Windows 10: How to get into a Windows Vista device without access to the account?

Good evening everyone, I have recently came into ownership of a Dell Inspiron 1501 that's running Windows Vista and my grandfather the previous owner forgot his password for it. I have everything ready to put a complete fresh install on it but I need to make sure they're aren't any pictures or such still on the computer. Anything I can do or will I have to shell the money for a cable to plug directly into the hard drive to pull everything off?

:)

 

Vista Pre-SP1 vs. Vista SP1

I've been Windows Updating for two straight days and I finally saw SP1. If you want to troubleshoot it, follow these steps:

• Show hidden updates
• Manually install any failed updates (google the KB_____ and install from the windows site)
• Make sure everything in Device Manager is good to go

I had to do step two for like 4 or 5 updates to be able to see SP1.

Any other benchmarks you guys want to see? I might try PCMark05 (I think it works on Vista).

 

Remove account

I suggest you backup your personalized files first before removing the account.
To delete an account, follow these steps:

1. Press WIN + X keys and click Command Prompt (Admin) from the menu.
2. Type the following command and press Enter. Replace test with the name of your sister's account. Code:

 

Strange Windows 10 User Account issue.

Unfortunately I had done those steps numerous reboots, it just, reappears for no good reason. The base account isn't even a Microsoft account, it's a local account.

I haven't quite tried the built in administrator account on W10, but so far in my experience on my own computer, the built in account seemed to have absolutely no more control than I did on my own.

It's just strange, I go in, it warns me twice about deleting the account, then it's gone. Reboot, and it's back?

EDIT: Just to specify, both command line and Netplwiz both say only HIS account exists on the computer, it doesn't list this rogue account. This is what I meant in my first post about the fact that even Windows doesn't seem to believe it exists, HALF the time. *Frown