News from Broccolee!

[Conforumist]

I just got a 6 page letter from her!
Her laptop took a fall and stopped working. She took it in and got the run-around and shafted. She was able to read the posts on the forum, but she can no longer log in, because she does not remember the password.
She's pretty much confined to snail mail.

She did want me to ask if Tony has any suggestions. She can't use email either, since her ex put a password protection her laptop and will not tell her what it is. She was wondering if you could change, or renew her password?

She asked me to thank everyone for the birthday wishes. She also says Happy Birthday to Del' and is very happy to read the good news about the kids/ex etc.

One of the kids' fathers has bought a new laptop for him; I assume she is using that one. He has also told the ex which has been causing them so trouble that he is now watching over all of them and if were any more complaints from the kids about him, he would have to answer to him.

I don't want to post her address right here, but I don't think she would mind if I PM'd it to people which would like to send her a letter (or something better ).

I'm open to any ideas people may have to help her.

I'm also going to try and find a phone number and call her...

[Catch-up]

Oh man. So sorry to hear that she's been having so much trouble! Can she contact her provider to get her email password changed? Can she set up a temporary email account on Yahoo or someplace else? If she can get access to an email account, then she should be a link here somewhere to contact the mods about resetting this password so she can log in here. Tell her best of luck!

[Toothy]

Sorry to hear Broccolee's news.

I've PM'd Jason as the uber-moderator to see what he can do around password resets as I can't see that I have those powers or would have done it.

Con, I'm a bit confused. Is the laptop password protected or certain apps and the forum? My understanding is that a laptop password protection would prevent her getting into anything. Have I misread your post? Thanks.

[raptornx01]

if she's using someone elses laptop and the main account isn't accessible she'd have to sign in as a guest. which, depending on how its set up, could limit usage.

Eitherway, if you are using another comp you may not be able to access email (and forum, etc) anyway if you had set it to log you in automatically a long time ago and only ever used that. meaning you could easily forget the password, thus making it hard to access outside your computer. thats why you should either write them down, make it so you have to log in every time (forcing you to remember) or make your password something easy for you to remember just in case.

I guess its a good thing this site's auto login feature is broken (for me at least) so everytime i come back i have to re-login

[Tonyblack]

Sorry to hear Broccolee's news.

I've PM'd Jason as the uber-moderator to see what he can do around password resets as I can't see that I have those powers or would have done it.

Con, I'm a bit confused. Is the laptop password protected or certain apps and the forum? My understanding is that a laptop password protection would prevent her getting into anything. Have I misread your post? Thanks.

Thanks Toofs! You beat me to it.

Let's hope we see Broc again soon.

[michelanCello]

Ow, Broccolee, that's awful! Hope it'll get sorted soon, so that you can be with us again! I'm not much good at technical stuff, but I'm sure more qualified people can figure out something!
Still, I'm glad we heard something from you!

Thanks, Con!

[Toothy]

Thanks Toofs! You beat me to it.

That's what I usually say about you, Tony! Don't you ever sleep?! If I get to any of the spam first, it's a miracle and moment to cherish!

[ShadowNinjaCat]

Sorry to hear about Broccolee's problem,hope it gets sorted out soon.

[Who's Wee Dug]

Last I heard from Broc she was going to take a break and to have some me time,I hope the life situation gets better for her soon.

[Conforumist]

Sorry to hear Broccolee's news.

I've PM'd Jason as the uber-moderator to see what he can do around password resets as I can't see that I have those powers or would have done it.

Con, I'm a bit confused. Is the laptop password protected or certain apps and the forum? My understanding is that a laptop password protection would prevent her getting into anything. Have I misread your post? Thanks.

I'm not sure either. That's why I'm hoping to find her phone number. The letter was a bit confusing.

I agree though; it should be possible for her to create a hotmail, gmail, yahoo etc account and create a new profile here. If I can actually speak to her, I can help her, or get an idea of what's going on.

(sorry for the delay; we were picking up friends at the airport, from Germany) I feel like I should have got on the return flight .

[Tonyblack]

Thanks Toofs! You beat me to it.

That's what I usually say about you, Tony! Don't you ever sleep?! If I get to any of the spam first, it's a miracle and moment to cherish!

It's only 8.42 pm here in Tucson. You lot are all fast asleep.

[ChristianBecker]

So sorry to hear these news. What an ex-hole to screw up her computer.
I could probably help with the laptop problem, though.
If it is a standard model without enhanced security there are some options:
1. The ex set up a bios/ power on password, so you have to enter a PW every time you switch on the computer. These are relatively easy to circumvent, but probably, depending on which model of laptop it is, require you to open the machine, find the bios backup battery and unplug it for some time. Depending on the model, there might also be boot cds out there, which can be used to reset the password (there's one for Dell machines at least). On some machines, after three failed attempts you get an error code (some HP machines and Fujitsu) and there are tools out there which generate a new master password from this code. If it is an Apple I don't know how to do anything about it, never bothered with them much.
Things will be complicated if it is a ThinkPad, HP Elitebook or other HP business model.
So, if I knew what kind of laptop it is I could be more precise.

2. If only the Windows (assuming Broc uses win) password has been changed a fresh install of Windows should handle that. For backing up files that should be kept, it might be necessary to boot into the system before using a live system, like any Linux live cd (systemrescuecd for example). There are probably tools to reset windows passwords, too, but I'm not familiar with them. I'm not sure if using the installation repair procedure would get you a new administrator account, so the old installation would have to be wiped.

3. If the either set a HDD password or set up disk encryption I cannot help. Especially not in case it's a hdd password - tools exist to reset them, but I don't know if they work for all hdds (moreover, using them might be illegal in Germany). Probably getting a new hdd would be the easiest thing. If the disk is encrypted it is probably possible to wipe it and install a new operating system, losing all data on the disk.

[Jason]

Under windows you can do the sticky key trick. I can't remember the details but you have to replace a file with cmd.com when you are asked for a password you hit the shift key several times in the row and rather than starting up the sticky key program it gives you a command prompt where you can then change the password.

http://4sysops.com/archives/forgot-the-administrator-password-the-sticky-keys-trick/

[spideyGirl]

Aw poor Brocs hope she gets back online soon.

[Jason]

I've updated Broccolee's password and emailed a copy it to her.