Wijk aan Zee Chess Tournament 2012

13 January 2012

The 74th Tata Steel Chess Tournament will be held in Wijk aan Zee Saturday 14th January - Sunday 29th January 2012. 14 grandmasters will play against each other once.
Participants include: Magnus Carlsen (ELO 2835), Levon Aronian (2805), Teimour Radjabov (2773), Veselin Topalov (2770), Sergey Karjakin (2769), Vasiliy Ivanchuk (2766), Vugar Gashimov (2761), Hikaru Nakamura (2759), Boris Gelfand (2739), Fabiano Caruana (2736), Gata Kamsky (2732), Anish Giri (2714), David Navara (2712), Loeak Van Wely (2692).
Watch the games commented by Houdini Aquarium in our Tournaments&Broadcasts section:
Game days: January 14-17, 19-22, 24, 25 and 27-29.
Games start at: 12:30 GMT.
Carlsen - Gashimov 1-0 \br\Nakamura - Ivanchuk 1/2 \br\Karjakin - Aronian 0-1 \br\Radjabov - Caruana 1/2 \br\Navara - Topalov 1/2 \br\Gelfand - Giri 0-1 \br\Kamsky - Van Wely 1/2 \br\Ivanchuk - Carlsen 1/2 \br\Aronian - Nakamura 1-0 \br\Giri - Radjabov 1/2 \br\Caruana - Karjakin 1-0 \br\Gashimov - Kamsky 1/2 \br\Navara - Gelfand 1/2 \br\Topalov - Van Wely 1/2 \br\Carlsen - Aronian 1-0 \br\Nakamura - Caruana 1/2 \br\Gelfand - Topalov 1/2 \br\Karjakin - Giri 1-0 \br\Kamsky - Ivanchuk 1/2 \br\Radjabov - Navara 1-0 \br\Van Wely - Gashimov 1/2 \br\Caruana - Carlsen 1/2 \br\Giri - Nakamura 1/2 \br\Aronian - Kamsky 1-0 \br\Topalov - Gashimov 1/2 \br\Gelfand - Radjabov 1/2 \br\Navara - Karjakin 0-1 \br\Ivanchuk - Van Wely 1/2 \br\Carlsen - Giri 1/2 \br\Nakamura - Navara 1-0 \br\Radjabov - Topalov 1/2 \br\Van Wely - Aronian 1/2 \br\Kamsky - Caruana 1/2 \br\Gashimov - Ivanchuk 0-1 \br\Karjakin - Gelfand 0-1 \br\Navara - Carlsen 1/2 \br\Gelfand - Nakamura 0-1 \br\Aronian - Gashimov 1-0 \br\Topalov - Ivanchuk 1/2 \br\Radjabov - Karjakin 1-0 \br\Giri - Kamsky 1-0 \br\Caruana - Van Wely 1/2 \br\Carlsen - Gelfand 1-0 \br\Nakamura - Radjabov 1/2 \br\Ivanchuk - Aronian 1/2 \br\Karjakin - Topalov 1-0 \br\Van Wely - Giri 1/2 \br\Kamsky - Navara 1-0 \br\Gashimov - Caruana 1/2 \br\Radjabov - Carlsen 1/2 \br\Karjakin - Nakamura 1/2 \br\Topalov - Aronian 1/2 \br\Giri - Gashimov 0-1 \br\Caruana - Ivanchuk 1/2 \br\Gelfand - Kamsky 1/2 \br\Navara - Van Wely 1/2 \br\Carlsen - Karjakin 0-1 \br\Nakamura - Topalov 1/2 \br\Aronian - Caruana 1-0 \br\Ivanchuk - Giri 1-0 \br\Kamsky - Radjabov 1/2 \br\Gashimov - Navara 1/2 \br\Van Wely - Gelfand 1/2 \br\Nakamura - Carlsen 1/2 \br\Giri - Aronian 0-1 \br\Navara - Ivanchuk 0-1 \br\Radjabov - Van Wely 1/2 \br\Karjakin - Kamsky 0-1 \br\Topalov - Caruana 0-1 \br\Gelfand - Gashimov 1/2 \br\Carlsen - Topalov 1-0 \br\Kamsky - Nakamura 1/2 \br\Aronian - Navara 0-1 \br\Ivanchuk - Gelfand 0-1 \br\Gashimov - Radjabov 0-1 \br\Caruana - Giri 1-0 \br\Van Wely - Karjakin 0-1 \br\Carlsen - Kamsky 1/2 \br\Nakamura - Van Wely 1-0 \br\Gelfand - Aronian 0-1 \br\Radjabov - Ivanchuk 1/2 \br\Topalov - Giri 1-0 \br\Navara - Caruana 1/2 \br\Karjakin - Gashimov 1/2 \br\Van Wely - Carlsen 1/2 \br\Aronian - Radjabov 1/2 \br\Gashimov - Nakamura 1/2 \br\Ivanchuk - Karjakin 1/2 \br\Kamsky - Topalov 1-0 \br\Caruana - Gelfand 1-0 \br\Giri - Navara 1/2 \br\Carlsen (2835) (NOR) \br\Aronian (2805) (ARM) \br\Radjabov (2773) (AZE) \br\Topalov (2770) (BUL) \br\Karjakin (2769) (RUS) \br\Ivanchuk (2766) (UKR) \br\Gashimov (2761) (AZE) \br\Nakamura (2759) (USA) \br\Gelfand (2739) (ISR) \br\Caruana (2736) (ITA) \br\Kamsky (2732) (USA) \br\Giri (2714) (NED) \br\Navara (2712) (CZE) \br\Van Wely (2692) (NED)

