No Administrator Password

D

DocBill

I'm running WinXP, 32 bit. I'm the only user. I never set a password for being the "administrator" but I understand the default is that the first person who logs on to a new copy of XP de facto becomes the administrator and I am listed as that in Control Panel c. no pwd. because I never set one. It's never been a problem but recently I tried to install a new program and it asked for the administrator's password which, of course, doesn't exist. It seems to me that the simple thing to do is just create a password as I should have done in the first place. My question is: Am I risking anything if I just do that at this late date on a computer that is 5+ years old now? Thanks in advance for any help. DocBill
 
you should NEVER run the administrator's account as a regular account. !!

this account should only be used for troubleshooting and to fix problems with the other accounts.
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If this were my pc:

1. reinstall xp
2. set up another account with administrator priviledge and use this account
3. set a password up on the administrator account and it would do well to set up a password account on the account you use daily also.

If you do not want to reinstall then run malwarebytes free, update and run a full scan, repeat until no threats are detected.

then run your antivirus with a full scan, what is your antivirus BTW??

and create another account and use that one as your daily account, and create a password for the administrator's account.

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what was the program that required an administrator's password??, this is not the usual way of programs.
 
It was the Trend Micro update that requested the Admin. pwd. It's never done that before and I've been using it for 3 or 4 years. DocBill
 
I tried to run malwarebytesfree and was told it didn't support my current version of windows, i.e. XP. Any other ideas? BillDoc
 
With no other options, I entered a new (1st) pwd. in control panel and rebooted. Now when I boot up, XP asks for my SysAdmin pwd., which I provide, and then everything runs normally. I'd still like to run the malwarebytesfree program, but it apparently doesn't like XP but I have a laptop that has been FUBAR by malware and I'll certainly try it there. Don't know if the current fix c. the admin. pwd. will work for TrendMicro or not, but that's a problem for another day. Thanks for all your help and I'll keep you posted. BillDoc
 
The TrendMicro program installed flawlessly and everthing seems AOK, at least until next Apr. 15th when I'm told my tax software won't support XP. Well, a long time ahead and I have a laptop c. Win 7 on it. Thanks very much for your help and support. BillDoc
 
Whats the deal with passwords?? I have never set a password on my installs, & have removed them on (used/old) comps I have gotten my hands on. Only problems are/were some progs/installs wanting p/w's.

(In 'tools/folder options' I always set things to 'show hidden files' & 'show file extensions'.)

BTW, whats the deal with NOT showing file exts'? (Which one is exe?)

-c-
 
Odd. Malwarebytes Free is still working just fine for me. Updates its database quite happily, and carries out the scans with no fuss.

Mike. ;)
 
as per Mike_Walsh, you should have no problem with malwarebytes, I have it installed on my pc and have had it for years.

I do have an admin password, but only use the admin account in safe mode, the rest of the time in normal boot I have another account that I use daily, it is a computer admin account. I do not use trend micro, I use 360 Total Security Essential, by qihoo, as it will support xp for awile yet. :)

I have never had a program ask for an admin password. :)
 
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