i rarely use my desktop and now i forgot my administrators password for windows. Does anyone know how I can retrieve without having to buy software.1 person needs an answerI do too

If you have forgotten your password, if you have another user account with administrative privileges you can log into that account and change your original user account's password from the User Accounts applet in Control Panel. If you don't have another account like this set up or don't have the password to it, you'll need to log into the built-in Administrator account. In XP Home, boot the computer into Safe Mode. Do this by repeatedly tapping the F8 key as the computer is starting up. This will get you to the right menu. Navigate using your Up arrow key; the mouse will not work here. Once in Safe Mode, you will see the normally hidden Administrator account. The default password is a blank.In XP Pro, you do not need to go into Safe Mode. At the Welcome Screen, do Ctrl-Alt-Del twice to get the classic Windows logon box. Type in "Administrator" and whatever password you assigned when you set up Windows.If you have XP Pro or Media Center and were using the built-in Administrator account for your regular work and it is therefore the only user account on the system, there are ways to change the password for that account to a blank. Microsoft doesn't permit us to tell you how in these forums. Their house, their rules. Use Google or ask a local computer tech (not a BigComputerStore/GeekSquad type of place).This is the extent of the help we can give you here in the MS Answers Forums. However, you do not need to buy anything to fix this issue (unless you choose to go to a professional of course; s/he will expect to be paid!) so any links to commercial software which may be subsequently posted to this thread are just SPAM. MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!