BleepingComputer.com: Removing the Name

Hi most of us at one time or another has received a used computer from a friend, loved one etc. Or bought a used one and discovered that the name in the CPU keeps popping up periodically while using the CPU. Is there any way to replace the current name on the CPU and put the current owners name in the CPU? as the case on my brothers computer.

Regards

You should be able to right-click on My Computer then select Properties. There should be a network properties tab where you can select a button to rename the computer.

There is no networking tab there though.

Fire, press the Windows button + the Pause/Break button and that will bring up the System Properties panel.
Click on the Computer Name tab then click on the Change button to rename your computer.

There can potentially be three user names

1 The registered user ie the name that was used during the xp installation. It shows up on the system properties sheet as the registered user

2 The user name. It can be changed in control panel under user accounts

3 The name of the computer as it appears on a network, if any. The above suggestions will change the name of the computer on a network but not the registered user name

The first item requires a registry hack. If you google it you will find it
CAUTION: BACK UP YOUR REGISTRY FIRST!

You can change the name that will show up as the registered owner in system properties in the registry, but if you are using the profile for original owner, you will still have that name show up on things like cookies, even if you change the name of the profile.

To totally have it show everything in your name, you need to change the name in the registry and use a new profile.

I would tell you where to find the key to change in the registry, but it has been a couple of years since I did that to mine and I don't remember exactly where it is, sorry