Wijk aan Zee 2012
№	Name	ELO	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	points
1	Aronian (ARM)	2805		0	½	1	½	1	1	1	½	½	1	1	1	0	9
2-4	Carlsen (NOR)	2835	1		½	½	½	½	½	0	½	1	1	1	½	½	8
2-4	Radjabov (AZE)	2773	½	½		½	½	½	½	1	½	½	1	½	½	1	8
2-4	Caruana (ITA)	2736	0	½	½		½	½	½	1	½	1	½	1	1	½	8
5-6	Ivanchuk (UKR)	2766	½	½	½	½		½	½	½	½	½	1	0	1	1	7½
5-6	Nakamura (USA)	2759	0	½	½	½	½		½	½	1	½	½	1	½	1	7½
7	Kamsky (USA)	2732	0	½	½	½	½	½		1	½	1	½	½	0	1	7
8	Karjakin (RUS)	2769	0	1	0	0	½	½	0		1	1	½	0	1	1	6½
9	Van Wely (NED)	2692	½	½	½	½	½	0	½	0		½	½	½	½	½	5½
10-12	Topalov (BUL)	2770	½	0	½	0	½	½	0	0	½		½	½	1	½	5
10-12	Gashimov (AZE)	2761	0	0	0	½	0	½	½	½	½	½		½	1	½	5
10-12	Gelfand (ISR)	2739	0	0	½	0	1	0	½	1	½	½	½		0	½	5
13-14	Giri (NED)	2714	0	½	½	0	0	½	1	0	½	0	0	1		½	4½
13-14	Navara (CZE)	2712	1	½	0	½	0	0	0	0	½	½	½	½	½		4½

Games: Round 1 [ PGN], Round 2 [ PGN], Round 3 [ PGN], Round 4 [ PGN], Round 5 [ PGN], Round 6 [ PGN], Round 7 [ PGN], Round 8 [ PGN], Round 9 [ PGN], Round 10 [ PGN], Round 11 [ PGN], Round 12 [ PGN], Round 13 [ PGN]

