Administrator password

I have inherited some older laptops. They have external system administrator passwords with some very heavy protection on them. Allot of the internet is blocked, cannot load any programs, cannot change settings.
I had taken one to a local computer store to have the PW removed which ended very bad. He wiped clean the hard drive and all the programs worth anything MS office and such. Then installed an illegal copy of XP on it. A total loss.
I have another laptop that I have the user pw so I can log on.
This is with XP. I tried the removal tutorial process posted and cannot get past the administrator.
Is there a way to remove or reset the administrator PW? Software that can do this?
Preferably for not more then $50.
Thanks
Bill