My(divorcing)wife made herself the "Adminstrator" of our home pc,
Windows XP and restricted me as a User from adding/deleting programs,
and scanning for file or copying. It's important for me to have full
access to the computer, which did until she recently removed my name
as an administrator, leaving me to guess what happened?
My question is..How do I circumvent the restrictions placed on me by
the spiteful spouse Administrator?

Hi tomtgs!!!

I have e-mailed to the editors in order to know if I can answer your
question.
The answer was YES!!, so I can tell you about some tools that can
permit you change the Administrator password and then leave the
computer access available for both, you and your wife.

There are several applications to do this task, some are free (more
risks) and other are paid software.

"Windows XP / 2000 / NT Key":
http://www.lostpassword.com/windows-xp-2000-nt.htm

It is a program to reset Windows XP / 2000 / NT security if
Administrator password, secure boot password or key disk is lost.
Windows XP Home and Professional Editions are supported.
Note that Windows XP setup CD-ROM or floppies are required to use the
software.
To get this disk plese take a look to the following page:
"Obtaining Windows XP Setup Boot Disks"
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q310994

This software costs U$S 195.00

Also visit this page:
http://www.lostpassword.com/windows-faq.htm

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"NTAccess 1.4":
http://www.mirider.com/ntaccess.html

NTAccess can replace the administrator password of a Windows NT,
Windows 2000 or Windows XP system by rebooting the computer with a
special set of boot disks. This is useful if you forgot the
administrator password and cannot access the Windows NT/2000/XP
system.
The commercial version of NTAccess costs EUR 75.00 (about $ US 78.00).
They claims:
"If you use the Windows XP version of NTAccess together with the
bootable Windows XP Setup CD-ROM, copying the NTAccess files to an
empty disk, booting from the Windows XP Setup CD-ROM, loading NTAccess
and replacing the administrator password takes about 3 minutes."
http://www.mirider.com/ntaccess.html#How long does it take

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Some Free Tools:

"NTFS Boot disk for password recovery/reset":
This disk can be used to change/recover the password of any user
account on any NT4, 2000, XP based system (only password recovery on
2000 advanced server). It works with both FAT and NTFS file systems.
http://www.pchelplive.com/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=10


"Offline NT Password & Registry Editor"
This is a utility to (re)set the password of any user that has a valid
(local) account on your NT system, by modifying the crypted password
in the registrys SAM file.
You do not need to know the old password to set a new one. 
It works offline, that is, you have to shutdown your computer and boot
off a floppydisk or CD. The bootdisk includes stuff to access NTFS
partitions and scripts to glue the whole thing together.
Works with syskey (no need to turn it off, but you can if you have
lost the key)
Will detect and offer to unlock locked or disabled out user accounts!
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

How to get it?
This program is free, and you can download it from here:
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/binsrc.html

How to use?
http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/


"John thr Ripper"
John the Ripper is a fast password cracker, currently available for
many flavors of Unix (11 are officially supported, not counting
different architectures), DOS, Win32, BeOS, and OpenVMS. Besides the
crypt(3) password hash types most commonly found on various Unix
flavors (several DES-based, MD5-based, and Blowfish-based), supported
out of the box are Kerberos AFS and Windows NT/2000/XP LM hashes.
http://www.openwall.com/PR/unix.shtml


------------------------------------------------

For more info related visit this page:
"How can I gain access to a Windows 2000/XP/NT computer if I forgot
the administrator's password? How can I reset the administrator's
password if I forgot it?"
http://www.petri.co.il/forgot_administrator_password.htm

--------------------------------------------------

Search strategy:
hack password administrator xp
lost password administrator xp


I hope this helps, If you need a clarification please post a request
for it.

Best Regards.
livioflores-ga

Thank you!

Dear tomtgs-ga:

You present another tough one here. It'll be difficult if not
impossible to find someone here who will give you that type of
guidance. While I have worked on your questions before and I am
thoroughly convinced that your intentions are sincere, such
information posted publically would also be viewable to those who
might not have such honest intentions. See what I mean?

One of the things you can do if you are getting "custody" of this
computer is stipulate in your divorce that she provide you with full
and complete access to any/all password protected material being
awarded to you in the divorce.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

tomtgs-ga........

Your question really hit close to home.
On Feb 13, my adult son was charged with " interference to lawful use
of data".
His ex- fiancee is claiming he changed the password to their e-mail
account. However , after he consulted with an attorney, he was told
that unless there is a hard copy of the evidence ( as in history
folders, etc ), the charge would not stand.
Well, she  took the computer & all his personal effects and furniture
on Feb 10 while he was at work. His lawyer is basically saying this
charge is false & invalid.....
Mabe the best thing for you to do is contact your IP and get another
Administrator account.........