Woke up at 3:00am to hear computer clicking, 2 programs running, one was Majic Jack the other was not listed. went to user accounts to find an unknown user logged on. Deleted the user, VRI.net or something like that, but first googled it and found it to be developer software of some sort. restarted after it informed me of 55 updates but would not show them. I had also changed welcome screen options, so after reboot window shows my user name, but will not accept my password. Can this be reset from boot to safe mode CMD prompt? and even more important, how do I prevent this in the future?1 person got this answerI do too

Whenever someone thinks their computer has been compromised, I suggest having a local professional come on-site to diagnose and fix it. With respect, a regular end user isn't going to know what to look for and how to secure the computer properly. As for your password: If you have forgotten your password, if you have another user account with administrative privileges you can log into that account and change your original user account's password from the User Accounts applet in Control Panel. If you don't have another account like this set up or don't have the password to it, you'll need to log into the built-in Administrator account. In XP Home, boot the computer into Safe Mode. Do this by repeatedly tapping the F8 key as the computer is starting up. This will get you to the right menu. Navigate using your Up arrow key; the mouse will not work here. Once in Safe Mode, you will see the normally hidden Administrator account. The default password is a blank. In XP Pro, you do not need to go into Safe Mode. At the Welcome Screen, do Ctrl-Alt-Del twice to get the classic Windows logon box. Type in "Administrator" and whatever password you assigned when you set up Windows. If you reset the built-in Administrator account's password in Home or have Pro and don't remember the password, use NTpasswd to change the built-in Administrator account's password to a blank. Download the bootable CD .iso, burn with third-party burning software such as Roxio, Nero, or the free ImgBurn . Burnas an image, not as data. Boot with the media you created. You may need to change the boot order in the BIOS or get a temporary boot order menu with a special keypress. NTpasswd will run. Follow the instructions carefully. http://home.eunet.no/pnordahl/ntpasswd/ Then go to the User Accounts applet in Control Panel and set passwords that you will remember and make other desired changes.MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!