Don’t I Own This Computer?

Just a brief post to help people who might be sufficiently uninformed to let Microsoft fool them into obliterating a PC just because they can’t find the Windows password.

If you inherit a computer, or you just forget your Windows password, Microsoft will not give you advice on hacking the computer to get the password. That’s fine. I can understand why they wouldn’t want to endorse competing companies that make hacking software for this purpose. Hacking your own computer is completely legal, but Microsoft may be afraid you’ll screw something up, and then you might sue them.

What isn’t fine is responding to password-recovery questions with a list of things to do to reinstall Windows. You don’t tell people to burn down their computers when it’s not necessary. I wonder how many people have done it.

There are legal programs out there that will help you get Windows running again. One is called “Lazesoft Recover my Password.” I don’t know a whole lot about the others. This one is easy to use. You make a bootable USB drive or DVD, you boot the PC from the new software, and the program deletes your Windows password. Now you have no Windows password, and you can log on with no problems.

It took me longer to create the boot drive than it did to wipe out my password, whatever it was. The program ran in a few seconds.

The obvious issue here is that unsavory characters like burglars and your mother-in-law can erase your Windows password just as easily as you can, which means a Windows password was never really good for anything except keeping you out of your own files and programs and maybe even driving you to wipe your computer clean and struggle to rebuild it from nothing except maybe some data.

That’s some fine unintended consequences right there.

Nice.

Something weird is going on with Windows right now. They’ve decided to fix it so you can’t look at your stored browser passwords without Microsoft’s permission. I found this out today. I needed a password for a website, and Windows demanded my Windows password. Of course, Microsoft did not warn me this was coming. Because Microsoft. They really do write stupid software. It’s not everyone’s imagination.

The problem with the new policy is that I had an issue while moving the computer from my late father to myself, and somehow, the Windows password got screwed up, and when I was done, I was not able to get in using the password I had chosen. I had fixed the computer to enter the password itself, so I didn’t need to know what it was in order to get to work. I let it go “temporarily.” Then I forgot to fix the underlying problem.

If, like me, you think it’s a good idea to go months without knowing your Windows password, you can get around this problem in Firefox (which has apparently gone nearly extinct since I started using it) by going to about:config and changing some value or other from “true” to “false.”

This won’t help you get into Windows, but it will allow you to view your CanHazCheezburger.com cat-picture forum password without proving you have clearance.

I think the most amazing thing the Internet has done was to make people think cats have personalities.

If I had this problem, millions of other people must be having it, except that presumably, most of them have some idea what their Windows passwords are. For the rest, I offer a solution which is a lot better than jumping off a bridge because you can’t find your tax records or keep your business running.

Is it me, or should someone at Microsoft be fired? Wasn’t it obvious to them that their bizarre new nannying policy would drive people nuts?

Now I have a bunch of information recorded in very obvious text files, to prevent me from having problems like this in the future.

Thanks, Microsoft. I really needed to spend 90 minutes working on this instead of relaxing and taking care of my pets. Thanks for making dumb decisions on my behalf so I don’t have to.