Tag Archives: boot

How to reset Windows Vista password when you forget it?

Today data security is an important issue for business and personal users. So as common computer users, we’re used to set Windows password to protect our files on computer from prying eyes. It is a very good way to protect our privacy, but the problem is that the password for computer can be easily forgotten or lost. Especially when you need to log-on immediately but you cannot remember the password you set. What should you do to regain access to your computer?

Without doubt, I believe reinstalling computer is the easiest way to log-on your computer again. And I also believe it is the last choice for you as no one can afford to lose all your important files after reinstalling. In fact, there is another option for you to get in your computer on your own. You can reset your lost or forgotten Windows password with professional Windows password reset software.

Following I’ll show you how to reset Vista password with Windows Password Reset, which allows you to reset Vista password with a bootable CD/DVD or USB flash drive. If your computer operating system is Windows Vista, you can follow it to perform Vista password reset to get in your computer.

====Step 1. Burn a CD/DVD or USB Drive to reset Vista password.

Download Windows Password Reset and install in a computer. And follow the step-by-step guide to burn a CD/DVD or USB drive to reset Vista password.

Note: Windows Password Reset has two editions: Standard and Professional. Windows Password Reset Standard allows you to reset Vista password with a bootable CD/DVD only while Windows Password Reset Professional supports to burn a CD/DVD or USB Flash Drive to reset Vista password.

====Step 2: Set BIOS to boot from CD ROM or USB.

Insert the burned CD/DVD or USB drive in the computer you want to reset Vista password, and then change the BIOS settings of the computer as follows:

1st. Start computer and press F2 or Delete to enter BISO setup during the initial startup screen. Note: What key is pressed depends on the manufacturers, but in most cases it is F2 or Delete.

2nd. Use the arrow keys to select the Boot tab, and then select Boot Device Priority and press Enter. 3rd. Choose first boot device to CDROM or USB flash drive, and then press F10 to save settings. The computer will restart with the changed settings automatically.

Note: When you want to boot from USB, you should adjust USB to 1st Drive by entering Hard Disk Drives firstly before selecting first boot device to USB flash drive.

====Step 3: Remove the forgotten Windows Vista password under DOS.

1st. Choose the installation path of Windows, and enter the ID of the path 2nd. All the user names will be displayed for you. You can select one to remove its password by entering the ID of the User Name. If you want to quit, enter 0. 3rd. Enter y to confirm and continue, enter n to return to previous menu. 4th. After removing the password for the selected user name, you can enter y to continue to reset passwords of other user names, or enter n to restart computer. And now you can log on computer without password.

Note: After selecting n to restart computer, please remember to press any press, and then eject the CD/ DVD or USB Flash Drive.

Tip for Vista password reset: Although you can reset Vista password with software, but it’s better to set something easy for you to remember but hard for others to guess for your computer. If your password is too long and hard for you to remember, you can write it on paper and keep it in a safe place firstly.

More Info:

The History of Computer Viruses

Computer viruses have a much longer history that most people would imagine. They predate the modern internet although the first viruses were purely technical excises in computer programing. It is not until the advent of large scale internet use that malicious computer viruses started to appear.

The basic theory that underpins most types of PC virus was outlined in John von Nueman’s scienfic paper published back in 1966. The work titled “The Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata”. Known as the last of great mathematicians von Nueman had also worked on the US nuclear program and instrumental in developing game theory.

This theory was not used until 1971 when the first ever virus was released across the ARPANET network. The virus called Creeper spread across the network and infected DEC PDP-10 computers. When a computer was infected it displayed a message reading “I’m the creeper catch me if you can.” The program was an experiment and the Reaper virus was released to clean up and remove the Creeper.

The first anonymous virus was the Wabbit released in 1974 a self-replicating program that lead to a computer crash. This was followed by ANIMAL in 1975. This virus was attached to a program called PERVADE and it reproduced itself in the background and spread across computers as the program was shared. Although ANIMAL was a non-malicious virus it exploited holes in the OS of the computer and left the name of the Animal selected by PERVADE in all the directories and files that the user had access too.

