XP Pro Login Problem

[MARIN3]

I am trying to fix one of my friend's computers (Dell Laptop). Someone he knew was messing around with it, and now whenever he boots it up it automatically logs into some administrator account. I tried to find this admin account in Control Panel > User Accounts but it does not show up. I finally found it in Computer Management under Local Users and Groups > Users. It says that it is "a built in account for administering the computer." I tried to disable it, but then the computer just freezes as it boots because it is still trying to log into that account first. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Liquidparadox]

It sounds like to me, that the old user account that he used to use has been disabled. Once you go into your users under computer management, double click on the user account he usually uses. That screen under Member Of will let you know what clearances they have. If they have none, you will not be able to use that account. Just make sure that under clearances, it says administrators, and if not, just add it to their clearances. That should fix your problems and boot straight to the account they have been using.

[MARIN3]

The old user account is not disabled I already checked that and it is still set as administrator too. Also, after it boots up I can log off the admin account that it is logging in to automatically and log into my friends normal account (his old account is the only option at the login screen at this point - the account that it is automatically loging into is not even an option here).

[kev7555]

Is this computer running well otherwise? Have you run anti-spyware/adware scans and anti-virus scans?

Never heard of an XP computer automatically logging into an administrator account, especially if there are other user options.

Have you tried logging on in safe mode to see what happens?


-K

[glc]

NEVER try to disable or delete the built in Administrator account!

[MARIN3]

Yes the computer is running normal otherwise. I did run muliple adware and antivirus scans (spybot, adaware, avast, etc) and nothing was found. I have not tried safe mode as of yet - my computer gives me an option to start the os in safe mode as it is booting up, but my friends computer doesnt seem to give me the same option - do I need to hit a certain button to log in with safe mode?

[glc]

Pressing F8 immediately after POST but before the XP splash screen will give you the boot menu.

[MARIN3]

I logged in with safe mode and it didnt do anything special. It just logged into the administrator account. Is there some setting that I can change that tells windows to automatically log onto the built in administrator account on startup?