Win7 Admin Security issues help (NOT password recovery)

Mkvenner

Before you think of anything:
No this is not a "I have forgotten my admin password threads"

Ok I need some help with some admin/password security issues.

The computer I'm currently on is more or less mine. My parents paid for it and so I let the rest of my family use it, which is fair. I even let my younger brother use it for playing COD4 and the like, even tho he does own his own laptop and I do not. I've taken care of this PC over the years, repaired it and even upgraded it a bit. Spent many hours trying to get it run smoothly as it is running now and to keep it that way I only made my account admin, well at least that's what I wanted.
Recently my younger brother has been making his own account and the other accounts, belonging to my parents, admin status. My account settings and password remain unchanged which is odd because the only way I know how to get past the admin password is to remove it. Hes no where near as computer savvy as me but I know some of his friends are. I asked him how he does he do this but of course as younger brothers go, he refuses to tell me and storms off.
I change my password on a regular basis and their would be no way for him to guess it.


So I may sound completely computer illiterate and stupid for asking but....

how does he change his account from standard to admin without affecting my own account and password....
and more importantly....
how do I prevent this from happening again?

I could just leave him be admin and that would be the end of it and I honestly could live with that(after a while) but for my own knowledge and the fact that its bugging me, I would really love to know.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: I'm using Win7 64 bit if that helps to come up with solutions.

Skerries

possibly used an admin password reset software such as ERD Commander or Active password changer?

Mr. Presentable

He's probably using the higher level admin account, which can be enabled and then disabled in 7. It has a higher permission than an administrator account created in User Accounts.

mp22

Perhaps he turns on the built in super admin acc with the likes of TRK.He can change what he wants then turn it off.

Mkvenner

Ok thanks

There is another "higher level" admin account?
I didn't know such a thing existed.

How do I get access to the Higher level admin/ super admin account?
and is there a way to stop him from using it?

As for password changing software, is there I can block completely from the computer?

mp22

goto-start-all program's-accessories- right click on command promt-run as administrator-type this in the window "net user administrator /active:yes" (no quotes) restart the pc there will be another account on the welcome screen.

to turn it off same as above change the yes to no-restart pc.

as for password changing software he can use a linux live disk to change things.Its beyond my knowledge how to stop this.

Mr. Presentable

mp22 wrote: »

goto-start-all program's-accessories- right click on command promt-run as administrator-type this in the window "net user administrator /active:yes" (no quotes) restart the pc there will be another account on the welcome screen.

to turn it off same as above change the yes to no-restart pc.

.

And put a password on it.

mp22

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

And put a password on it.

The cmd will only work from a admin acc,if you try it from a limited acc it returns access denied.

Mkvenner

Ok cool. Ive done that now. Along with some other advice I've picked up from other forums. Made it so that one has to type in the account name along with the password to login and I then changed the name of the Administrator account.

Hes currently standard. He probably won't change back unless he needs too. So its waiting game now.
I'm using Event Viewer now to keep track and see what he does. So I'll check back here with further development.

Thanks again

As for the purpose of this thread heres a link to 12 ways how to reset the Windows administrator password
Its an interesting read and quite helpful.