how hard is it to bypass or hack an administrater's password?

[Make7]

7. Not hard at all (from a security perspective), but some tech skill is handy.

I use Ntpasswd, which should work on everything up to Windows 8.1.

It basically boots up a Linux operating system from USB or Removable Disc (e.g. CD) and finds user accounts on the hard disk running Windows and allows you to erase them - giving you user accounts with blank passwords. Then you exit, reboot to Windows, login and change the password to whatever you want.

The downside on that particular program is the user interface is a command line so it isn't really intuitive and displays a lot of information that is not needed. However, it is free. More info here:

https://www.lifewire.com/offline-nt-password-and-registry-editor-review-2626147

There are quite a few programs out there for this. For example:

https://www.lifewire.com/free-windows-password-recovery-tools-2626179


There is probably something more user friendly out there (i.e. graphic interface and password recovery instead of deletion).

The issue with the way Windows was doing its passwords is that people knew exactly where to find it on the hard drive when booting from another operating system - that allows programs to just delete the passwords to give anyone access. I guess Microsoft is just trying to keep the honest people honest.