Now that Windows XP and Vista machines are being replaced at work with new Windows 7 machines you might have a chance to take one home or buy a used PC from any of several places. When you begin to use the computer you won’t want the previous owners information showing up under the System resources or part of the fields automatically filled in by some software programs.

To see the current registered owner and organization, right-click on “My Computer”, select “properties” from the bottom of the list. In Windows XP you will see the information in the “General” tab area. This is not the Computer Name or network but simply who the computer was registered to when Windows was first run / installed.

Changing this information is easy. However, it involves editing the registry and that my friends can be tricky. So go back through my past articles and learn how to backup the registry, if you don’t sure enough, the Evil Villian “Total My PC” (TMPC for short) will eat your system.

Alright, now that you have backed up your registry, let’s begin.

Both the registered owner and register organization values are stored in the same part of the Registry. To change the values (in Windows XP and Vista) open the Registry Editor and navigate the left colum to the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion

Once there, look on the right hand window and you will find the “RegisteredOwner” and “RegisterOrganization” entries.

To edit the value for each entry simply double click on the entry name ( “RegisteredOwner” and / or “RegisterOrganization”).

When the new window appears change the information as necessary and click on “OK” to finish.

Once you have made your desired changes close the registry editor and reboot, now you should see your correct information.

Until we meet again, have a virus free week.