[CentOS] OT: Torrent software choice

[Les Mikesell]

On 2/22/2010 12:40 PM, Bob Taylor wrote:
> Hi, I am writting this message in hope that you can be of a great help
> to me. My husband that has been on this site  died suddenly Feb 4th) and
> I can not access my computer. He has  a user name and password on the
> system. He has used the Linux  and Red Hat to run the computer....   He
> would boot up the system and then I would do my email, documents, etc.
> I never thought to ask him his password or username.  There is no one in
> our area that knows how to change the username and password on the Linux
> system... Can you or some one you may know help. I did find a Red Hat
> Boot disk... not sure what to do with it!!!!
>
> I am able to use this email so that is why I am sending this to you
> ,trying to find help. I can be reached through a friend if you can call
> me 970 208 3131.....  or email... will be OK also............  I hope
> there is someone to help me get on my computer...  Laura

This information is pretty easy to find if you google 'linux password 
recovery' so I'll ignore the possibility that this might be a hoax by 
someone trying to break into someone else's computer. If this is a 
default install with no extra work to secure grub, follow these 
instructions:
http://linuxmall.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-to-recover-red-hat-linux-password.html

Note that the 'root' password it talks about is the one needed to do 
system maintenance and updates.  If you want to change the password for 
some other user, use the command:
passwd username
and you'll be prompted to enter it twice to change it.

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell at gmail.com