MySQL - Cannot access as root

[Gerard Seibert]

I have just installed MySQL 5. I can access the program as a regular user, 
but not as root. As I regular user I have no privileges. If I attempt to 
access as root, I receive this error message.

ERROR 1045 (28000) Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using 
password: NO)

I can access the program as root using: mysql -u root -p and then 
supplying a password at the prompt, but that is about it.

What can I do to correct this problem? I tried deleting the entire package 
and reinstalling it, but the problem continues. When I first installed the 
program, it worked, but only one time. Obviously, I did something, but I 
do not know what.

-- 
Gerard