Solved Logon password will expire in 5 days

[Clairvaux]

Hi,

I've just noticed a fleeting reminder, in my system tray, that my logon password will expire in 5 days. This was under the wording (I think) of Windows Logon Reminder.

It appeared in my non-admin account. I have another, admin account.

I have never set Windows to make logon passwords expire. I have never experienced that under my previous install of the same OS, which lasted years. The advice I've been able to google up on the issue all relates to an option in Group Policy to make passwords never expire, but I don't have this, since I'm under Home Premium.

I suspect this may be linked to the way I sysprepped my install, including the logon passwords to my user accounts. Maybe my system thinks I have Group Policy or I'm on a domain, which I'm not. This is a one-user, non-networked computer (except for the Internet).

As a temporary measure, I made both accounts password-free. I also created two password reset "disks" on flash drives, one per account. I discovered, while doing this, that the relevant wizard says explicitely that you can create a password reset disk... with a blank password. Which I did, but what's the point ? Surely, when you have decided not to protect your account with a password, you don't need a password reset disk ?

I've also seen a registry hack to correct this, which I'd like to avoid, if at all possible.

Thanks !

 

[Brink]

Hello Clairvaux,

You can use OPTION TWO in the tutorial below to disable password expiration using an elevated command prompt instead.


http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73210-password-expiration-enable-disable.html

 

[Clairvaux]

Thanks, Brink. Done and (hopefully) corrected !

However, just after I fired off my post, I noticed something else : I launched Outlook (of desktop Office 2003), and all the passwords of my mail accounts (which were saved in Outlook) had been wiped out ! What's going on there ?

Surely, when you take off the password from your Windows user account, this is not supposed to propagate into Outlook ? I have done that repeatedly in the past, setting and unsetting passwords on Windows user accounts to experiment, and nothing of the sort happened.

Also : while I still had a password on my Windows accounts, there was a password in my Windows Credentials Manager (Generic Credentials) for the systems' Administrator account. Now it's gone. Is that normal ?

 

[Brink]

You're welcome.

Did you use any type of utility program that could have cleared them?

 

[Clairvaux]

No, at least I don't think so. I did experiment these days with Geek Uninstaller, which seemed to do strange things, but this happened right after I took the passwords away from my accounts. Outlook is set to retrieve my mail every 5 minutes, so I believe I would have been alerted before if it was related to something else.

Unless, of course, there was a chain of events such as Unknown problem > Windows passwords problem > Outlook problem...

Oh and by the way, looking at your tutorial about password expiration, I reckon that the worst that could have happened to me is to be forced to change passwords, not to be locked out of my computer ? (Contrary to what the Windows alert would have one thinking...)

 

[Brink]

Yeah, you would have just needed to change your password if it expired.

 

[Clairvaux]

That's reassuring.

Speaking of utilities... I also installed yesterday, or the day before, a strange beast named PC Hunter on the advice of a frequent contributor here, in order to do some troubleshooting... it comes with all sorts of warnings attached, and seems to be Chinese... I only copied some files with it for testing purposes... but...

Could this password-mangling thing be malware-induced ? Get a warning that you might be locked out of your PC... remove passwords or change them... get all your mail accounts passwords wiped out... be forced to re-register them... anything fishy there ?

 

[Brink]

It could be malware, but it sounds more like something may have cleared them instead.

 

[Clairvaux]

Thanks for the tip, my mail accounts are still responding and have not been hijacked... yet... I'm running a few deep scans just in case.

 

[Clairvaux]

OK, nothing found, except a few known Open Candies and false positives. Changed my main mail account password just in case.

By the way, if you use the free version of Malwarebytes as I just did (and I suppose it's no different in the paid version), the scan menu says the Threat Scan is "the most comprehensive", and hints that the Custom Scan is to be used if you need to scan a few selected places only. That's wrong.

The Custom Scan is far more comprehensive than the Threat scan (if you configure it to the max, obviously). In my particular configuration, the Threat Scan (default, recommended) took 10 to 15 minutes. The Custom Scan took almost 4 hours. Also, it found those Open Candy-loaded software installers, whereas the Threat Scan didn't.

 

[Brink]

I'm glad to hear that it only found a PUP.

 

[Callender]

That's reassuring.

Speaking of utilities... I also installed yesterday, or the day before, a strange beast named PC Hunter on the advice of a frequent contributor here, in order to do some troubleshooting... it comes with all sorts of warnings attached, and seems to be Chinese... I only copied some files with it for testing purposes... but...