The Seventh Tal Memorial

The 7th Tal Memorial takes place in Moscow June, 7 - 18.
The palyers participating are: Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik, Teimour Radjabov, Alexander Grischuk, Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruanam, Alexander Morozevich, Evgeny Tomashevsky and Luke McShane.
Watch live broadcasts in the Tournaments & Broadcasts section of our site, or in our Playing Zone.
The games will be played on June 8-10, 12-14 and 16-18. All games and broadcasts except the final one start at 12-00 noon UTC. The final series of games start at 10-00 a.m. UTC.
Carlsen - Kramnik 1/2 \br\Morozevich - Caruana 1-0 \br\Radjabov - Tomashevsky 1-0 \br\Grischuk - McShane 1-0 \br\Aronian - Nakamura 1-0 \br\Kramnik - Grischuk 1-0 \br\McShane - Radjabov 0-1 \br\Caruana - Nakamura 1/2 \br\Morozevich - Carlsen 1/2 \br\Tomashevsky - Aronian 1/2 \br\Aronian - McShane 0-1 \br\Grischuk - Morozevich 0-1 \br\Carlsen - Caruana 1/2 \br\Radjabov - Kramnik 1/2 \br\Nakamura - Tomashevsky 1/2 \br\Caruana - Tomashevsky 1-0 \br\McShane - Nakamura 1/2 \br\Kramnik - Aronian 1/2 \br\Morozevich - Radjabov 1/2 \br\Carlsen - Grischuk 1/2 \br\Grischuk - Caruana 1/2 \br\Aronian - Morozevich 0-1 \br\Tomashevsky - McShane 1/2 \br\Radjabov - Carlsen 0-1 \br\Nakamura - Kramnik 1/2 \br\Caruana - McShane 1-0 \br\Grischuk - Radjabov 1/2 \br\Carlsen - Aronian 1/2 \br\Morozevich - Nakamura 0-1 \br\Kramnik - Tomashevsky 1-0 \br\Aronian - Grischuk 1/2 \br\Tomashevsky - Morozevich 1-0 \br\Nakamura - Carlsen 1/2 \br\McShane - Kramnik 1-0 \br\Radjabov - Caruana 1/2 \br\Carlsen - Tomashevsky 1/2 \br\Caruana - Kramnik 1-0 \br\Morozevich - McShane 0-1 \br\Radjabov - Aronian 1/2 \br\Grischuk - Nakamura 1-0 \br\Tomashevsky - Grischuk 1/2 \br\Aronian - Caruana 1-0 \br\Kramnik - Morozevich 1/2 \br\Nakamura - Radjabov 1/2 \br\McShane - Carlsen 0-1Carlsen (2835) (NOR) \br\Aronian (2825) (ARM) \br\Kramnik (2801) (RUS) \br\Radjabov (2784) (AZE) \br\Grischuk (2761) (RUS) \br\Nakamura (2775) (USA) \br\Caruana (2770) (ITA) \br\Morozevich (2769) (RUS) \br\Tomashevsky (2738) (RUS) \br\McShane (2706) (GBR)

Tal Memorial
№	Name	ELO	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	points
1	Carlsen (NOR)	2835		1	½	½	½	½	½	½	1	½	5½
2-3	Radjabov (AZE)	2784	0		½	½	½	½	½	½	1	1	5
2-3	Caruana (ITA)	2770	½	½		0	1	0	½	½	1	1	5
4-7	Aronian (ARM)	2825	½	½	1		½	0	½	1	0	½	4½
4-7	Kramnik (RUS)	2801	½	½	0	½		½	1	½	0	1	4½
4-7	Morozevich (RUS)	2769	½	½	1	1	½		1	0	0	0	4½
4-7	Grischuk (RUS)	2761	½	½	½	½	0	0		1	1	½	4½
8-9	Nakamura (USA)	2775	½	½	½	0	½	1	0		½	½	4
8-9	McShane (GBR)	2706	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	½		½	4
10	Tomashevsky (RUS)	2738	½	0	0	½	0	1	½	½	½		3½

Games: Round 1 [ PGN], Round 2 [ PGN], Round 3 [ PGN], Round 4 [ PGN], Round 5 [ PGN], Round 6 [ PGN], Round 7 [ PGN], Round 8 [ PGN], Round 9 [ PGN]

