Frustration. My mom asked me to help her pick out a Dell. I advised her to get a Dell Inspiron 17" Notebook with Windows 7 and Office 2007 preloaded. The machine came and she set it up by answering the few questions during the first boot of the machine. She claims that after logging in she ran a few programs and left it on and went to dinner. When she returned, the machine was off. No explanation as to why it would have shut down.
Now when it boots, she can't log in. Her username is displayed on the initial login screen as the sole user. But her password doesn't work. Now, she's in her 70's and I wouldn't discount that she forgot her password -- even after this short a period. She's tried everything that she thinks might be her password -- with and without the caps lock key on -- and nothing works; she can't get back in.
I'd be happy just to reset the machine back to it's factory configuration -- just as it arrived -- so that she can start fresh. There is no data on the machine yet. I had her hit F8 on boot and choose the repair option to reset the machine. But it prompts you for credentials of an administrative user. Catch 22. She can't log in.
Any ideas on how to proceed? Thanks for any help.