Windows 10: Administrator account risk

My dad gave his laptop to Geeksquad to fix a hardware problem. He has only 1 user account with admin privs. He did not give the password to Geeksquad.


When he received the laptop back, there was another account created called "Administrator" and would automatically login without a password.


I searched around and I see this is a hidden built in account in Windows 10 which can be enabled by the command "net user administrator /active:yes"


My questions:


1) How did they enable the "Administrator" account? Did they login into safe mode and enabled it?


2) If anyone can enable the "Administrator" account like that, isn't this a security risk? I mean if the laptop is lost or stolen, then anyone can get in.


Thanks.

:)

 

Settings can't be opened using the built-in administrator account


Hello,
Unfortunately I have the same issue as Dabz from upgrading win7 to win10.
I've tried opening settings using all the suggested methods and it will not load using my account with Administrator access nor the built-in Administrator profile. I also tried other methods not listed such as using Run. Control panel is just a stepping stone to add users in Settings.
I'm also having explorer.exe issues, which I believe is preventing Settings from loading.
Using cmd (Admin) I successfully created a new user profile [and granted admin access also using cmd (Admin)], however win10 will not allow this account to log on. win10 does not list this new user within control panel but it does in the start menu. win10 will not allow to log in or switch to the new account via the start menu either.
I can access settings in Safe Mode but this will not allow me to create a new account.
Any help/suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Cheers

 

Deleting an administrator account

Hi Imat,

Kindly follow the steps below to resolve this concern:

Step 1: Remove pin from your administrator account. Here's how:

• Log in the administrator account.
• Go to Settings.
• Select Accounts.
• Go to Sign-in options.
• Under PIN, click on Remove.
• Tap Remove to confirm.
• Type in your administrator password to verify.
• Hit OK.

Step 2: Make your local account as an administrator account by following the steps below:

• Log in your local account.
• Go to Settings.
• Select Accounts.
• Go to Family & other people.
• Select Change account type.
• Under Account type, select Administrator.
• Hit OK.
• Restart your computer and sign in with your administrator account.

Step 3: Remove the old administrator account. Please follow the steps below:

• Log in the new administrator account.
• Go to Settings.
• Select Accounts.
• Go to Family & other people.
• Click on the admin account you want to remove and hit Remove button.
• When you see a confirmation dialog, select Delete account and data.

Hope this information helps. In case you need further assistance, kindly reply to us.

 

Weird account name and lost Administrator rights.


Well, I know what I would do.

Under Settings, Accounts, Family & other users, then under Other users, add someone else to this PC. Then click the link for "the person I want to add doesn't have an email address". Then click the link for "Add a user without a Microsoft account". Then enter a temporary user name like TempAdmin. When the account appears in the Other Users list, click on it. Click change account type. Make the temporary account an Administrator.

Log in as the temporary administrator account, and copy all the files you want to keep from both the Andrius folders under Users to the temporary account's folder. Then delete whatever Andrius users are listed under settings, accounts. Go back to the Users folders and delete any remaining Andrius folders in there. Reboot the computer, log in as the temporary administrator and recreate an Andrius account using the exact same steps you made the temporary account - you can convert it to a Microsoft account if you want later.

Then do the rest of the steps to copy all your files back and delete the temporary administrator account.