Bought laptop from someone -- How do I change the computer owner?

Question

I changed the name of the user in Control Panel. I also used a registry editor to search for the old owner's name and replace it by mine all over the registry. The old name still shows in some places. For example, when the laptop is locked, the login screen says it can only be unlocked by the logged in user (me) or the PC owner (the old name). Also, when I go to the Task Manager, most of the running processes are running under the old owner's credentials.

What am I missing?

I had forgotten to mention that I did find that MS article when I was doing my research and followed all the steps to change the registry keys. When I go to the PC properties, General tab, I see the new user as the registered owner. However, when I open the Task Manager and select the Processes tab, most tasks are running with the old owner's ID credentials.

The reason I didn't reinstall Windows is because the original owner lost the installation CD and I have no access to the original product key, etc.

Answer 1

With any used computer I always recommend you reformat and reinstall Windows for security and performance reasons.

How to Change Name and Company Information After You Install Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310441
http://search.microsoft.com/results.aspx?q=Change+Registered+Owner&qsc0=0&SearchBtn0=Search&mkt=en-US&x=173&y=20&FORM=SSME

Change Your PC's Registered Owner in Windows
http://lifehacker.com/software/how-to/change-your-pcs-registered-owner-in-windows-303635.php
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/193371/how_to_change_the_owner_information.html

Answer 2

Almost sounds like the previous owner renamed the administrator account as their name. Try looking in the users interface and see if they assigned information to the Administrator account as their name.

Answer 3

Unfortunately, there is no way to reliably get rid of all of his personalization. You might want to consider formatting the disk and re-installing.

Answer 4

Do a XP restore ,that will fix it.Better than formatting your hard drive.
@ :-}