forget password in ubuntu 10.10

There are a few methods (mostly similar) take a look at these

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/resetpassword

https://help.ubuntu.com/12.04/ubuntu-help/user-forgottenpassword.html

http://askubuntu.com/questions/24006/how-do-i-reset-a-lost-administrative-password

http://naveenubuntu.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/recover-login-password-of-ubuntu-1204.html

Please read this:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

Ubuntu 10.10 is end-of-life and not supported anymore.

I suggest performing a clean install of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, that is supported until April 2017.

I recommend the clean install too. Maverick is painfully old as well as being EOL.

Agreed clean install is best.

Ubuntu with the Unity interface can be painfully slow on old machines so I suggest you try it from a live CD/DVD or USB stick first. It will give you the feel of it so you can decide if its for you or not. Install if you are happy. Note a true install will be a little faster than from USB stick or live DVD.

Otherwise take a look at Xubuntu its more like Ubuntu was in 10.04. You can try that without installing too.

The links Manfred has provided will reset the password however if you decide not to upgrade but Maverick is not supported any more.