Could this password-mangling thing be malware-induced ? Get a warning that you might be locked out of your PC... remove passwords or change them... get all your mail accounts passwords wiped out... be forced to re-register them... anything fishy there ?

RE: PC Hunter. You only used it to copy a folder or some files right?

RE: GeekUnistaller. You used it to uninstall Teracopy and scan for leftovers right?

If that's the case there's nothing to worry about. Neither of those softwares will mess with passwords and both are malware free. Regarding PC Hunter - if you mess about with the advanced stuff it will screw up your system if not used correctly!

Just to set your mind at rest here's scan results for both programs.

​

They are both portable programs and you can simply delete the containing folder of each program to remove them!

 

[Clairvaux]

RE: PC Hunter. You only used it to copy a folder or some files right?

RE: GeekUnistaller. You used it to uninstall Teracopy and scan for leftovers right?

If that's the case there's nothing to worry about. Neither of those softwares will mess with passwords and both are malware free. Regarding PC Hunter - if you mess about with the advanced stuff it will screw up your system if not used correctly!

Thanks for the reassuring words, Callender. It's not malware carried by those programs I was concerned about.

PC Hunter : I only used it to browse my files and copy them, as you instructed me. I'll probably delete it, as I don't understand what it does, except there are big DANGER signs all over it.

Geek Uninstaller : that's the one I'm more wary about. Yes, I used it to uninstall something, I don't remember what, and then it also uninstalled something else, at the same time, without asking, I think 7-Zip. Never seen anything like that ! I also did not like the way it forces you into closed choices regarding cleaning beyond what the regular uninstaller does, unlike Revo, which offers plenty of granularity, information and options.

I've seen all the (purported) testimonials on their site saying how much better than Revo it is (and Revo certainly has its own clunkiness and irritating discrepancies), but that first experience has certainly been off-putting. What is your experience of it ?

(I'm also wary of using a lesser-known uninstaller. Those beasts are registry cleaners, and registry cleaners can be dangerous. And who came out with that name, Geek Uninstaller ? That's not reassuring in the least. I use a search tool named File Locator Lite, it's the "professional" free version, and the only difference with the free version intended for home use is that the latter is known as Agent Ransack. At least they were sharp enough to understand that no business user in his right mind would let a piece of software called Agent Ransack within his premises ! I myself downloaded the "professional" version, just so I did not have that ridiculous name staring at me from my own computer !)

 

[Callender]

Revo Uninstaller is better. Stick with that if you have it installed. I mistakenly must have thought that you typically uninstalled software via add/ remove programs. One point to bear in mind. The Pro version of Revo Uninstaller is the only version that supports removal of programs on 64bit machines but free Geek Uninstaller works okay on 64bit machines.

Not sure what you mean by Geek removed 7zip (without asking) - no way should that happen.

Anyway just out of curiosity I just used Geek Uninstaller to remove AirFox (rarely used browser)

​

I let it scan for leftovers. I do get the option on leftover folder/ file and registry entries to keep or remove.

​

Also I would say that when uninstalling software it's best to disable any security software that could block removal of files.

For me that means disabling a few programs including one for real time registry protection and a few others like this:

​

Agent Ransack - yes it is a daft name!

 

[Clairvaux]

Thanks for the screen grabs, Callender. Very helpful. That's precisely what I didn't get. I didn't get screen n°2 with the registry view.

Instead, I got two or three small dialog boxes saying (from memory) : file x remains, it's a shared file, do you want to delete it ? One of them I deleted by hand, through Windows Explorer, after double-checking, because it seemed exclusive to the uninstalled software, the other I left alone.

And yes, Geek Uninstaller uninstalled my 7-Zip on top of the program I had actually asked to be removed. It's not there anymore. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the exact sequence of events and displayed messages.

I use Revo Uninstaller Pro (version 2.5.9, one step apart from the latest generation). Its registry view seems safer and more helpful that what you have shown here (although I'm a registry ignoramus).

I used to always chose the Advanced registry hunting mode (the most agressive), and systematically delete anything with an obvious mention of the software being uninstalled. Any thoughts ?

Since Kari expressed reservations here on uninstallers because of their registry hacking, I'm not so sure anymore.

I bought the Pro version of Revo because of its recording mode (you can chose to monitor installation, and Revo is supposed to revert the steps when uninstalling ; this is supposed to be more fool-proof).

I'm not sure it works as advertised. It does not make a restore point when uninstalling a monitored installation (contrary to regular uninstall), trusting its records instead. It would often find files "possibly related to the program being uninstalled, that were not recorded by the monitoring process". After checking, it would be obvious that those files and folders did belong to the program. But why were they not recorded by the monitoring mode ?