Past Lives & Healing

October 2, 2012 Coast Insider Audio

On Monday's show, one of the world's foremost authorities on past-life regression therapy, Dr. Brian Weiss, discussed incredible true stories of miracles and healings occurring after past live regressions, as well as how this tool can be used to improve our lives, evolve spiritually, and ultimately understand that there is no need to fear death. A traditionally trained psychiatrist, Weiss was initially astonished when one of his patients began recalling past-life traumas that seemed to hold the key to her phobias and anxieties. He subsequently developed a hypnosis technique of 10-15 minutes of progressive relaxation that gently sets people up to revisit their previous lives. About 80% of his patients that have undergone this technique do recall past lives, he reported.

Among the cases he cited that involved healing, was a woman who had severe psoriasis. She recalled a previous life where she was burned as a witch during the Inquisition. "She'd been bound and tied to the stake with rope, particularly around her legs where her psoriasis was the worst." After she emotionally recalled the incident, her psoriasis condition completely disappeared, even though she'd been plagued by it for many years, he said. A similar case involved a radiologist who had chronic back pain that he needed to take medication to control. After his hypnosis, in which he remembered being lanced in the back during a Middle Ages battle, his back pain disappeared and has never returned, Weiss stated.

The process of remembering seems to have some kind of healing or clearing effect, for physical as well as psychological problems, he noted. "Some of it is just realizing, 'oh this happened before, it's of the past, not the future,'" and they stop worrying about a certain phobia or problem, he explained. Weiss also mentioned cases of xenoglossy, when people speak languages that are unknown to them, such as when he worked with a Chinese woman and her translator. The woman didn't know English, but began to speak it fluently when she was regressed to a past life in America in the 19th century. Another fascinating incident involved twin 3-year-olds in Manhattan who spoke a private language. The parents took them to a linguist who informed them that their children were speaking Aramaic, a mostly extinct language they would have had no way of learning.

Choose the Best Wi-Fi Channel for Your Router and Improve Your Wireless Network

By Melanie Pinola, About.com Guide

A simple settings change to avoid interference from other Wi-Fi networks

 

Everyone's running a wireless network these days, and all those wireless signals--if they run on the same broadcast channels--can interfere with your Wi-Fi connection. If your wireless router runs on the same channel as your neighbors', you could experience spotty or dropped wireless connections or simply mysteriously slow wireless access.

If you want to optimize your wireless network, one of the easiest and simplest solutions is to change your router's Wi-Fi channel, so you can take advantage of the high speed internet access you paid for and get more done when working at home. Here's how to improve your Wi-Fi connection by finding the best channel for your wireless router.

Wireless networks and devices are subject to interference from a lot of things, including each other. A microwave, cordless phone, or baby monitor could slow down or entirely break a network connection between your laptop or desktop computer and the wireless router. If a nearby device is running on the same frequency band as your Wi-Fi router, that might be why you're experiencing slow network or Internet speeds.

How to Find the Best Wi-Fi Channel Number

For the best performance, you should choose a wireless channel less used by any of your neighbors. Many routers use the same channel by default--e.g., 6--and unless you know to test for and change the Wi-Fi channel when you first install your router, you're probably using the same channel as someone else nearby. In other words, decreased performance.

Some channels overlap with others, while others are more distinct. Channels 1, 6, and 11 are said to be distinct channels that don't overlap, so many people use one of these three channels for their routers. (However, that also means you have a greater chance of using the same channel as another like-minded person configuring his or her router.)

A number of tools are available to help you optimize your router's wireless signal by showing you which channels are most used by nearby wireless networks, so you can avoid them. inSSIDer for Windows, for example, is a free, open-source Wi-Fi scanner from MetaGeek that measures and graphs nearby access points. For Wi-Fi troubleshooting tools on your mobile device, try the highly acclaimed Wifi Analyzer for Android (which I recently used to drag my dad's wireless network out of the dumps), WiFi Scanner for Macs, or Stumbler for the iPhone.

