Computer related YIKES!!!

[Eracer]

I thought I would share a scary experience I had yesterday.

My IBM laptop has two keys called "BrowserForward" and "BrowserBack". They function exactly like the "Forward" and "Back" button in Explorer, and are located right above the "LeftArrow" and "RightArrow" keys.

Why is this significant? Well...when I'm typing a bunch on a forum page (me? never!), I'll sometimes need to arrow back to edit a character, and oftentimes I accidently hit the "BrowserBack" key, which takes me back a page and loses EVERYTHING I typed. This was seriously pissing me off, so I downloaded a utility that let's you re-map keys in XP. For those of you who know Windows, it writes a registry key value. This should tell you where this story goes, and it ain't to my happy place.

I followed the instructions, remapped the "Browser"keys, and rebooted Windows. I typed in my password (seeing the black dots appear as expected), pressed "Enter", and got a lovely message that asked me whether I had "forgotten my password".

So - that effing utility had remapped some other key that was in my password. Now I can't login to XP.:real angry: And I can't see which key is not working, since I can't get past the password entry screen.:real angry: :real angry:

I really didn't want to go through the headache of editing the registry from an NTFS boot utility. Been there, tried that, hated it.

What I did find, that solved the problem, scares me. There is a utility out there (sorry, I won't tell you where) that allows you to change any any password to blank. Administrator? No problem. As long as you can boot from a CD, you run this utility, and it quickly and easily turns XP security to MUSH.

It fixed my problem, since after running it, I no longer had a password, and was able to reset my password, and edit the offending key value from the registry - all from within XP. YAY!

Of course, this means that I can go to ANY XP computer, blank out the administrator account password, and do whatever I want to the system.

YIKES!

I later found a utility that IBM wrote that lets me modify the behavior of the "Browser" keys (which have key codes unique to IBM laptops), so that I now have to hold them down for two seconds before they activate. Double YAY!!!

 

[Sandpiper3]

Hey, I think you should lmk this super password

 

[Hitman]

If you use the FireFox web browser it saves what you have typed even if you change web pages.

 

[footballking732]

If you use the FireFox web browser it saves what you have typed even if you change web pages.

exactly what i was gonna say..

firefox=best web browser...

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

There is also a utility in XP under Start>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore, which assuming you have it turned on you can restore your registry to the last checkpoint which is usually daily, or on reboots, or after most program installs. In doing so you would simply have to reinstall any programs that you installed between the checkpoint and current. I believe it saves about 14 days worth of registry entries.

Works wonders for me as I constantly muddle around in my registry and have no problem changing things. Also good if you install something and find out a couple days later it pretty much hosed your system (like every Internet Explorer update I have ever done). If you know you are going to do something that may trash your registry (like update internet explorer), you can go in and do a manual checkpoint just prior to the change.

Not saying everyone should go out and trash the registry for $#!+s and giggles just because they can restore it when they are done, but it is good to know it is there. Make sure it is turned on. Although if you are ever certain you have a virus it is one of the first things you are told to disable as that is a common way that viruses regenerate on reboots once removed.

 

[Eracer]

There is also a utility in XP under Start>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore, which assuming you have it turned on you can restore your registry to the last checkpoint which is usually daily, or on reboots, or after most program installs. In doing so you would simply have to reinstall any programs that you installed between the checkpoint and current. I believe it saves about 14 days worth of registry entries.

Works wonders for me as I constantly muddle around in my registry and have no problem changing things. Also good if you install something and find out a couple days later it pretty much hosed your system (like every Internet Explorer update I have ever done). If you know you are going to do something that may trash your registry (like update internet explorer), you can go in and do a manual checkpoint just prior to the change.

Not saying everyone should go out and trash the registry for $#!+s and giggles just because they can restore it when they are done, but it is good to know it is there. Make sure it is turned on. Although if you are ever certain you have a virus it is one of the first things you are told to disable as that is a common way that viruses regenerate on reboots once removed.

Yes, but the problem was I couldn't log into XP, since at the password screen I was typing some letter or letters that didn't match the key, and couldn't even tell what wrong letters I was typing.

 

[Eracer]

exactly what i was gonna say..

firefox=best web browser...

I tried Firefox once, and it screwed up my file associations so badly that I had to reinstall Windows. I couldn't even fix the associations (which is normally a pretty easy task). I'm sure it's a great browser, but I had a bad experience with it.

Try an experiment.

Create a post, type something, then hit your browser back button, followed by the browser forward button, and tell me whether the text stays.

 

[Hitman]

I tried Firefox once, and it screwed up my file associations so badly that I had to reinstall Windows. I couldn't even fix the associations (which is normally a pretty easy task). I'm sure it's a great browser, but I had a bad experience with it.

Try an experiment.

Create a post, type something, then hit your browser back button, followed by the browser forward button, and tell me whether the text stays.

Yes it does, in fact you can even close the webpage, then go to history, open the page back up again and your text is still there. Firefox has come a very long ways in the past year, its worth another look. Not to mention the best feature is the tabbed browsing.

 

[footballking732]

I tried Firefox once, and it screwed up my file associations so badly that I had to reinstall Windows. I couldn't even fix the associations (which is normally a pretty easy task). I'm sure it's a great browser, but I had a bad experience with it.

Try an experiment.

Create a post, type something, then hit your browser back button, followed by the browser forward button, and tell me whether the text stays.

wow, no it actually didnt work for me...
edit- doh im at the school library, which has IE... doh... but i know for a fact it works on my home comp on FF....

 

[Eracer]

Well - that IS a nice feature in Firefox. And I know quite a few people whose opinion I trust that swear by it. Unfortunately, I have so much PTSD after the last time I installed it, that I don't think I can ever bring myself to try it again. Mental block, I know, but there you have it...

 

[Sandpiper3]

On the new windows theres tabbed browsing too. The Vista watever... i hate this stupid thing, i want to go back to xp...

xp has tabbed browsing too.

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

Yes, but the problem was I couldn't log into XP, since at the password screen I was typing some letter or letters that didn't match the key, and couldn't even tell what wrong letters I was typing.

You can run it from safe mode as well. Had to do that a couple times. Not that it will happen to you again. And now that you have the other utility, it is probably a better option for your issue anyways. More mentioned the other for anyone else to give them other options. Same with the Safe Mode.

 

[Eracer]

You can run it from safe mode as well. Had to do that a couple times. Not that it will happen to you again. And now that you have the other utility, it is probably a better option for your issue anyways. More mentioned the other for anyone else to give them other options. Same with the Safe Mode.

I don't understand. You need a password to login, even into Safe Mode.

?????

 

[Hitman]

Well - that IS a nice feature in Firefox. And I know quite a few people whose opinion I trust that swear by it. Unfortunately, I have so much PTSD after the last time I installed it, that I don't think I can ever bring myself to try it again. Mental block, I know, but there you have it...

There is a safe way to try FF again. The FireFox Portable Edition. Install it on a thumb drive, and run it from there. This will eliminate any fear you have of FF messing up your files.

I use FireFox Portable, and other Portable Applications all the time on my thumb drive at work since we aren't allowed to install software on work computers.

 

[Eracer]

There is a safe way to try FF again. The FireFox Portable Edition. Install it on a thumb drive, and run it from there. This will eliminate any fear you have of FF messing up your files.

I use FireFox Portable, and other Portable Applications all the time on my thumb drive at work since we aren't allowed to install software on work computers.

Interesting. I may just give that a shot.