which reboots the router but ignores the saved configuration.

4. Once the router has rebooted answer “No” to all the initial setup procedure questions. Next enter enable mode by typing “en” and copy the start-up configuration to the running configuration by typing “copy startup-config running-config”.

5. Type “conf t” and then “enable secret <password>” in order to change the enable password.

6. Finally type “config-register 0x2102” and “write mem” to save the running-configuration to the startup configuration.

When the router re-boots, you will be able to access it using the new password you previously configured.

How to Change Directory Service Restore Mode (DSRM) Password

June 7th, 2012 by Admin

Directory Service Restore Mode (DSRM) password is set during the installation of Active Directory on a server. This password will be required when you boot up your domain controller in Directory Service Restore Mode by pressing F8. DSRM is required to restore the Active Directory database. Since, DSRM is used very rarely, there are chances that administrators might forget the password. This post explains an easy method to reset your DSRM password without knowing the old one.

Resetting DSRM password is possible on Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 domain controller using NTDSUTIL command.

Follow below simple steps to reset DSRM passoword:

  1. Open the command prompt in administrative mode.
  2. Type NTDSUTIL and hit enter
  3. Type SET DSRM PASSWORD and hit enter
  4. Type RESET PASSWORD ON SERVER NULL and hit enter
  5. Now you type the password that you wish to configure and hit enter
  6. Retype the password and again hit enter
  7. Type QUIT and exit NTDSUTIL

Here NULL denotes the server that you are logged in. If you want reset DSRM password on a remote computer, type the computer name instead of NULL.

If you forgot DSRM password or domain administrator password, you can always reset the password using Reset Windows Password – A professional password recovery software which enables you to create a Windows password reset disk and reset lost local administrator, domain administrator and DSRM passwords easily.

 

How to Add a Computer to Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain?

June 7th, 2012 by Admin

This post is for newbies, for the people who are learning Windows Server and Active Directory administration. Follow below steps for adding a computer or a member server to Windows Server 2008 Active Directory based domain.

  1. Go to Run and type ‘NCPA.CPL’ and launch Network settings.
  2. Configure IP address, Subnet Mask, Gateway IP (if any) and DNS IP address.
  3. Ensure connectivity by pining to DNS server / Domain Controller.
  4. Right click on ‘Computer’ and click on properties. Click on ‘Change Settings’.
  5. Click on ‘Change’ button at System Properties.
  6. Select ‘Domain’ and provide domain name. In this example its ‘training’.
  7. Click OK and provide user name and password of Domain Admin  or any other authorized user name.
  8. Reboot the computer to enable the changes.

If your are getting any errors while adding the computer to domain, there seems to be connection issues with Domain Controller. Go to the AD server and check if it is functioning properly. Also check the DNS IP configuration at the client computer. It should be pointing to the correct AD / DNS server.

If you forgot domain administrator password for your Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, you can easily reset the password using Password Recovery Bundle 2012.

How to Run a Program with Administrator Rights on Windows 7/Vista/XP

June 6th, 2012 by Admin

How to run a program with administrator rights on Windows 7/Vista/XP: Typically when you launch a program that requires administrative rights in Windows 7 or Vista, you are prompted for administrator credentials to continue. Sometimes, programs that were designed for older systems such as Windows XP may not even run or could be limited in functionality if they are not launched with administrator rights. In the following tutorial, I’ll cover the process of launching a program with administrator credentials. In addition I’ll show you how to make it so that programs are automatically launched with administrator rights and how to ensure that they run compatible with Vista if the program was produced for an older version of Windows.

How to run a program with Administrator Rights on Windows 7/Vista/XP:

  1. Browse to the program you would like to launch as an administrator.
  2. Right click the program icon and select the option to “Run as administrator“.

If all works well when the program is running as administrator, you can opt to always run the program as administrator. In addition, you might want to run the program in compatibility mode for an older version of Windows.

How to set a program to always run as administrator:

  1. Locate the program you want to launch with admin rights.
  2. Right click the program icon and choose the properties option.
  3. Select the compatibility tab from the window that appears.
  4. At the bottom of the window, under privilege level, check the box to run this program as administratorNote: you may also want to run this run this program in compatibility mode if it was originally created for another version of Windows such as Windows XP. To do this simply check the box to run this program in compatibility mode for: and then select the compatible Windows environment from the drop down menu.
  5. Once finished setting your options, click Apply to accept the changes.

Enjoy!

How to Create a Password Reset Disk in Windows 7

June 6th, 2012 by Admin

In Windows 7 there is a feature under User Account in Control Panel that allows you to create a password reset disk, what it does is simply create an encrypted key and store that key on a removable media. It can be used when you literary forgot your password of this account that you login to Windows 7 and all you need to do is have this piece of removable media available insert it into your Windows 7. It will then let you reset the password if you have the right encrypted key. It’s a good idea to create one for yourself or for your elderly parents who tend to have bad memories on their password.

Here is How to Create a Password Reset Disk:

First go to Control Panel > User Accounts and Family Safety > User Accounts

On the left menu bar, click on “Create a password reset disk

This will launch the Forgotten Password Wizard, now at this step you need to make sure to have a USB flash drive or Floppy available. (A blank CD or DVD will not work apparently)

Otherwise you will get an error like this. Once you have the USB stick ready, insert it to your machine and proceed to the next step of the wizard.

Since it’s already 2011 I wonder what kind machine will even have floppy disk. So I used a USB disk as an example here.

It will ask you to type the current password for the account that you are logged in to check and generate a encrypted key and store the key on the USB stick.

Once it’s finished you are safe to remove the USB stick. The only thing you need to make sure is don’t lose this USB stick !

Now you can click on “Reset password” in the login screen of Windows 7 if you’ve typed your password wrong or forgot your password.

Note:  Forgot Windows 7 password and don’t have a password reset disk? You can still reset Windows 7 password by using a professional Windows password recovery utility – Reset Windows Password, which allows you to create a universal password reset disk for removing forgotten Windows login password on any computer.