Setting BIOS password in Windows?

[claycad]

A a friend of a friend asked if I could fix her Toshiba laptop. She explained she installed a parental control program on her PC so her daughter couldn't access it. She forgot the password though so was wondering if I could fix it. And of course she had also forgotten the name of the program she installed. Well I figured if I couldn't figure out how to hook the HDD up externally to another PC and find the program and registry files to delete, the worst case scenario would be wiping the HDD and doing a fresh install of windows. Well, the next day started working on it and it was asking for a BIOS password!? Well, I overrode the BIOS password by hooking a jumper up to the two terminals on the motherboard, which disabled it, but then it asked for the HDD password, which from what I've been researching absolutely can't be bypassed, you can't even format it without the password.

Well, anyway I thought the only way to set up a BIOS password was to actually go into the BIOS and do it, which from talking to this girl she would be way to computer illiterate to do plus she explained she installed the program. Basically I find the whole thing suspicious, like maybe the laptop is possibly stolen. But thought I'd ask could she be telling the truth? Is there a parental control program that allows you to set a BIOS password while in Windows and not in the BIOS? Even if that was the case, why? A BIOS password seems a little excessive for a parental control method, don't you think?

[koala]

The BIOS and HDD passwords can only be set from the BIOS screen, not while running Windows.

I would get her to send the laptop back to Toshiba for repair.

[claycad]

Originally Posted by koala

The BIOS and HDD passwords can only be set from the BIOS screen, not while running Windows.

I would get her to send the laptop back to Toshiba for repair.

Like I said, I disabled the BIOS password. From what I understand the HDD password can't be disabled, not even by the manufacturer. I'm assuming since the BIOS password is now disabled a new HDD can be installed and the password protected one is just a paper weight now.

As I've said, this girl seems a bit on the computer illerate side, and if going into the BIOS is the only way to set a BIOS password, she at very least lied to me since she explained she downloaded and installed a parental control program and that is why the laptop has the password. I suppose she could have been messing around in the BIOS screen and seen where she could set the password so she did then just forgot it, but that's not how she explained it to me. She expalined the downloaded and installed a parental control program. Just sounds a bit fishing.