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Thread: deleted accounts

  1. #1
    Pomposity! Spexvet's Avatar
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    deleted accounts

    At home, I use XP home. My kids had an argument, and being spiteful teenagers, deleted each other's user accounts, choosing the "delete all files" option when they did. These deleted files were not in the recycling bin.

    How can I retrieve the deleted files, or who can I get to retrieve them?

    Please help.
    ...Just ask me...

  2. #2
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    I'm not so sure normal people can do it if they are not in the recycle bin. There are people that supposedly can do it. I think they usually charge a minimum of $100.

    Sounds like normal kids, BTW.
    Last edited by fjpod; 02-14-2009 at 10:18 AM.

  3. #3
    Pomposity! Spexvet's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by fjpod View Post
    I'm not so sure normal people can do it if they are not in the recycle bin. There are people that supposedly can do it. I think they usually charge a minimum of $100.

    Sounds like normal kids, BTW.
    They do it on CSI! I know it'll cost them (we're making them pay for it), but since it's school work, etc., it's pretty important that the files are brought back.
    ...Just ask me...

  4. #4
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    now, go out and spend a couple of bucks on cheap USB sticks. Give them each one and make them use it. Then tell them to not let the other one know where they put it.

    But the saving/back up thing will be a good skill to learn.

  5. #5
    Objection! OptiBoard Gold Supporter shanbaum's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Spexvet View Post
    They do it on CSI! I know it'll cost them (we're making them pay for it), but since it's school work, etc., it's pretty important that the files are brought back.
    I'm not sure about this, but, in Windows Explorer - Tools - Folder Options, on the View tab, make sure that all the checkboxes related to hiding files are unchecked & click OK. Then open Explorer, click on Recycle Bin in the left-hand pane, and look for files and folders that were in "Documents and Settings\<user name>\". That's where "My Documents" is actually stored.

  6. #6
    ATO Member HarryChiling's Avatar
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    The more you use the computer post delete the less likely you are to recover all the files. There are many Undelete programs out there, my personal favorite is:

    http://www.ntfs.com/boot-disk-win.htm

    It runs from alive CD so your burn it to a CD and then reboot into the CD and from there you can recover deleted files, good luck.
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  7. #7
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    Use a master administrator account

    I configured my son's XPpro PC. Once it was completely ready to go to his 10 year-old curious hands, I set up my administrator account and used it to create his account. When the administrator creates the next account, the administrator can choose if the next account is also an administrator or a limited account. Guess which one to pick...make it limited.

    My son's limited account cannot:

    1. Install or delete programs
    2. Delete other users' accounts or files
    3. Alter the system registry
    4. Manage the system BIOS
    5. Add or remove hardware
    6. Access programs without permission
    7. Reset security systems and parental controls
    8. Reconfigure primary services, partitions or boot properties
    9. Alter system logs
    10. View hidden and system files
    11. Reset the system clock to obscure logs and defeat timed permissions
    12. Alter internet constraints
    13. Restore a corrupted system
    14. Hide files from the administrator

    Basically, he can't render the entire system useless and force me to reinstall everything again from scratch.

    With a limited account, my son can:

    1. Boot up and shut down the computer under his own password
    2. Create and manage his own personal files and directory folders, change his own desktop appearance and input device properties and organize his own start menu
    3. Freely run any program permitted by and installed by the administrator
    4. Use hardware permitted by and installed by the administrator (such as an mp3 player)
    5. Go on the internet to locations or under time constraints set by the administrator
    6. Burn media and print without constraints
    7. Run personal backup utilities to protect his personal files
    8. Transfer personal and entertainment files via portable devices

    Check out how to set up the user accounts to everyone's advantage. Your situation could have been avoided.

    File recovery software and recovery services are available to help you, but it won't be cheap. Generally these services are in the $500 plus range and the PC will be completely out of commission for some days or longer.

  8. #8
    Bad address email on file QDO1's Avatar
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    your average 10 yearold can get arround this by

    booting into safe mode, and using the account name "Administrator" (no password) and creating a normal admin account

    The "Administrator" account is default on XP unless you log in through safe mode and password it off

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by QDO1 View Post
    your average 10 yearold can get arround this by

    booting into safe mode, and using the account name "Administrator" (no password) and creating a normal admin account

    The "Administrator" account is default on XP unless you log in through safe mode and password it off
    If the administrator account has a dedicated password associated with it, can anyone else manage user accounts by any means? I don't think so, as long as the BIOS is also password protected.

  10. #10
    ATO Member HarryChiling's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by icare View Post
    If the administrator account has a dedicated password associated with it, can anyone else manage user accounts by any means? I don't think so, as long as the BIOS is also password protected.
    You can overwrite a password in windows for the admin account and some 10 year olds I suspect could figure out how to do it, plety of programs that run off thumb drives or bootable CD's to do that.

    http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...DisplayLang=en
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  11. #11
    Bad address email on file QDO1's Avatar
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    If you have a PC, and you have created 2 accounts - a kiddie one, and a adults one, and created passwords for them - then you will have at least 3 accounts on the machine!

    If you tap f8 on post, and choose safemode, there will be a third account called "admimistrator" and by default it has no password! Dumb or what!

    Read this to be sure:
    http://www.mydigitallife.info/2006/1...omment-page-1/

    You can however log into that account and then change its password in safe mode

  12. #12
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    I'd like to understand this better because, guess what? I have a 10 year old.

    If you log on as the administrator (in that 3rd account scenario) you can set the administrator password. Is it easy to change that password using common tricks?

  13. #13
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    Wouldn't buying a Mac be much easier?