If you don't feel like downloading and installing a new program, however, you could use the web-based WiFI Stumbler to scan and list nearby channels.
When you run one of these programs, it'll show you which channels are most in use. Look for the channels least used to find the best Wi-Fi channel for your network.

Change the Wi-Fi Channel on Your Router

Once you know the wireless channel that's least congested near you, head to your router's administration page by typing in its IP address in the browser address bar. Depending on your router, this will likely be something like 192.168.2.1, 192.168.1.1, or 10.0.0.1 (check your router manual or the bottom of your router for details). Head to your router's wireless settings to change the Wi-Fi channel and hit apply for it to take effect.

And you're done. There's nothing you need to do on your laptop or other devices on the network, and this one change may make all the difference for your wireless network performance.

Chessbase Engine Room "How to challenge"

Challenges

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In the players window you can see all the visitors who are currently in a room. You can challenge anyone who is not playing by clicking Challenge (or double-clicking the name). Or better, you can send a general invitation to a game ("Seek") to everybody in the room.

In the dialog that appears you can suggest time controls, ask for white or black, etc. “Challenger sends game” allows you to send the starting moves, e.g., to resume an adjourned game.

When you are challenged, the name of your challenger appears in the "Challenges" window. If it is a direct challenge the arrow is red. Black arrows are general challenges to anyone in the room. The rating of your opponent, time controls and other conditions are visble.

You can accept, decline or modify the challenge (i.e., negotiate the conditions).

Seek allows you to send out a general challenge to everyone who is currently available. This is the most efficient way to offer a game. General challenges appear as black arrows, personal challenges are red arrows.

In Formula you can set a number of conditions, e.g., time controls, strength of the opponent, etc. Challenges that do not meet them will be automatically rejected.

Pause allows you to visit a room and not be challenged by other visitors. Note that general challenges will still appear in the list. Naturally you cannot challenge players who have paused themselves.

When you challenge a player you suggest time controls. The colours are automatically determined by the server, or you can ask for White or Black.

In your challenge you can offer to play a rated game. This means that the result will be used to calculate and record your playing strength on the internationally recognised Elo rating system. There are three separate ratings, one for “bullet chess” (three minutes for the entire game), one for traditional blitz (5 to 15 minutes) and one for long games.

Challenger sends game allows you to start a game from a position other than the normal starting position. This is used to resume adjourned games or to play a theme tournament. You should load a game from a database or enter the moves on the board before you challenge your opponent.

Note: when you click on an incoming challenge the program shows you how your rating would change in case of a win, draw or loss, as well as the current lag time of the opponent.

 

 

Start computer game:

1. Menu Edit -> Playing mode
2. Choose option Computer
3. Click on Engine button, choose engine and opening book, and adjust hash tables.
4. Activate the option Automatic challenge if you want a challenge to be sent to all other players in the computer room.
5. Clock: Adjust the time limit. All games get rated.
6. Activate the option Automatic accepts if you want challenges to be accepted automatically.

If you want to challenge players manually, leave the option Automatic challenge inactive. The mode Automatic accepts accepts all challenges not diverging more than 30% from your default time limit in automatic challenges.
If you want to actively participate in a computer game yourself, choose the option option Centaur. Here you can enter or analyse moves during a game.
The playing modes Computer and Centaur only work in the computer room. All games (Computer or Centaur) get rated for the computer rating.
A list of all engines playing on the server is available at: Engine Popularity Ranking

Maintaining Your Computer

By Tim Fisher, About.com Guide

 

If you've ever fried a CPU because you didn't clean your fan, lost a decade of your digital life to a

hard drive crash, or spent four hours trying to remove a nasty virus, you learned a valuable lesson about the need to maintain your computer.
Medical experts remind us that "prevention is the best medicine" so as your personal computer support expert, I'm going to strongly advise that you apply the same logic to your computer!
These resources will help you keep your computer running in tip-top shape for as long as you choose to own it.

