Recover Windows Vista Password

A friend had two laptops from his son (who died).  He didn't know the passwords and wants to retrieve the photos on the laptops.

Download the free Ophcrack live CD and burn it with ISO Recorder.  ISO Recorder can be found by right-clicking the file iso file to burn:

Boot the Ophcrack CD and let it run.  It can quickly use rainbow tables, those this won't break every possible password.  Brute force is needed to break every possible password.  If it doesn't find a password, make sure all of the tables are installed.

Microsoft Windows 8 Upgrade

A desktop 4 core PC has Windows Vista (virus) so it suffers from frequent hangs for no apparent reason.  No amount of patching and disabling services has cured it.

Microsoft Windows 8 upgrade is currently offered at $39.99, including Media Center upgrade to play DVDs.  The upgrade was surprisingly pleasant.  As promised, data files were saved and everything else was removed during the clean install.  After the install, don't forget to request the Media Center upgrade key.


Screen shots of the Windows 8 upgrade process.

Checking compatibility

Price and license agreement

Choose to create media or download on the fly

Choice to keep personal files and settings

Install

Personalize color scheme

 Express settings, or not

Sign in means to sign in to web account.  Downloading apps through web store will require this account.

Installation complete

Begin re-installing applications and customizing.

Wifi Router Fixes for Actiontec and Zytel

I encountered a Verizon Actiontec home wifi box that would connect for hard-wired, a laptop, and a tablet.  It would not connect to a smartphone.  The security was WEP.  I changed the security to WPA2 and every device was able to consistently connect.

I encountered a CenturyLink Zytel PK5000Z wifi box that would not allow connections for transient devices.  Devices that were consistently at the store were able to reliably connect.  Transient devices would start to connect then fail to get IP address.  There was no WEP/WPA security.  Changing to WPA2 made no difference.  Removing NAT made no difference.  The firmware was up-to-date.  I changed the DHCP expiry from one day to five minutes.  This allowed all devices to consistently connect.