Help with access to late husband's computer

**Tony** · 29-11-2021, 07:09 AM

My fairly recently widowed sister in England is having problems accessing her late husbands PC. He was very security conscious and it sounds like he had the machine locked down fairly tightly. She keeps running up against permissions problems. She is not very IT-literate, though to her credit she has signed up for an introduction to computers course at her local tech.
I've told her her best bet is if she can sign on with her husbands login, and I'm waiting back to hear if she has the details.
If she can't use his logon, any suggestions as to where she goes next? I've suggested she could talk to the instructor on her IT course, who may be an expert (or a teen nerd just one page ahead in the manual

), but it should be worth a try.
Any ideas?

**1101** · 29-11-2021, 07:46 AM

Originally Posted by Tony

She keeps running up against permissions problems.

So she has the login/password & can login .

Really need alot more info
Windows, Mac, Linux
PC or laptop
Bitlocker or other drive encryption
what is she doing that requires all these permissions

Really needs some to have a look at it & go over the issues with her . Not the sort of thing to do remotely

**Tony** · 29-11-2021, 08:26 AM

Originally Posted by 1101

So she has the login/password & can login .

Really need alot more info
Windows, Mac, Linux
PC or laptop
Bitlocker or other drive encryption
what is she doing that requires all these permissions

Really needs some to have a look at it & go over the issues with her . Not the sort of thing to do remotely

It is a Windows PC. The answer to all the other questions is "I don't know". As you say, difficult to help remotely. That is why I suggested she talk to her IT instructor.
She now tells me she has bought a Chromebook. I'm not at all sure she knows what she is doing there either.

**wainuitech** · 29-11-2021, 11:16 AM

Passwords are easy to bypass if you have the PC in front of you and can physically get onto them.

What I would do is simply boot from the software I use and change the password. A Free Program that sometimes works is one from Lasesoft https://www.lazesoft.com/forgot-wind...-freeware.html It usually wont do microsoft Accounts, for that I use a Paid One called PassFab 4

If the drive encrypted, that's a different matter.

**zqwerty** · 29-11-2021, 12:52 PM

Sounds to me as if the password has already been bypassed using some method but no-one has taken ownership of the HDD folders and files.

Not certain just an idea.

**Tony** · 29-11-2021, 02:17 PM

There is also the issue that although she is willing to have a go and is not at all stupid my sister really doesn't know what she is doing! I just recently had to have a little tutorial with her about the difference between files and folders. As 1101 said, it is a hard thing to do remotely. I can see a zoom or Teamviewer session coming up.

**wainuitech** · 29-11-2021, 04:38 PM

she is willing to have a go

Thats laughable really.

Think about it for a moment -- What is the Idea of Secure passwords ?? Answer: to keep people out unless you know the password. Its NOT a simple as stumbling across a way in, if it were it would defeat the Purpose of a password in the first place.

Depending what Version of windows depends on how easy it is, as well as What version ( home or Professional) and exactly whats locked. For example doing some commands in CMD, may require a Admin Password, this can be protected so it prompts for the Admin password -- Just Another problem ??

To Quote 1101 ( and add a bit)

Really needs some to have a look at it and knows what they are actually doing

**Tony** · 29-11-2021, 04:54 PM

Originally Posted by wainuitech

Thats laughable really.

Think about it for a moment -- What is the Idea of Secure passwords ?? Answer: to keep people out unless you know the password. Its NOT a simple as stumbling across a way in, if it were it would defeat the Purpose of a password in the first place.

Depending what Version of windows depends on how easy it is, as well as What version ( home or Professional) and exactly what's locked. For example doing some commands in CMD, may require a Admin Password, this can be protected so it prompts for the Admin password -- Just Another problem ??

To Quote 1101 ( and add a bit)

Really needs some to have a look at it and knows what they are actually doing

I think you are being a bit harsh. This 70+year old woman PC newbie "is willing to have a go" in the sense that she wants to learn and do as much as she can. She doesn't know very much which is why some of her terminology etc is not right, but she is not just waving her arms about in panic and despair. In another post I already pointed out that I have suggested she talks to her IT lecturer, and I see myself doing whatever I can from this distance.
I think you should give her some credit and not just sneer.

**fred_fish** · 29-11-2021, 06:28 PM

Originally Posted by Tony

I think you should give her some credit and not just sneer.

I don't think any sneering was intended.

The path of lest resistance would be to pay someone to recover the data for her.

If it was the car that was broken, would you suggest an introductory mechanics course?

**Lurking** · 29-11-2021, 08:22 PM

Tony, if I still had the brain power I had in 1973, this would have been pretty simple; there was a program XTGold that would open up any file, hex of plain english, where you could go in and site the actual password.

It XTGold was bought out by ZTreeGold and still did the same thing.

lurking.

ps. Speedy popped in here yesterday and I bet he could do it for you with TeamViewer.

lurks.