Recover Windows Password

By DustinPosted on

We’ve posted another article, this time for those that have forgotten your Windows password. I’ve gotten several email requests asking for help with this issue, and thought I’d put up a couple of my favorite tools. Enjoy.

Forgetting your password in Windows can be troublesome at the least. Windows Vista and 7 have a place to backup your password and make a recovery disc, but that usually hasn’t been done. Most people don’t think they will forget a password. Of course, there comes a time in your life when your brain doesn’t rememberwhat it used to, as you get older…. Or, you just forget a password after you try to set it to something hard to guess!

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Recover Windows Password

By DustinPosted on

Forgetting your password in Windows can be troublesome at the least. Windows Vista and 7 have a place to backup your password and make a recovery disc, but that usually hasn’t been done. Most people don’t think they will forget a password. Of course, there comes a time in your life when your brain doesn’t rememberwhat it used to, as you get older…. Or, you just forget a password after you try to set it to something hard to guess!

Here are a couple programs that can find or reset your password in any Windows NT based operating system (From Windows NT, 2000 – 7). You need to have the computer physically available, meaning you cannot do this over the network to try and “hack” a password.

1. Ophcrack

The first program, and often called “the best”, is a very fast and easy to use password cracker. I’ve used the boot disk often enough with excellent results. There is also another version that can run on the local machine if you happen to lose the password of a different user, but still have access to another local user.

Download: http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/
Ophcrack is a free Windows password cracker based on rainbow tables. It is a very efficient implementation of rainbow tables done by the inventors of the method. It comes with a Graphical User Interface and runs on multiple platforms

2. Offline NT Password & Registry Editor

The second program is another boot disk that is quite a bit smaller of a download and can fit on a floppy if needed. It works good, but has a few more caveats and is text based, rather than a GUI, like Ophcrack. This is also available on the UBCD (available: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com), if you want a more feature rich CD for fixing a lot of other PC problems.

Download: http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/bootdisk.html
I’ve put together a single floppy or CD which contains things needed to edit the passwords on most systems. The CD can also be installed on a USB drive, see readme.txt on the CD.

Either one of these programs will recover or reset your password in Windows. If you have any others you’ve had experience with, or have any suggestions, please feel free to comment!

Microsoft Squashes 1,800 Bugs in Office 2010

By DustinPosted on

Microsoft has found and fixed 1,800 bugs in their newest version of Office, 2010. While not all are security related, a few of them are. I’m glad they are taking a much more active approach to security lately. Didn’t Bill Gates say 10 years ago or so that he was starting a new campain to make Windows more secure? This must be the start!

“We found and fixed about 1,800 bugs in Office 2010’s code,” said Gallagher, who last week co-hosted a presentation on Microsoft’s fuzzing efforts at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. “While a large number, it’s important to note that that doesn’t mean we found 1,800 security issues. We also want to fix things that are not security concerns.”

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Opera Complains About Ballot Screen… Again.

By DustinPosted on

Opera is throwing another fit over the EU ballot screen… Seems like little Opera needs their bottle or something. I’m a fan of Opera, but come on. Their browser got a huge boost from the ballot screen. Their tactics are starting to remind me a bit of Apple. 🙂

Opera said the browser-ballot screen Microsoft introduced to Windows so users could pick a browser rather than take Internet Explorer by default is being almost completely hidden by a set of 10 IE configuration screens. Opera illustrated the problem at The Reg‘s San-Francisco, California, offices with a set of screen shots taken from a Thinkpad X31 running Windows XP SP2.

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New Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

By DustinPosted on

Microsoft has updated their Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. If you are still not using Windows 7, but want to, you can check the compatibility of your hardware and software with this tool. It does a great job of recognizing incompatiblities. Although, some of them listed have manufacturers drivers or a workaround to get them to work. It gives you a great starting point as to what to upgrade. Of course, if you are still running that Windows 3.11 application and expect it to continue working on your x64 version of Windows, you might look into a more recent version!

Download and run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor to see if your PC is ready for Windows 7. It scans your hardware, devices, and installed programs for known compatibility issues, gives you guidance on how to resolve potential issues found, and recommends what to do before you upgrade.

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Windows 7 Holds More than 10% Market Share

By DustinPosted on

Windows 7 has surpassed the 10% mark of market share, selling faster than other operating systems in the same time period. Although, Windows in general has dropped a small amount, the new operating system is selling like hot cakes!

Last month, Windows 7 crossed into double-digit market share numbers. Microsoft disclosed that it sold more than 60 million copies of Windows 7 by the end of 2009, and now we know this very quick growth has continued through the first quarter of 2010.

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Windows Server Phasing out Itanium Support

By DustinPosted on

Windows Server 2008 R2 is the last Microsoft Server OS to support Intels older 64-bit CPU, Itanium. While it had a good run, better and lower cost processors (Xeon, Opteron) won out in the end. Some see this as Microsoft moving on towards the future (which is a good thing), while the nay-sayers will claim that Microsoft doesn’t support older hardware. I guess you can’t please everyone, right?

Current support for Itanium remains unchanged.

Problem with MVP’s

By DustinPosted on

First, a disclosure: a lot of my online and personal friends are Microsoft MVP’s. This article is taking an experience from ONE Microsoft MVP, and rolling it into the whole collective of them. While I have seen my fair share of MVP’s acting very unprofessionally and have the “elitist” attitude, the majority (Close to 99%) are very professional, kind and have earned their MVP designation. They are intelligent, willing and able to help others, and share their knowledge. Of course, it does take a single bad apple to give the rest a bad reputation.

One thing to clarify, however: Microsoft MVP’s do not take a test, it is not a certification showing that they have the skills to support the products. It is an award and a designation showing that they help others in a professional manner. If you want to hire a person, the MVP shows that they can take the initiative to learn and share their knowledge, even if it is only with a “Hello World” type of application.

I’ve also seen some MVP’s that are very, VERY knowledgable with one Microsoft product but lack any skill with another. I’m not sure if the author of this article was misinformed as to what the goals and point of the MVP program is, but I know there are some MVP’s out there that could put people with a Dr. degree and massive certifications to shame. Others, not so much. Copy and paste has been the friend of a few MVP’s, but at least they are out there helping others. Which is more that a lot of other people do. What good is information if it can’t be shared?

The other day I had the chance to peruse the work of another developer, a Microsoft MVP. The code was less than impressive. To be frank, it stunk, but it stunk in a strange way. It had a weird combination of advanced technique and rank naivet

Free MW2 Goggles for your Avatar

By DustinPosted on

You XBox gamers out there can customize your avatar with a new set of free Modern Warfare 2 night vision goggles. These look pretty cool, if I say so myself!

Everyone at Xbox LIVE is excited to offer the Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package first on Xbox LIVE. Infinity Ward, Activision, and Xbox are celebrating the launch and would like to thank everyone by offering the entire Xbox LIVE community free Modern Warfare 2 Night Vision Goggles for your avatar.

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