To use the tool, hackers must connect a Linux-based computer to a Firewire port on the target machine. The machine is then tricked into allowing the attacking computer to have read and write access to its memory.

With full access to the memory, the tool can then modify Windows' password protection code, which is stored there, and render it ineffective.

[sigh]. DMA as a malicious vector has been understood for some time now. I point you to the 4 year old presentation 0wned by an iPod.

Thus I'm not super impressed by a tool someone wrote in 2006 and sat on for 2 years that unlocks a windows PC over Firewire. Disabling a password is silly when the same vector also grants you the ability to inject malicious code directly into a process.