Made new account and lost account with everything

[darcomputer]

made new account, hoping not to use administration account, i'm thinking it's easier for hackers to get in.  anyhooo, i am in panic mode, i have a new account and the name is Dar and it is a brand new account and my original one is GONE help please  xp pro 3

[DaveLembke]

Unless you went through the motion of deleting the prior account it should be there. Do you see the account under C:\Documents and Settings\

You should see:

C:\Documents and Settings\Dar

and others there listed under C:\Documents and Settings\

... the account if not seen there may be owner or administrator of your account that you think is gone, but is still there.

Logon to the other accounts and see what the desktop looks like. If you all of a sudden notice that your desktop is that of your original account then you found it.

By the way it is a good habit to create a user account in addition to the admin accoun and run as user privileges and elevate privileges to administrator when needed and then go back to user privileges, especially if you are surfing the grey area of the web in which you dont want anything installed through a bad script on a webpage etc.

Running as admin all the time has its risks. Those who create 2 or 3 accounts User & Admin or User, Power User, and Admin are better off.

[darcomputer]

thank you, i found the account in C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator  but I do not know how to access it.  when i click start, log off, switch user I do not have the Admin account option.  ty for finding it for me, great relief.  as for the rest of your message i will need to go step by step with it to understand it tyvm

[DaveLembke]

The admin account you had prior... was this automatic logon or did it require a password to logon to your computer?

Is your current Dar account limited to only user privileges or is it still an administrator privileged account that hasnt been set to user level yet?

* If Dar is admin privileged, you can go into where you created the Dar account and select to change the password to the administrator account, however if Dar is a user privileged account and you do not have the ability to make these changes you may need to use a Windows XP password crack disc to force change the administrator account password to blank or a password of choice to regain control as admin of the system.

Here is the Microsoft method, however I use a bootable CD that uses Linux to crack Windows: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306214

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[darcomputer]

automatic logon.  i don't know what my current Dar account has or doesn't have. i'm still in shock lol ty

[darcomputer]

i don't think i have a password, i do not type in a password, or did i have to have one?? i never make a password unless i'm forced, i'm not worried about anyone here getting my password, did i have to make a password for my Dar account??  why did my REAL account disappear?

[Geek-9pm]

Did the OP try safe mode?
In safe mod you can choose the administrator account and nus a blank password.
The sage mode reptilian administrator does whatever hen wants.

[Calum]

Sounds like you were previously using the built in Administrator account.  This isn't the usual route, and this account is hidden as soon as you create a normal account (whether that's another account with admin rights or not).
To log back into your Administrator account, at the login prompt press Ctrl+alt+del, and type in Administrator for the username, then the password you set for that account, or no password if you didn't set one.  It's only hidden from the list of users you can click to log on as, so doing that will let you log in to that account as normal.

[darcomputer]

hello Calum: sounds exactly right to me.  i've tried ctrl alt del and only F8 worked, got me into Safe Mode, clicked on Administrator and was taken to cmd.exe and then    C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator  with flashing cursor.   after i closed down the cmd.exe the screen was black with Safe Mode in all four corners of the screen, no options, nothing i pressed worked used reset button to restart computer, hope that was okay tyvm

[Calum]

Sounds like you went into safe mode with command prompt, rather than just safe mode.  The option for safe mode will give you a prompt to ask if you're sure you want to use safe mode rather than system restore, then it'll drop you onto the standard desktop, just at low resolution and all the fancy options turned off.  You would then be able to copy anything you want out of the Administrator user's profile.
Ctrl alt del at the login prompt will get you the standard login box to type your username and password, rather than the "friendly" login screen where you click a username to log in.

Alternatively, you can go to C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator as Dave suggested and copy your files out that way, but you may have to fiddle with permissions etc so IMO it is easier to just log in as Administrator and do it that way.

[darcomputer]

i cannot get the ctrl alt del to work the right way, do i hold and when, do i tap sorry

[Calum]

At the login screen, so when you see the list of users to log in, hold ctrl and alt, and press delete.
If your current user account logs in automatically without you seeing a logon screen, press ctrl alt delete after logging in, and choose to switch user, then choose a different user, type in Administrator for the username and the password (or leave it blank if there's no password).

[darcomputer]

We did it   needed to unhighlight any user name, then press ctrl/alt/delete or ctrl/alt then delete, not sure which on worked but is asked me to type in user name = Administrator   and i got my origianal account back.   Now could we go over your information about having, what is best, all about accounts   thank you so much email time

[Calum]

Good, glad to hear that worked for you.
Now, you can copy your information over to the other account if you like.
I would recommend not using the built in Administrator account, as it's really meant to be a last resort if there's an issue with the other accounts on the machine.  In all honesty though, if you're concerned about security it's time to upgrade from XP as it'll be out of Microsoft's support cycle in 6 months.

[darcomputer]

ty again, it is working but i have to get to the option screen and choose Admin every time, so i think i need to copy my information over to the other account (which other account)  assuming Dar but i do not know how .  I will not use the built in Admin account if you can help with that?  ty