Getting Closure on Pesky Network Password Box
Q: Every time I boot up my Windows 95 system, a window appears asking me to “Enter Network Password.” It has a user name of “Datel Customer,” and the cursor is in the password box. Clicking Cancel gets rid of it, and the boot continues. This started about the time I got DSL. How can I get rid of this pest?
A: Before you do anything, back up your data. Then follow these directions:
First, using the right mouse button, click the Network Neighborhood icon and then click Properties. Go to the Configuration tab. Toward the middle of the box, you’ll see a line labeled Primary Network Logon. Tap the inverted triangle to the right, choose Windows Logon and then click the OK button on the bottom of the big box. If everything is working normally, at this point you’ll get a box asking whether you want to restart. The answer is no.
Tap the Start button on the lower left, then scroll up the menu toward Settings and open Control Panel. Double-click the Passwords file. You should see a tab labeled Change Passwords. If you don’t, that means at some point somebody entered a password into the system. You can’t change the password until you’ve logged on, so go back, log on and start over. If you don’t have the password, you’re in more trouble than we can help you with in this column; you’ll have to call in a technician.
Assuming all has gone well so far, hit the Change Windows Password button, then click OK. In the Change Windows Password box, type your current Windows password in the Old Password box. Leave it blank if there’s no password. Leave everything else--the New Password and Confirm New Password boxes--blank.
Click OK twice when asked. Back in the Password Properties box you opened so long ago, hit the tab labeled User Profiles. Make sure the little circle next to “All users of this PC use the same preferences and desktop settings” is filled in. Click OK. Shut down. Restart. Give yourself a pat on the back.
Q: My internal drives include a floppy at a:, a CD-ROM at d: and a CD-RW at e:. I want to use the rewritable CD for Quicken backup. Although the program provides for a:, c:, d: and e: drives, only the a: drive permits backup. The other drive choices create the error message “Unable to access Disk at Drive . . . Make certain drive is ready and disk is not write-protected.” I have used Adaptec to transfer Quicken files to a rewritable CD, but then Quicken will not restore from all the files and data so transferred. How can I back up to e:?
A: We suspect that the issue here is your CD-RW drive. Some drives record too slowly, or lack sufficient buffer space, to do the kind of “live” recording you’re trying to do here. You’ve already tried the work-around we’d suggest with Adaptec. We don’t think there’s any other solution other than installing a better CD-RW drive. But wait a few weeks until after this appears in case our faithful readers have other suggestions. If so, we’ll print them.
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Dave Wilson is The Times’ personal technology columnist. Submit questions to Tech Q&A; at techtimes@latimes.com.
