Hi, recently i purchased a lot of items at a local estate sale. In this lot was a relatively new (maybe 2 yr old) compaq laptop computer. The computer seems to operate but i am not able to access past the initial username screen. There is a password required and of course, i do not have it and after consulting with the estate's family (briefly) they were not in possession of it either.

My question is, is there a method aside from complete reformatting that could enable me to bypass the initial screen and add an additional user or reset the original users password. Reformatting seems kind of useless as my intentions are to resell the item as I have a laptop and the original price was probably not much over 450 two years ago. which would make for a very low return on investment.

Thanks,
Windows Newby

Not sure why you would buy a computer you couldn't log into but I'm deleting the steps on getting past the log in screen on the off chance the estate sale was actually the backseat of someone's car. I would suggest trying the google or contacting Compaq customer support or putting Mint on it.