    :idea::cheers::cheers:;):cheers::cheers::D

  14. #14
    Bad address email on file QDO1's Avatar
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    If you log into the "administrator account" you can change all the passwords - thats why the muppets at microsoft left it there

    Your best bet is to log into that account in safe mode, and change that specific admin accounts password

    In that case, when your 10year old finds out about it, the password wont be blank!


    __

    For sure - even iff you password off the admin account, I can still crack an adnmin account with just limited account access in about 10 mins, but the technique is quite complex - a bit beyond most 10 year olds!

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fezz View Post
    Wouldn't buying a Mac be much easier?

    :idea::cheers::cheers:;):cheers::cheers::D
    Well, I was born a PC. I really don't want to go through a gender change.....
    Plus, then I'd be broke and have no friends. You know how those Mac-ers are!

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by QDO1 View Post
    __

    For sure - even iff you password off the admin account, I can still crack an adnmin account with just limited account access in about 10 mins, but the technique is quite complex - a bit beyond most 10 year olds!
    I'd love to know that technique!
    Last edited by icare; 03-02-2009 at 06:03 AM.

  17. #17
    Bad address email on file
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    I'm pretty sure that you can do a "system restore" and rollback all of the changes (including deleted accounts) to a date prior to the deletion.

    Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore

    Depending on the computer this could take a while so be patient. Try to roll back to the closest date to the incident as possible.

    Read this for verbatim details http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306084

  18. #18
    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Gold Supporter DragonLensmanWV's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by HarryChiling View Post
    The more you use the computer post delete the less likely you are to recover all the files. There are many Undelete programs out there, my personal favorite is:

    http://www.ntfs.com/boot-disk-win.htm

    It runs from alive CD so your burn it to a CD and then reboot into the CD and from there you can recover deleted files, good luck.

    As Harry points out, the more you use the computer, the more likely it is that your files (which are still on your hard drive, just with a slightly altered name by Windows) will get overwritten, which will make recovery way harder.OTOH, this is a good object lesson for them. Messing with the computer can have negative results.
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    I forgot that I've used another application once in a while to recover files. I can recover them from flash memory, too. It's saved my butt a few times and made me a hero with some friends more than once.

    from www.download.com is a popular tool called Restoration 2.5.14

    Download at:
    http://www.download.com/Restoration/...html?tag=mncol

    It will scan discs for all files that have been deleted completely from your recycle bin. It finds anything that has yet to be written over. The file names may not be immediately obvious because it categorizes them using its own indexing system, but the file types and deletion dates are also listed. You can restore individual files to any directory you choose. It's very cool and does not even install itself. It just runs as a standalone utility. Close it when you're finished and it's gone.

  20. #20
    Bad address email on file
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    I have quite a plethora of software just for that purpose. My favorites are just simple "brute force" dictionary attacks but a program group from Passware is very effective at cracking even the most difficult Excel spread sheets. I recently recovered a file password (using Passware) for a customer on an Excel sheet that was nearly 20 characters in length in just under 4 minutes. No cold boot tactics or Live Knoppix tricks, just plain old drag and drop. I was very impressed.

  21. #21
    Bad address email on file
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    I use a program called "Recuva". That's not a typo, it from the makers of Ccleaner and is found to be very powerful. Quite nice.

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  23. #23
    ATO Member HarryChiling's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by icare View Post
    I'd like to understand this better because, guess what? I have a 10 year old.

    If you log on as the administrator (in that 3rd account scenario) you can set the administrator password. Is it easy to change that password using common tricks?
    Yes a simple overwrite can be done with programs downloaded from many sites, of course the person would have to be looking to be malicious and it would guarentee that the account would be caught when the original password didn't work.
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  24. #24
    ATO Member HarryChiling's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Greg in Ohio View Post
    I have quite a plethora of software just for that purpose. My favorites are just simple "brute force" dictionary attacks but a program group from Passware is very effective at cracking even the most difficult Excel spread sheets. I recently recovered a file password (using Passware) for a customer on an Excel sheet that was nearly 20 characters in length in just under 4 minutes. No cold boot tactics or Live Knoppix tricks, just plain old drag and drop. I was very impressed.
    I use passware for any microsoft product and with Excel files I believe the password is just encrypted with the file so it's very easy for the program to find those passwords without brute force, brute force sucks and is always the last resort, of course the better the dictionary the better your brute force attack, hence the reason why a lot of things require passwords with special characters, numbers, capital letters, and such it makes difficult to perfomr brute force attacks efficiently. As for anything online most sites log the number of attemts and lock the account after a certain number fo attempts. I agree for files Passaware is a great tool and I use it a lot, actually I have a Security CD I created that you might like e-mail me if interested. I also like Knoppix STD when using Live CDs (and no it's not sexually transmitted diseases, minds outta the gutter folks).

    I would have to say the funniest thing I ever pulled was a phishing attack against a roomate when MSN had a javascript bug in it, you could use javascript commands within e-mails by replaceing any of the letters in your command with their equivalent alt codes, MSN didn't interpret alt codes so it passed through their security checks, while the browser interpreted the alt code and executed commands. So I would use a javascript command to open a pop up window that looked like the login for MSN and keep it on top of all other windows so my roomate filled it out and the pop up e-mailed me their account information and I changed her password, then I changed her security question, address, zip code, and evrything detail just enough that even phone calls to microsoft didn't convince them that the account was truly hers, from there I went to other sites she frequented and used the password reset options to e-mail links to thee-mail address and before long her online identity had been stolen, I only did it long enough to keep her off my wifes back during finals.
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