Even if you don’t think there will be an issue, remember that there can be legal ramifications to tampering with a machine’s registration. Check with any system administrators first! Changing a personal computer’s registration can render the computer unclaimable in the event that it is stolen; it can also reset your saved wifi networks, as workplace and school wifi providers rely on your registration staying consistent.
You may encounter a pop-up window asking you if you’re sure you want to open registry editor. Click “OK” to continue. If your system sends you an error message that states your ineligibility to access registry editor, you’re probably not cleared to make changes to software on that specific machine.
To expand a file, click the chevron-style arrow next to it. This should result in an extensive list of all the sub-folders appearing.
You can also change the registered organization in the same location by double-clicking the item labeled “Registered Organization”. Again, make sure you have explicit permission to make this change before doing so if you’re on a shared computer.
Make sure this value perfectly matches the change you made to the registered owner above.
A much easier and more consistent way of verifying your name is by opening System Information and scrolling through your system’s details until you come to your registered name. To access System Information in any operating system, open Run, type in “msinfo32. exe” without the quotation marks, and click “OK”. On Windows XP, you’ll open “Explore” from Start, then go to “Help” in the upper left-hand corner and click on “About Windows” in the menu. On Windows Vista and Windows 7, you’ll click “Open Windows Explorer” from Start, then click the “Help” tab in the upper left-hand corner and click on “About Windows” in the menu.
Nicknames, pet names, or other monikers are great ideas if you’re looking for a change in scenery, so to speak.
On older systems, it is possible to access Control Panel through system settings; on newer systems such as Windows 8 and 10, however, it’s easier to simply search “Control Panel” and click on the resulting app. You can also open Run and type in “control panel” to open this folder.
Make sure you don’t click on the link entitled “Type of account”; this will open a series of settings that can potentially harm your computer or your ownership thereof if handled incorrectly. User Accounts may redirect you to a subfolder with another link entitled “User Accounts”–if so, click this link.
Note that, while this change does affect the login name above your password entry box, the official registration of your computer and the default username will remain the way it appeared before.
