admin

Infopackets Reader 'ltb223' writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a Windows 7 Pro computer which I haven't used for a long time. Now I want to use it, but I cannot remember my password. It has only one user account, so I believe I need to reset the admin ... password. Is there anyway to recover the lost password or am I stuck with reinstalling Windows and losing all previous data and programs? " My response: It's possible to reset the admin password, or any user password using a special password reset 'trick', known as the 'utilman' and 'sticky keys' exploit. This exploit ... (view more)

A security firm says hackers have hijacked 180,000 routers in Brazil alone so far this year. They target people who haven't changed the default login for the router's control system. According to Avast, there have been more than 4.6 million attempts ... to modify router settings remotely. Although the attacks were targeted at people using particular Internet service providers in Brazil, there's no reason the same tactics couldn't work elsewhere. The goal of the attacks is to change the DNS settings on a router. In simple terms, that's like the address book that a router uses to turn a website ... (view more)

A key security feature in Windows doesn't work as planned. It's not a vulnerability in itself, but means that hackers who find bugs in software are much more likely to be able to do damage. The problem is with Address Space Layout Randomization ... (ASLR). It deals with the way a computer organizes different programs in memory. As an analogy, it's like organizing vehicles of different sizes and makes in a parking lot. Most operating systems support ASLR, which means that when a program starts up and needs to use the computer's memory, it's assigned a random location. In the analogy, think of cars ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Dave T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently installed Windows 8.1 on my netbook and downloaded all the updates which took almost 2 days to complete. Towards the end there was a slew of failed updates which did not install; one of ... them which was a cumulative patch for Internet Explorer. I read that to fix the issue I need to open a command prompt as Administrator user and then run 'sfc /scannow' to fix the failed updates, but I cannot seem to run cmd.exe as the Administrator user. When I try and run 'sfc /scannow', I get the error message that 'You must be an administrator ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bill F. writes: " Dear Dennis, Thanks for your article on how to reset the admin password for Windows 7 and 8 . I have an old Windows XP machine and can't login because I lost my password. Do you have similar steps on how to reset ... the admin password for Windows XP? " My response: The steps to reset the administrator password for Windows XP is different than what what was previously described in the article for Windows 7 and 8. Note that if you can login as the "Administrator" user, you can also use this account to reset any user password on the system. So, the steps below ... (view more)

A new survey suggests that the majority of hackers carry out their work simply because they find it fun and thrilling. The survey also found that only a small portion of hackers do their work in pursuit of financial gain. The survey was carried out ... by Washington-based security firm Thycotic, which asked hackers attending last week's Black Hat conference (held in Las Vegas, Nevada) what motivated them. More than half of the respondents, or 51 per cent, said they hack for the "fun" and "thrill" of it. Just 19 per cent, or about one in five of the hackers surveyed, said ... (view more)