1. Backup Your Data
2. Update! Update! Update!
3. Keep Your Computer Clean

Backup Your Data

The most important thing you can do as a computer owner is to consistently and reliably back up the data stored on your hard drive. Hardware used to be the most valuable part of a computer but those bits and bytes are now the real investment.
You've spent huge amounts of money on software and digital music and video, and countless hours authoring documents and organizing your digital files. If you don't regularly backup this information, a serious computer problem could leave you with nothing but a huge feeling of regret.
Now that I've scared you a bit, use these resources to keep your data safe!

• Best Backup Software Titles
• Best Online Backup Services

Update! Update! Update!

Keeping the software on your computer updated is no longer an optional part of computer ownership. Viruses, worms, junk mail, security breaches, hardware incompatibilities, and software conflicts are all now part of your daily digital life.
Updating your computer with the latest patches, fixes, and device drivers really can keep these annoyances at bay. Updates are freely available on the Internet for just about every antivirus program, email client, operating system, and piece of hardware you could possibly own.
These resources can help you locate these updates and keep your computer out of harm's way.

• Manufacturer Support Sites
• Driver Search Sites

Keep Your Computer Clean

We all know that most things run a little better when they're clean. Water flows easier when your plumbing is clean, your car's engine runs better if you've been taking care of it, and your dryer does more in less time when you clean out the lint.
Your computer is no different. Keeping your files and folders tidy in your virtual world and clearing the dust and grime that builds up inside and outside your computer all play a part in keeping it running smooth day in and day out.

• The Right Way to Clean a Flat Screen (LCD) Monitor
• Clean Out the Temp Folder (Vista)
• Clear the Internet Cache in Firefox
• Clear the Temporary Internet Files in IE

7 Free Windows Password Recovery Tools

Free Windows Password Recovery, Reset, and Unlocker Tools

By Tim Fisher, About.com Guide

Windows password recovery tools are used to recover, or reset lost user and administrator passwords used to log on to Windows operating systems.
Password recovery tools are often called "password cracker" tools because they are sometimes used to "crack" passwords by hackers. Legally cracking or unlocking your own Windows password is certainly a legitimate practice!
Note: Using a Windows password recovery program is just one of several ways to find a lost Windows password.
Important: Please read my Windows Password Recovery Programs FAQ for more information. I also have an easy-to-read comparison of these programs too that might help.
Need to Crack a Different Kind of Password? See my list of free password crackers for free programs to crack PDF files, Word & Excel documents, RAR & ZIP archives, and more.
Here are the top 7 free Windows password recovery programs available. I also keep a list of premium Windows password recovery tools.

1. Ophcrack

The Ophcrack Windows password cracker is by far the best free Windows password recovery tool available. It's fast and easy enough for a first time Windows password cracker with a basic knowledge of Windows.
With Ophcrack, you don't need any access to Windows to be able to recover your lost passwords. Simply visit the site, download the free ISO image, burn it to a CD and boot from the CD. The Ophcrack program starts, locates the Windows user accounts, and proceeds to recover (crack) the passwords - all automatically.
In a test on a Windows 7 PC, Ophcrack recovered the 10-character password to my administrator account in 40 seconds. Ophcrack supports Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.

Ophcrack v3.4.0 Review and Free Download

 

Password Recovery - $9.95Find your old password in seconds with Password Recovery. Download.www.prosoft3d.com/passwordrecovery/
Password Reset Self-ServeAD Password reset tool through Windows login screen (XP/Vista)ManageEngine.com/ADSelfServicePlus
Reset Windows PasswordReset Windows Admin Password Easily 100% Success 5 Mins,Start DownloadMagic-Rescue-CD.com

2. Offline NT Password & Registry Editor

Offline NT Password & Registry Editor works differently than most password recovery programs in that it erases your Windows password instead of recovering it. You can think of it as more of a Windows password reset tool.
Like Ophcrack, you boot to a burned CD created with the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor ISO file. After running the program, you can log in to your Windows account without entering a password at all.
If you like this "password deleting" strategy then I highly recommend this program. Offline NT Password & Registry Editor works basically the same way as PC Login Now, listed below.
I tried Offline NT Password & Registry Editor on a Windows 7 PC and it reset the password immediately without problem. It should work equally well with Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows 2000, and Windows NT. It should also work with 64-bit versions of these operating systems.

