Computer locked

ok...a family member logged on the computer earlier today, and a window poped up that said 'Computer Locked, only admin can login'. When I tried to type in the admin username and password, the fields were disabled, so I couldn't type anything in. I have no idea why this happened, and was wondering if everything is OK with the computer. I couldn't do anything else on the computer, so I just hit the power button and it shut down properly. When I logged back on, everything seemed to be normal. Is this ok to happen?

I assume it's a windows box?

Maybe you had the screensaver on, protected with a password?

I had this once..... 2003 server

APC powerchute installed????

I attributed it to a memory leak....from a service using the admin account...

Hasnt happened since I removed the APC software

MLF

yes, its a windows box, but no, there aren't any passwords on the accounts.

no, I don't have APC powerchute.
So you think its a memory leak? Is there anyway to find out what program might have caused it?

XP home???

Any software or service running as administrator???

Whats the point of having user accounts...with no passwords.....

Are they limited accounts....or is everyone admin??

MLF

Hmmmm,

Did they try to enter a password. What you describe is what I would expect if you had set a limit on failed logon attempts, normally with a password.

Another possibility might be if they had somehow corrupted the user ID? that might be expected if the password was blank.

Of course, I am referring to using the "classical" logon rather than the symbols.

I would be inclined to leave it and monitor the situation.

:)

Maybe they pressed the windows start button on the keyboard along with L to lock it?

Or, check to see if they set a screensaver and checked off prompt for password after a certain time.

If it asks for a password and there is none set, then just pressing "enter" *should* get you past that.

Some of you need to go back to suspicion school....

Sounds to me like it could be a pop-up phish!!!! Fields disabled or not... Some people will still type the credentials and they can still be transmitted.

Just a suspicious old fart thinking... ;)

Quote:

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Originally posted here by phishphreek80
Maybe they pressed the windows start button on the keyboard along with L to lock it?

Or, check to see if they set a screensaver and checked off prompt for password after a certain time.

If it asks for a password and there is none set, then just pressing "enter" *should* get you past that.

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thats exactly what happened, except i couldn't get past it. I just tried it in my username, and It let me change the username and password, but when It came up initially, it wouldn't let me change anything.

This same exact thing happens within our domain. It only has happened on our XP machines so far ( have XP Pro and 2000 Pro clients). The username and password fields are "grayed out" (disabled) and the computer has to be rebooted before a user can log in. It doesn't happen that often, but it has happened enough that we Googled for a cause and solution. Nothing was found thus far to solve this issue for us. All of our users do have a password, and the computers will lock once the screensaver runs.