Hi, there will probably be other suggestions, but, personally, I would
reformat the computer and reload an operating system, as without the means
to find the password for the administrator, you may well find you are
completely stuck regarding having any kind of control over the system.
Is there no way to find the administrators p/w?
As far as I know, if you can only log in with a limited account, then you
cannot change any vital settings, but I'm sure you should be able to delete
all the cookies for your own desktop and defrag, even with  a limited
account. As I do not have a limited account however, I am not certain of
this.
Anyone else got any suggestions?
michele Sayer

I am submitting this problem in behalf of a friend (a newbie) as I am
stumped as to how to help her:

My friend received a computer (running WinXP on a 400 MHz, PII) which
appears to have originally been a networked computer (she was never given
the administrator's password, of course!). She needs to defrag,
remove cookies, and do other "housekeeping" functions, but she is unable
to
so as she gets an error message stating that she does not have system
administrator rights to those functions (her computer has slowed to
almost a
standstill - it takes FIVE MINUTES for any click to respond!).  Is there
a work around for this problem?

My friend and I thank you for your assistance.

Cordially,

Jacquelene Rowlette
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