I NEED HELP!!!!

I formally retract my feeble attempt at assistance and go back to wondering around aimlessly...

Which version of the Mac OS are you using: 10.2? 10.3? 10.4? 10.5? It's usually advised that you reset the admin password from an install disk of the *same or later* version to the one you're running on the machine. In order to help you, we'll need more information.

ALL CAPS AND AN UNDESCRIPTIVE THREAD TITLE ARE VERY UNCOOL!!!!!!!!

Applefritter should have a separate forum to throw all such threads into. I'm not sure what you'd call it. Maybe the "Drowning Newbies."

This is the first time I've heard that PC users normally quickly toss their Windows install discs into the trash can. Why anyone would do that is beyond me, but with Windows, I can empathize with the sentiment.

I'm curious: how did you first come up with your so forgettable password? I would suggest that you do something like what Edison used to do to solve problems and come up with new ideas. Find a rock and a metal bucket. Lay down on a couch when you are tired. Put the bucket on the floor next to the couch. While laying on the couch, brace your arm to hang off the edge and hold the rock there over the bucket. While holding the rock thus, ponder the question of concern (in this case, remembering the moment you came up with the password). As you drift into that state just between awake and sleep the answer will come to you just as you're falling asleep. At that same moment as you're falling into sleep your hand will go limp and drop the rock into the bucket with a loud clang and wake you up to keep you from forgetting the answer in your sleep. Then give thanks to the Wisdom of the Almighty (as you conceive it) and perform silent mudras of grateful humility, staying centered, at peace with the universe, and never drowning, never again in hopeless despair. Om mani padme hum. Be happy, forever and again.

If you're going to attempt sarcasm, you could at least offer something useful at the same time. That way, if the OP happens to be young or ESL, you only look like a partial jerk.

Monique, if you're still here, you probably know from the above you're better off not typing in all caps...no matter how much help you need.

If you're using OS X, and can still boot the computer, try:
Link

You should be able to buy a set of used restore CD/DVDs on ebay. Make sure they're a retail version, or for your specific Mac.

I thought my true description of the Edison solution was very useful in more situations than just this. You might want to try it sometime. I'm not sure what being young or ESL has anything to do with anything. If they were that young or ESL any sarcasm would probably have flown over their head. A sense of humor is a healthy attribute, probably especially when teaching the young and ESL.

I've never seen that hack before. It's a little alarming to see how easily hackable X is. Are there any hard drives that can go into self-destruct when attempts at hacking are detected?

It's not a hack, it's a feature that's been in Unix for a long time called Single User Mode. OS X is no more hackable than NetBSD, at least if you discount GUI-related exploits.

There are no hard drives that can determine whether "hacking" is happening or not. There are some encrypted drives that can be remotely destroyed, but nothing as self-aware as to be able to figure out what the person at the keyboard is trying to do.

So I'll just come out and say it, and not point it at anyone: can we not do the hostility amongst one another? It seems to be cropping up all over the place lately.

This also brings up another point; do you automatically help someone in this situation? Or do you assume that you may be helping them to unlock a stolen computer? (No offense to the OP, but there is no way to verify, with absolute certainly whose machine you are unlockin'.)

Again, to the original poster: please, take no offense by what I have said, welcome to AppleFritter, enjoy your stay, post long, post often; and always ask if you need a hand.

-- Macinjosh

This thread has proven out my great angst against titles that are undescriptive. It's very important to remember that this site is not just to answer any particular person's problem, but is also here to provide education and help to countless others with problems who are searching the web. A more descriptive (but, of course, economical) title will make it easier for those searchers to find these answers.

Actually, I know it'd probably be too much to create, but I kinda like my idea of a forum redirect for such grossly non-descriptive titled threads. In my conception, at that redirected place, the OP could be given the opportunity to retitle their thread before it is placed back in the appropriate forum. It'd be about clarification, not censorship. Such a thing might have saved the old Applefritter Kiwi site which no one bothered with after awhile because it became jam packed with threads titled HELP!!!, etc., most by ipodders with problems.

Macinjosh, you bring up an interesting conundrum. If you don't tell the general Mac OS X community about this access into their security system, then you leave a great, great many with a false sense of security. But if you do let the whole community know about it--with a warning at the beginning of the OS installation or something like that-then there will always be a percentage, possibly high, who will not notice the warning and remain naive and vulnerable to any nefarious characters amongst the great many who have now been informed. Which path is the better? I would think informing the masses would be better, and more moral, than not informing them. In any event, that way you admit the problem, and offer it up for correction, and give people the option of whether or not they want to enter that insecure situation rather than hopelessly try to keep it a secret from them or the nefarious. I suspect, though, that most Mac users don't know you can breach the security by simply booting from the installation disk too.

The tip eeun provided re-exposes a very long running security point: physical access defeats nearly all software security measures.

Boot a LiveCD; crack the administrator account of a Windows XP system. Unix, Linux, OS X, Windows; you have physical access, you're in like a dirty shirt.

-- Macinjosh

So what's the best form of security besides physically locking your computer up in a vault every time you walk away from it? Nothing better than the password system? What about encryption? I'm guessing that's only practical as digital storage.

**By the way, EEUN, I admit, my sarcasm probably was a little too strong. I was in a mood, and also having fun with it. Sorry.

Hah. A while ago I was supposed to work on and clean up my in-laws laptop. It was faster for me to just put in the OphtCrack CD and crack the XP admin password than to track down a family memebr and find out which one knew it. Under 20 mins, and it was even mixed case and alpha/num.

I second the motion.