How do I reset the password on my old desk top computer?

[BigmanPigman]

I spent 3 days getting screwed by H and R Block and 15 minutes after most of the problems were resolved my computer wouldn't accept the password I had been using for 3 days without any issues and now this. AND I can't even change it to a new one.....

I still need to do my taxes and I filed an extension but I want to do it on my desktop connected to my printer, not my android tablet.

I tried to fix it by watching 3 YouTube videos and a Samsung video and none of them helped. "Shift and restart" did nothing. I don't want to lose my files and I am afraid of pressing the wrong button and deleting everything.

I don't have a special "tool or address or password or permission from an administrator/authority" (whatever that is) which pops up on sunscreen.

Any ideas?
Thanks!

Edit...

I got ZERO HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THANKS A LOT TECH WORLD, I'M IN HELL!
Everything on my computer has been completely erased now. Woohoo!!!!
I have lost everything!!!!!!!!!!

Documents, files, photos ALL OF IT!!!

I got ZERO help from YouTube, Samsung, my computer wiz neighbor, ALL OF THEM!!!!!

I did what the Samsung video and YOUTUBE video told me to do and now I HAVE NOTHING!

I may as well buy a brand new computer. Nothing was saved that I know of since I do not know tech and can't afford someone to help me since I live at poverty level in CA! That is why I try to do it at home...I AM BROKE! I make less than $38,000 in CA. I can't afford to buy food!!!

I have LOST EVERYTHING FROM THE PAST GOING BACK TO 2013!!!

Even when I was scammed by hackers from India last year in Feb and had my entire
computer cleaned ($800) my neighbor had to reset it. Then the printer didn't work and it took him hours to fix that. Now nothing at all works. I may as well throw the whole fucking thing into a dumpster. All my doggy pictures. GONE! All of my documents and files are GONE!!!!!!!

All of this is due to H and R Block, and trying to file my taxes with the same thing I've used for 7 years and cost me $104.
Now it has cost me more than $104, it has cost me all of my files, documents, tablet, gmail, email, name it. ALL GONE!!!!!

Now this will cost me hundreds and hundreds $$$$$$$ to hire someone to try to retrieve anything but I know it is all gone! Thanks a lot computer geniuses! There is ZERO help! ZERO! Hundreds of dollars and I will NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER get any of my documents and files back. ALL LOST!!!!!!!!! GONE! Thanks a lot. So fucking helpful!!!! Thanks for nothing, tech help!!! They never HELP, they make things WORSE!!!!!! If you do not pay out hard earned cash you will be screwed and it is sst up this way by the tech industry of course! Duh! This is why they control the world, all of politics, etc. By choosing to live via tech the human race has sold its soul to the devil! Gates, Fuckerberg, Elon, etc. THEY SET UP THIS TECH SCAM IN THE 1980s! Life on Earth has continued to slide into full blown hell since. They were successful. They control the world and all of its political aganda. THEY CONTROL US!

DO NOT TRY ANY HELP FROM ANY SOURCE! THEY ALL SUCK!!!

I HATE TECH FOR THIS REASON!

It screws up shit more than it helps by 5 million%. I have wasted hundreds (no, thousands) of hours trying to solve tech issues since I have no money to hire someone to help me. I live on my one and have zero help and feedback. I turn on my computer and it is a crap shoot. I KNOW something horrible will happen since it ALWAYS DOES!!! ALWAYS!!!!! I've been living in HELL due to non stop tech issues from every direction for my entire life!!!

Tech has destroyed me, my sanity, my finances and my mental health non stop since 1988. I want to die and come back as a virus which will destroy all of the tech on Earth, then everyone will be in the same boat I am in! Have fun! Join my living Hell!

HOW IS THIS CONVENIENT??? HOW DOES TECH IMPROVE OUR LIVES? HOW DOES TECH MAKE THINGS EASIER??????????


IT DOES NOT!!!

THIS IS WHY I NEVER EVEN FUCKING USE MY CELL PHONE....IT ALL SUCKS AND IT IS SET UP THIS WAY SO FUCKERBERG AND HIS PALS CAN RIP US OFF THROUGHOUT ETERNITY!!! THIS IS A FACT...TECH IS A RIGGED MONOPOLY! WE ARE FUCKED BY TECH IN EVERY WAY!

