How to change the name of my PC

Level of difficulty: Intermediate

All the computer owners have a strong desire to have their computer name changed to their own name. The windows operating system comes with the facility to enter the name of the user during the time of its installation. In case one has bought the computer with a pre-installed operating system then the name can be entered during the registration process. Still there might be a chance that you missed the above steps because of some reason or have bought a second hand system which has the name of the first owner. For such cases there is an easy yet a little complicated way to change the name. There are some other ways also but this one is the sure shot method.

Materials Needed:
- There are no special skills that are required to change the name of the computer. One should have a complete guide on how to deal with this issue as changing the name would mean dealing with the internal files and settings of the computer which if mishandled can lead to the crashing of the complete operating system.
Step 1
The first step is to select the ‘Start’ menu and locate the ‘run’ option. Click on the ‘run’ option. It is very easy to locate this option.
Step 2
After the run option is clicked a dialog box appears with a blank textbox. Type the word ‘Regedit’ in it and click the button named ‘Ok’. This will then open in front of you a new window of the Windows Registry Editor’.
Step 3
Now you will have to carefully navigate the complete window and search for the option of the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Windows NT\ Current Version. Be very careful while selecting this key as it might look similar to some other keys present along. After locating it click on this key.
Step 4
After this locate the ‘Registered Owner’ value in the panel situated on the right hand side of the Registry Editor Window and double click it.
Step 5
After this a new dialog box will appear and there will be a field with name of ‘Value’. This for the name you want to give to your computer. Fill in the desired name and then click on the button named ‘OK’. After clicking ok close all the windows you had opened.
Step 6
The results of whatever changes you had just made will not be visible immediately. You will have to restart the computer to see the affects of the changes made by you.