Second, I have not actually tried to get into the computer yet. Just an
idea I had that since I could boot computers with an Ubuntu CD this just
might work if I knew what files to look for. I will get the computer
from him and look at it this weekend.

I'm no Windows wiz but thought I could help him out. He has called tech
support not sure what they had him try, but he still could not get
logged in. They did offer to fix it for about 250 plus shipping. I
offered to look at for him first.

Though worst case I sell him on Ubuntu and just reformat the drive and
start him fresh with a better system. If that turns out to be an option,
I can boot from a CD and recover all his files (documents, photos,
music) and reinstall, right.