Help! Any Windows 2000 experts...?

My computer is pre-owned, and the previous owner had made an administrator account for him/herself and I don't know the password. I was, however, able to make my own account, but I was not able to make myself an administrator, so i cant download ANYTHING including AVG anti-virus, explorer 6.0, or msn. Its extremely annoying, and i am much more able to get a virus this way. Please help, if you can! Thanks!!

Help! Any Windows 2000 experts...?uninstall internet explorer

If I were you, I'd go ahead and reinstall Windows 2K. Since the computer was "pre-owned", there is no telling what was left behind or what problems you may have in the future. Since you have the OS installed on that machine, the previous owner needs to give you the CD and CD key. If he installs the OS on another machine, then you will be at fault because you do not have the license in hand.

Now that said, I've heard that if you reboot the computer in safe mode, you will be administrator and then you can adjust the accounts as needed. I'm not running W2k so I can't verify. If that doesn't get it, then you may need to delete the SAM file which holds the account information. Seek help from Google and check out this page for some additional idea.

http://www.winguides.com/registry/tweaks...

Help! Any Windows 2000 experts...?microsoft.com internet explorer

Hmmm....been awhile since I used Windows 2000. I know there's programs that you can download to erase or change passwords on systems but be very careful what sites you go to and what you download.

I can't remember if 2000 has the *.pwl file that you can search for and delete. If you do a search for all files, look for *.pwl and if it comes up with any, delete them. Those are the files where the passwords are stored. Try to then log in to the administrator account without a password.
Search for Winternals Admin reset, or Systernals Admin reset and you should find the utility you need. I have it on CD but cant remember exactly where I got it. I do know that it was free and works like a charm.
Reformat and Reinstall windows. You can almost get any distro easily off the internet. As difficult as it might look, OS installation is not exactly rocket science. Its as easy as any software installation.
I really hate to tell you but the only way to really get rid of this problem is to re-format the hard drive and install a new Operating system. you could try a password cracking software but the good ones will cost more than XP, or 2003 server