JUST LOOK AT ELON FOR PROOF! Case closed!

[yourout]

1. If you only need a file off of it I would pull out the hard drive and plug it in with a USB adapter

Into another computer and pull it off.

[BigmanPigman]

2. I can't pull out a hard drive since my

Comuter is an old Samsung flatscreen from 2013.
Can I use a thumb drive and my tablet and connect them to reset the password somehow? That seemss confusing.

[yourout]

4. You can try using ophcrack. I used to use it on older systems till they encrypted..

Password files in newer systems.

https://ophcrack.sourceforge.io/

[BootinUp]

3. Might help to know something more about the desktop.

Version of Windows and year the desktop was new if you know.

[canetoad]

6. And also

Which password? Is it a Windows password? Or some other pass - ie BIOS, a certain program for taxes - any info could help.

If Windows, can you log in as a guest?

[claudette]

5. Research

how to open your computer in Safe Mode if possible . I have a Mac and that’s what I did and was able to fix the problem.

[waterwatcher123]

7. I assume you are using Windows?

So, you need to change or retrieve your password on your Microsoft account. You need to go to login.microsoft.com. Go to the sign in and follow the instructions for "Can't access your account". You might want to create a pin number to access your computer (easier to remember than password). Every time you sign in on the computer, it is to your Microsoft account).

[CloudWatcher]

8. Ouch

Last edited Tue Apr 15, 2025, 02:09 AM - Edit history (1)

I can't help you Bigman, but for everyone else reading this thread ... backups! Anything stored in only one place isn't saved yet. Your computer can fail or get stolen or accidentally erased or infected with ransomware or malware that deletes everything. If it's worth saving, make backups or be prepared to lose it all. And storing it in "the cloud" just counts as one. The cloud is just someone else's computer, nothing magic.

Again Bigman, I'm sorry. I hope everything isn't actually gone and you can get some decent help.

[BigmanPigman]

9. Do you mean the "cloud" isn't even safe?!?

Well, I will let the computer "guy" my mom and sister use about this. I'm sure he is aware of it since this IS his area of expertise.

I have basically put an invisible "caution tape" around my desk with the computer so I will not even go near it until a pro can assist me. My "office" is actually my living room since I live in a 500 sq ft apt. It looks lovely now. It looks like a bomb exploded and piles/stacks of paper are taking up a lot of my floor space.


If I stay this angry and upset I'm sure I'll be able to relieve a lot of the built up tension at the April 19 Hands Off protest. I'll redirect my anger. That is the silver linng I guess?

[CloudWatcher]

10. Yes, the cloud is *not* safe

Yes, please don't count cloud storage as more than "one" copy of your data .. i.e. not good enough.

You doubt me? Three points:

1) You might accidentally delete your files, or lose access to your cloud account. If your life is in gmail and Google docs and Google drive, and for some reason you can't login anymore ... then you're toast. There's nobody answering the phone to help you. Apple iCloud? Same comment. You get some free storage, but you're not getting more support than you pay for.

2) Megaupload.com. Used by thousands of people to store their files. Shut down without warning because the site was also used to share pirated files. The innocent users of that site never got their files back. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaupload ... and in particular: https://torrentfreak.com/leaseweb-wipes-all-megaupload-user-data-dotcom-outraged-130619/

3) Google almost destroying one of its customers. The customer had another copy of their files, but otherwise their business would have been destroyed. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/05/google-cloud-accidentally-nukes-customer-account-causes-two-weeks-of-downtime/

4) Digital storage is not forever. If you do have a backup copy, the files last forever or five years, whichever comes first. See Jeff Rothenburg's work, eg: http://www.clir.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/ensuring.pdf (disclaimer: I might have provided Jeff with the paper tape used in one of his pictures).

Oh, that's more than three points. But I'll stop now ...

The bottom line is that computers are a sharp instrument and need to be used with care. Loss of data is just one issue, others include scam emails, scam texts, phishing attacks, malware, ransomware, privacy lost, tracking .. the list goes on and on. And while most of the worst is illegal, our DOJ is 99.99% ineffective at prosecuting those that are attacking us.

Again I'm really sorry you've lost your files and hope you can be surprised with some good news if you get some decent help.

[BigmanPigman]

11. Man, I just got an email from my sister

about trusting "the cloud" and I sent her your reply.