Hacking admin password

[ed again]

I bought my wife an Ibook G4 last christmas and set it up for her on Boxing Day (not a good day to do it) I can't remember any of the passwords i used. Understand its reasonably easy to hack it to find the name and password, any help would be appreciated.
ed

 

[trotsky]

I had a minion search this out:

Resetting the original administrator account password

Follow these steps to reset a password when there is only one administrator account on the computer, or if the original administrator account (of several) needs a password reset. "Original" administrator account refers to the one that was created immediately after installing Mac OS X. If the original administrator password is known, the original administrator user may reset the passwords of other administrator accounts using the steps described above.

1. Start up from a Mac OS X Install CD (one whose version is closest the the version of Mac OS X installed). You should first disable Open Firmware password protection, if it is enabled. Hold the C key as the computer starts.

2. Choose Reset Password from the Installer menu. Tip: If you don't see this menu or menu choice, you're probably not started from the CD yet.

3. Select your Mac OS X hard disk volume.

4. Set the selected user to the name of your original administrator account. Note: Be sure to select your administrator account name. Do not select "System Administrator". System Administrator is actually a reference to the root user. Do not confuse it with a normal administrator account.

5. Enter a new password.

6. Click Save.

 

[Gecko]

Dunno if it exists for Mac but there's some free software out there called "revealer" which lets you see what is actually typed behind the ******* when you enter a password. It shows you the actual letters types in instead of *****.

 

[trotsky]

Dunno if it exists for Mac but there's some free software out there called "revealer" which lets you see what is actually typed behind the ******* when you enter a password. It shows you the actual letters types in instead of *****.

What if your password is *****? Does it sit in the corner and cry?

I did when I found a user who set their password to ******** "because then you can see what you are typing...". I couldn't decide if it was genius or insanity.

Then Scott Adams did it in a Dilbert cartoon and I started looking under the desk in case he had hidden microphones in our office.

 

[ed again]

I had a minion search this out:

Resetting the original administrator account password

a belated thanks for your help, my minion a 16 y.o. grandson sorted it out for me following your instructions.
Cheers.