is it ok if the administrator account is failing?

[rudeboymcc]

hi. i'm using xp pro, and i have, or had, three users. my account was the administrators account, and i had 2 others for my sisters. all with administrator privilages.

i downloaded a program called xsetup tweaker, thinking i'lll be able to get my system to run smoother. i don't know what i did, but while in the administrator account (my one), i enabled or disabled something, whcih meant i couldn't log onto the account. there's no password so i know that's not hte problem.


as a temporary measure i made myself a new account through my sister's account and moved all teh documents from the administrator 's account to my new one. so now i have a "spare" account, but it 's the administrator, and i can't log into it.

firstly, does anyone know of any setting that means the pc restarts by itself, with no warning, after trying to log on. ?

secondly, does anyone know if it's bad or knows of any reason why i can't just "hide" the administrator account from the welcome screen and leave it broken.

thirdly, does anyone know of a way in whcih i can delete the administratos account or is that not recommended?

[Neo Neko]

Guide to network operating systems rule one. Never use a root or administrator account for anything more that software installation and system configuration. It is not a regular use every day account. Your every day account should be a privelaged or restricted user account. Especially if you are not an expert on the OS. The less power you have as a rule the less you can screw things up.

Rule two. No matter how pretty the GUI don't alter system settings you do not understand! A pretty GUI will not protect you.

Now that you have learned this the hard way there is a bright spot in all this. If you use the default graphical XP login the Administrator account does not show by default. Not unless you changed it. And as long as you have administrator privelages you are fine. The fact that you can not access the administrator account should not cause any problems. After all the administrator account is an account with the name administrator that just happens to have administrator permissions. The user account "joebob" can do everything the administrator can as long as they have administrator permissions.

[-h]

Almost - the Administrator account has the added quality of unlimited failed login attempts. The user joebob would be locked out while 'Administrator' (or whatever it was changed to) could still be tried again.

That's the default behaviour anyway, unless XP is fabulously stupid.

Not that it matters much in this case. I'd just re-install it and save yourself the trouble of manually editing profiles.

-h

[rudeboymcc]

if i re-install it now will i keep all my settings? i know i'll keep my files and documments etc, but will i have to reconfigure everything?

[rudeboymcc]

also, what and who is hte default user?

[Neo Neko]

Well it all depends -h if he is actually using the "administrator" administrator account that could be a problem. But Windows XP in it's infinate futility hides that account by default. So unless he it using it by the classic logon or did the registry hacking to get it to show on the welcome screen it is likely he is not using it. But he has not forgotten his password. The account itself is getting flakey. Not uncommon under active windows installs. So barring forgetting his password he should be alright. But I agree a re-install is always nice.