Also, it's precisely some of the most difficult to uninstall programs that seemed less suited to monitoring. I couldn't uninstall Avast this way. The only way to unroot it was to use Avast's own special uninstaller.

 

[Layback Bear]

I do things these days a little different removing things.

*First I remove the program using Ccleaner.

*Then I check Windows Search for left overs. Windows Search never finds anything, of course.

*Then I use the little program Everything Search. Great little program.

*Then to finish things off i do a (regedit) search.

 

[Callender]

And yes, Geek Uninstaller uninstalled my 7-Zip on top of the program I had actually asked to be removed. It's not there anymore. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the exact sequence of events and displayed messages.

As far as I know 7-Zip was updated very recently so installing the latest version shouldn't be a problem.

I use Revo Uninstaller Pro (version 2.5.9, one step apart from the latest generation). Its registry view seems safer and more helpful that what you have shown here (although I'm a registry ignoramus).

I used to always chose the Advanced registry hunting mode (the most agressive), and systematically delete anything with an obvious mention of the software being uninstalled. Any thoughts ?

I haven't used Revo for a long time but from memory it highlighted entries relating to the removed software in bold and I selected those for deletion.

I bought the Pro version of Revo because of its recording mode (you can chose to monitor installation, and Revo is supposed to revert the steps when uninstalling ; this is supposed to be more fool-proof).

I'm not sure it works as advertised. It does not make a restore point when uninstalling a monitored installation (contrary to regular uninstall), trusting its records instead. It would often find files "possibly related to the program being uninstalled, that were not recorded by the monitoring process". After checking, it would be obvious that those files and folders did belong to the program. But why were they not recorded by the monitoring mode ?

I'm not sure about monitored installations not being recorded. The only software that I've ever used that monitored installations correctly was Comodo Programs Manager. (discontinued)

RE: Software removal. It seems we all have our own methods. Mine is to make regular system image backups (at least one per week) and not worry too much if something goes wrong when installing/ removing software.

My usual removal method would be:

Check for running processes, services and drivers belonging to the software that I wish to remove. If found stop and delete (process, service or driver) - then uninstall the software using Geek or similar program.

Reboot - check for leftovers via a file search utility and manually check registry for leftovers using a registry search utility.

Take Airfox for example. I removed it yesterday but there was one empty folder left in Program Files and some registry entries mostly relating to Shell Bags and others relating to Firewall Policy/ Rules. I deleted those but in theory it shouldn't hurt to leave them alone.

 

[Clairvaux]

I do things these days a little different removing things.

*First I remove the program using Ccleaner.

*Then I check Windows Search for left overs. Windows Search never finds anything, of course.

*Then I use the little program Everything Search. Great little program.

*Then to finish things off i do a (regedit) search.

Very interesting. So you're doing it all by hand.

Thanks for letting me realise, by the way, that C-Cleaner could uninstall software. I'm well aware of its window where it shows installed software, and I frequently use it because it's better than Windows. But it hadn't struck me that you could as well uninstall programs from there.

What do you search for ? Only the program name ? Including in the registry ?

Would all items bearing the program name in the registry be related to that program's installation, and therefore be eligible for deletion ? Would it be possible that some other software, which should not be deleted, refer in the registry, by name, to the program currently being uninstalled ?

Conversely, couldn't there be some registry items, recorded at installation, that would not bear the program name at all, but just an undecipherable string of letters or numbers ?

 

[Clairvaux]

I haven't used Revo for a long time but from memory it highlighted entries relating to the removed software in bold and I selected those for deletion.

Exactly. That's why Revo feels so safe to use. I also used to tick happily away at bolded items for deletion, except in the rare cases where they would be bolded, but without any mention of the program's name or publisher in sight, so you'd have to trust Revo blindingly. In such cases, I used to leave them alone.

My usual removal method would be:

Check for running processes, services and drivers belonging to the software that I wish to remove. If found stop and delete (process, service or driver) - then uninstall the software using Geek or similar program.

Reboot - check for leftovers via a file search utility and manually check registry for leftovers using a registry search utility.

That sounds incredibly thorough, but also exacting. How do you trace drivers ? Not through Task Manager ?

 

[Brds7t7]

I use the same method as Layback Bear. I uninstall via Windows control panel. Then after a reboot I search for any related files/folders and remove, then do a manual search through the registry just to clean any left-over entries. To look for any redundant drivers I use the drivers section of Autoruns from Microsoft.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx