This Computer Is Locked?

[mccoady]

My Brother installed XP on my computer onto a new harddrive probably about a year ago. The last two or three months I have been getting after reboot or after switching between my Login or my wife's this screen:

"This computer is in use and has been locked, only (my name) or an administrator can unlock this computer" This never appeared until recently and is becoming more frequent, it won't take my normal password I use for alot of different things and my brother doesn't remember what password he used. The only way around this screen is to reboot and it works fine but since it's happening more often I afraid at some point in time the screen might start coming up everytime I reboot. How can I keep the screen from coming up?

I have an antivirus and Spyware programs that are updated regularly so I don't think it's a virus of any sort. Any suggestions?

[Scottie]

I'd reformat the thing and start fresh and clean,

I never used different users but reformatting make the pc run good.

[mccoady]

That's not the answer I was looking for because I can't do that, there has to be a better solution than that.

[bunyip]

This is normally a feature of the screen saver settings, if you have a screen saver turned on and the option 'On resume, password protect' turned on then everytime the screen saver activates the lock will be turned on.

The unlock password is the same as the one you logon to the PC with, or if passwords have been turned off then just hitting enter without a password should work.

I would check your screen saver settings and see if the lock option has been turned on, if so untick it and see if that fixes the problem.

[mccoady]

Yes my screen saver is turned on but I do not see any setting "On Resume, password protect". I do see and it is checked "On resume, display welcome screen". After you pointed me in the right direction to the screen saver, I read XP help says unticking "On resume, display welcome screen" is the same as unticking what you suggested, hope I'm understanding this right. We'll give it a try.

[Sifaga]

i would check the power options in control panel as well,

theres a "Prompt for password when computer resumes from standby" box

[Shocker Milwaukee]

Reboot in Safe Mode. You should then have Admin rights & be able to delete accounts & change passwords. There's a recent thread about this that I'll try & dig up for you.

[ViRaL1]

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=241212

That one?

[handyguy]

Just put the first sentence in the search box, you should have a few answers:
http://www.google.com/

[808smokey]

Also once you log in as the admin through "Safe Mode" remove the password on your account or change it to something you'll remember

heres the screen

[mccoady]

You guys are really on the ball with suggestions! I did what bunyip said and I unchecked "Prompt for Password" in Power options like Sifaga said, so hopefully it was one of those two things. I also appreciate the info on booting into Safe Mode and being able to change passwords and the thread. We'll see what happens now, thanks!