Changing names?

[juppy]

Okay y'all....I've got a problem I can't seem to find in the archives, so here's the deal.

My brother had me build him a new computer and he gave me his old one (AMD 1600+ system). It's running Windows XP and I can't seem to figure out any way to change the name stuff from his to mine. I mean, I got the user account name changed but that only changes the name at the top of the start menu. What I'd like to change is all the other names like in the Control Panel where it says "Registered To"....it's still in his name, and other places there are various directories and other files that are referenced to his name. Is there any easy way to change all of these from his name to mine or is it one of those "format and reinstall the OS" type of things? I thought I might go through the registry and search for his name and just change those entries to my name, but geez, there's like hundreds of entries with his name in it. Anyone know an easy way to do this? And just for the record, no, we aren't pirating Win XP here either. He bought a new copy for his new machine and gave me his other copy with the old machine. Any ideas on this? :confused:

[lil Jimmie]

Run REGEDIT.EXE
Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows NT\CurrentVersion.
change the values of the RegisteredOwner to your name

[Miz]

Take a look at the MS Knowledge Base article, How to copy data from a corrupted user profile to a new profile (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=811151). Although the account you're wanting to change isn't corrupt, the process is the same so the new account (with your name) should function like the old one you copied.

[allannabas]

there's a utility on this page (http://windowsxp.mvps.org/) that changes the registered to and company. scroll down to this link: "Change Registered Owner (Windows - ALL)"

[juppy]

Thanks for the replies everyone! Surely one of those will do the trick. Now I just have to find the time to try them. :D