How to Figure Out the Login Password to a Windows Computer

Many computer users think they're Windows PC is impenetrable when logged off. There's a password there, and of course no one will ever guess the random 12 digital and letters. You're safe to keep all your valuable bank statements, contacts, and pictures on the computer, right? Wrong. You computer can be easily accessed and logged into. This article is to serve two purposes - it will demonstrate that your computer can be easily accessed, hopefully encouraging your to encrypt and password protect your individual folders and, second, it will show you how to find out the password for your machine should you ever forget it. The process listed below is very simple, and requires very little technical knowledge. It takes less than five minutes, and works nearly every time.

Items Needed:

USB thumb drive or blank CD
Ophcrack

Step 1: You need to use a program called 'ophcrack'. Ophcrack is a free program that runs off a LiveCD or USB thumb drive and recovers the password for the Windows machine it is running off of.

Ophcrack is free to download from sourceforge. Once you have it downloaded, you will need to burn it to a CD using burning software. If you don't have Nero on your computer, you can download and use DeepBurner or ImgBurn for free.

Step 2: Once you have the CD burnt, head over to the computer you want to crack. You will need to insert the disc into the optical drive, then shut the machine down by pushing and holding the POWER BUTTON. Once it's off, press it again to turn it back on. At start up, push the prompted button to enter the BIOS. Enter BOOT ORDER and change it to boot from CD before HDD. Hit SAVE and then EXIT.

The program will now continue to start up. You'll see a big OPHCRACK logo across the screen. Wait for it to load up.

Step 3: Once it starts, the program will automatically begin searching for the password. Just sit back and be patient. Eventually, it will show a list of USERNAMES and the corresponding password. Right it down a piece of paper and take out the CD.

Step 4: Restart the computer. It will boot back into Windows like normal, assuming you removed the CD. Type the password it recovered and you're good to go!