The Elk Cloner written by 15 year school student Rich Skrenta exploited issue with the Apple II boot system. The virus is widely viewed as the first large scale computer virus in the wild. In the wild referrers the fact that it was not contained with one lab or network.

The virus spread via the boot disk of the computer and every after every 50 infections of the boot disk it displayed a message in the form of a short poem. Skrenta who went onto a successful career in computer programming described Elk Cloner as dumb practical joke.

After the Elk Cloner infected Apple machine virus that infected IBM computers followed. The ARF-ARF virus arrived in 1983 and the Trojan horse wiped out the computers directory by offering to sort it into alphabetical order. Although the Pakistani Flu virus appeared in 1986 it was the following year that saw a rapid increase in the number of computer infections.

In 1987 the Vienna, Lehigh, Jerusalem, SCA and Christmas Tree Exec viruses all first appeared and attacked different aspects of computer operating systems. Other virus occurred in different locations around the globe. These included the Stoned virus in New Zealand, Ping Pong in Italy and the Cascade virus in the IBM offices in Belgium. This explosion in computer attacks resulted in IBM developing it’s own anti-virus software for the public. Before 1987 IBM’s anti-virus software had been for internal use only.

These early computer infections were only the start of the problems created by PC virus. The rate and seriousness of the infections after the end of the 1980’s has resulted in the creation of the computer security industry.

Tony Heywood ©2012

The History of Computer Viruses

Computer viruses have a much longer history that most people would imagine. They predate the modern internet although the first viruses were purely technical excises in computer programing. It is not until the advent of large scale internet use that malicious computer viruses started to appear.

The basic theory that underpins most types of PC virus was outlined in John von Nueman’s scienfic paper published back in 1966. The work titled “The Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata”. Known as the last of great mathematicians von Nueman had also worked on the US nuclear program and instrumental in developing game theory.

This theory was not used until 1971 when the first ever virus was released across the ARPANET network. The virus called Creeper spread across the network and infected DEC PDP-10 computers. When a computer was infected it displayed a message reading “I’m the creeper catch me if you can.” The program was an experiment and the Reaper virus was released to clean up and remove the Creeper.

The first anonymous virus was the Wabbit released in 1974 a self-replicating program that lead to a computer crash. This was followed by ANIMAL in 1975. This virus was attached to a program called PERVADE and it reproduced itself in the background and spread across computers as the program was shared. Although ANIMAL was a non-malicious virus it exploited holes in the OS of the computer and left the name of the Animal selected by PERVADE in all the directories and files that the user had access too.

The Elk Cloner written by 15 year school student Rich Skrenta exploited issue with the Apple II boot system. The virus is widely viewed as the first large scale computer virus in the wild. In the wild referrers the fact that it was not contained with one lab or network.

The virus spread via the boot disk of the computer and every after every 50 infections of the boot disk it displayed a message in the form of a short poem. Skrenta who went onto a successful career in computer programming described Elk Cloner as dumb practical joke.

After the Elk Cloner infected Apple machine virus that infected IBM computers followed. The ARF-ARF virus arrived in 1983 and the Trojan horse wiped out the computers directory by offering to sort it into alphabetical order. Although the Pakistani Flu virus appeared in 1986 it was the following year that saw a rapid increase in the number of computer infections.

In 1987 the Vienna, Lehigh, Jerusalem, SCA and Christmas Tree Exec viruses all first appeared and attacked different aspects of computer operating systems. Other virus occurred in different locations around the globe. These included the Stoned virus in New Zealand, Ping Pong in Italy and the Cascade virus in the IBM offices in Belgium. This explosion in computer attacks resulted in IBM developing it’s own anti-virus software for the public. Before 1987 IBM’s anti-virus software had been for internal use only.

These early computer infections were only the start of the problems created by PC virus. The rate and seriousness of the infections after the end of the 1980’s has resulted in the creation of the computer security industry.

Tony Heywood ©2012