Computer Memory help

[BlackEagle95]

So, my sisters computer is actually the old family computer that has accumulated a lot of Junk over a few years. Short version, it has 288Gb of memory, and usually 160mb available at one time. A combination of old files my less than tech savvy father didn't know were there/didn't delete, and my sister massive collection of MSN game trails.(and some residual files from my free MMO's and the like)

The problem? No one can remember the administrators(her) password. So she's stuck with all this crap. Most of it completely useless. I'm a massive delete spree and de-fragmentation is all she needs, but we can't do any of that with out the pass word.

Short version I want to know if there is any way to bypass the need for the administrators password on windows vista. Preferably built-in or cheap. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[qeinar]

Well you could just reinstall windows..

 

[Antari]

It'd definately be easier to do a reinstall, but if you want to do it the dirty way, throw the hard drive into a drive caddy attached to another computer and manually remove what you need to. Then prepare for the registry cleanup once windows has a heart attack with all the stuff missing when you reinstall the drive.

Reinstalling windows will end up going quicker.

 

[Fleeker]

Load it in safe mode and change the admin to someone that is not password protected or create a new one.

 

[Kaymish]

i assume you are talking about harddisk data storage space rather than memory yes

well you could burn a Linux ubuntu live CD (the one previous to the current version is the one i use for these sorts of issues) to retrieve and backup the files you want then boot and nuke the rest and reinstall. or i think you can change the windows admin account things with that im not sure its not something ive needed to do before
that way you have what you want its free if you still have your copy of windows and a blank CD and you will have a fresh start to correct any mistakes you have made

also i think there are some password breakers out there i remember reading about them and this sort of situation in a issue of PC world a couple of years ago

 

[BlackEagle95]

Thanks for the suggestions. We will probably just re-install or buy a new OS.

 

[ms_sunlight]

You need PC Login Now [http://www.pcloginnow.com/] - I've used it many times to reset Windows passwords and it works like a charm. It's also free. I keep a copy on CD at work just in case, since I seem to be the office's unnoficial tech support.

 

[EternalFacepalm]

288GB of MEMORY?! That's insane!

Anywho,

You need PC Login Now [http://www.pcloginnow.com/] - I've used it many times to reset Windows passwords and it works like a charm. It's also free. I keep a copy on CD at work just in case, since I seem to be the office's unnoficial tech support.

Basically this.
And if that doesn't work, just reinstall it. Can't hurt too much.