Offline NT Password & Registry Editor Review and Free Download

3. PC Login Now

PC Login Now is one of the better free Windows password recovery programs I've tested... even though it doesn't actually recover passwords.
Instead of discovering and displaying your current Windows password, PC Login Now deletes it, allowing you to access Windows without a password, after which you can create a new one.
PC Login Now works just like the free and popular Offline NT Password & Registry Editor (listed above) only it's much easier to use.
The trade-off with PC Login Now over Offline NT Password & Registry Editor is that PC Login Now causes Windows to detect a possible hard drive problem on the first reboot after deleting the password. I've never seen nor heard of a problem actually happening but it's still a little bothersome.
In a test on a Windows 7 PC, PC Login Now deleted the 15-character password to my user account instantly. PC Login Now supports Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.

PC Login Now v2.0.1 Review & Free Download

4. Kon-Boot

Kon-Boot is yet another free password reset program, much like ONTP&RE and PC Login Now. Just burn the program to a disc, boot to it, and you're off.
Kon-Boot works differently than the two password reset tools above, so if you have problems using them, give Kon-Boot a try. It's very, very easy to use and probably the fastest password reset, and certainly password recovery, tool available.
Unfortunately, Kon-Boot 1.0 does not work with 64-bit versions of Windows.
I used Kon-Boot v1.0 to successfully delete the password on a Windows Vista PC and then also on a Windows XP PC. Kon-Boot is reported to also reset Windows 7 passwords but I was not able to make it work on two different Windows 7 PCs.

Kon-Boot v1.0 Review & Free Download

5. Cain & Abel

Cain & Abel is a free, fast and effective Windows password recovery tool.
Unlike Ophcrack and other popular Windows password hacking programs, Cain & Abel requires access to Windows under an administrator account. Due to this fact, Cain & Abel is a valuable resource to recover passwords to accounts other than the one you're using.
Add that to the fact that Cain & Abel is a bit more complicated to use than other password recovery apps and you have what is, in my book, a pretty advanced tool. Check it out if you think it might be useful to you.
Cain & Abel was able to recover the 10-character password to the Windows XP "Administrator" account in ten seconds. I couldn't get it to work properly Windows Vista. One user said it works great with Windows 7.

Cain & Abel v4.9.36 Review and Free Download

6. LCP

LCP is yet another free password recovery software tool for Windows.
Like Cain & Abel, LCP is a standard Windows program you download from LCPSoft's website and install inside of Windows, meaning you'll need access to a user account on the computer.
LCP can be a little intimidating to those new to Windows password recovery tools so some prior knowledge is very helpful to avoid even bigger problems with your PC.
I haven't been able to get LCP to work for me. If you've successfully used LCP and would like to share your experiences, please let me know.

LCP v5.04 Free Download

7. John The Ripper

John the Ripper is a very popular free password recovery tool that can be used to find Windows account passwords.
While the password recovery application itself is free, the wordlists used by John the Ripper to discover passwords do cost and are required for the software to work.
Note: I'm told there are free wordlist alternatives that work with John the Ripper which is why this Windows password recovery tool is still listed as free. However, I have not tested any of them.
John the Ripper is operated at the command line making it a password cracking tool reserved for the very advanced user.
If you have experience with John the Ripper that you would like to share, please let me know.

John The Ripper Free Download

Windows Password Recovery Tools Aren't Necessary if You're Proactive!

These Windows password recovery tools are great if you need them, but there's a much easier way to access your account if you forget your password - a password reset disk!
How To Create a Password Reset Disk
A password reset disk is a special disk you can insert in your PC during the logon process that will allow you to change your Windows password without knowing your current password. You will need to create this disk before you lose access to your account