Windows XP pro question

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • kgveteran
    Senior Member
    • Oct 2005
    • 865

    Windows XP pro question

    I can't seem to make any limited access accounts.The option for that will not highlight when I click on it. I don't like to sulf in administative mode.

    Thanx
    Here is my LCR "Trio". Way to go guys !
  • Hdale85
    Moderator Emeritus
    • Jan 2006
    • 16075

    #2
    Hmm thats strange...usually by default they don't have admin capabilities. Also should have put this in the Tower of Power area

    Comment

    • Kevin P
      Member
      • Aug 2000
      • 10809

      #3
      XP requires at least one account with administrator privileges (besides the built in Administrator account), so if you try to change the only admin account to limited, the limited option will be grayed out.

      Create a new account, make it limited, and do your surfing from there, and save your admin account for admin tasks.

      Is this a home (standalone) PC, or is it on a domain, or set up not to use the welcome screen?

      Comment

      • kgveteran
        Senior Member
        • Oct 2005
        • 865

        #4
        Originally posted by Kevin P
        XP requires at least one account with administrator privileges (besides the built in Administrator account), so if you try to change the only admin account to limited, the limited option will be grayed out.

        Create a new account, make it limited, and do your surfing from there, and save your admin account for admin tasks.

        Is this a home (standalone) PC, or is it on a domain, or set up not to use the welcome screen?
        It went in for repair and this is where I am...in short I don't know.I do know that if I create another admin account my (everything is gone) and I have to do a restart point to get it back.So......help
        Here is my LCR "Trio". Way to go guys !

        Comment

        • Kevin P
          Member
          • Aug 2000
          • 10809

          #5
          Does your original (admin) account still work? Your profile info should be there. If not, you can copy profiles from one user account to another from Control Panel, System.

          What kind of repair was done?

          When you log in, do you get the Welcome screen where you click the account you want to log in, or do you get the "Log in" dialog where you type in the name and password?

          Comment

          • kgveteran
            Senior Member
            • Oct 2005
            • 865

            #6
            Originally posted by Kevin P
            Does your original (admin) account still work? Your profile info should be there. If not, you can copy profiles from one user account to another from Control Panel, System.

            What kind of repair was done?

            When you log in, do you get the Welcome screen where you click the account you want to log in, or do you get the "Log in" dialog where you type in the name and password?

            I'll check.....I get a welcome screen with only the adminastrator being a choice.

            I was surfing as the admin and down loaded XP antivirus 2008. It reaked havoc to say the least.
            Here is my LCR "Trio". Way to go guys !

            Comment

            • Hdale85
              Moderator Emeritus
              • Jan 2006
              • 16075

              #7
              Well...that shouldn't be an issue that's exactly what I do. I'm always logged in as admin.

              Comment

              • Kevin P
                Member
                • Aug 2000
                • 10809

                #8
                It might be a good time to reinstall. Who knows how much damage that "XP Antivirus" POS did to your system. Though, you could try Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (google for it) to see if it can clean things up.

                So you're saying you create new accounts and they don't show up on the Welcome screen?

                Comment

                • Hdale85
                  Moderator Emeritus
                  • Jan 2006
                  • 16075

                  #9
                  Yeah I would blame it on a poor virus scan as well. I use Avast Home Edition without issues here.

                  Comment

                  • PewterTA
                    Moderator
                    • Nov 2004
                    • 2901

                    #10
                    xp antivirus 2008 is a pretty bad spyware itself. Most antivirus protection programs don't protect against it (including Avast). If you go to bleepingcomputer.com and click on the spyware removal tab, you'll see the instructions on how to remove it completely. These guys know their stuff, they are all the people that have left Norton, Symantec, McAfee, Avast, ect. that are fed up with how these companies take people's money and don't really protect the PCs.

                    The ONLY antivirus that they recommend on using is Kaspersky. It's the only one updated on a minute by minute basis so as soon as the virus is found a repair is set in place. Right on their front webpage they have the update of what they've found/blocked. I like it for the fact that the more licenses you get for it, the cheaper the software becomes...So putting it on three machines costs less than putting it on each machine one time each! :T One copy is $60, but you can get 3 copies installed for just $70. That's the way software should be!

                    Now, back to what the issue is...

                    The problem (from how you describe it) is the fact that you are creating multiple accounts, when you log in to each account they are set to default of what all you have installed. So you might not see many icons or anything else.

                    Here's three things I would do...

                    Login as the administrator. Go to manage your computer (Right Click on My Computer and go to 'Manage'. In the window click on "Local Users and Groups" and then the 'Users' folder underneath. In the right half of the window you should see all the user accounts for the machine. Probably a few that are disabled. What I would do is right click on the Administrator name and rename it. Rename it to something you can remember/write down. So like say 'HTguideAdmin' (as an example) or something instead of 'Administrator'. Renaming that account takes a HUGE amount of worry away because lots of stuff tries to go through the Administrator ID. If that's not there, you've just secured things a whole lot more.

                    Now I would also create an account (right click in the white area and do "new user," name it whatever you want and any options you want (like password never expires) and give it a password. Once created you need to right click on that username and go to properties, inthe window, click on the Member Of tab. Click Add and in the box type in Administrators (with the 's') then click ok. This will make that username an administrator of the machine.

                    Once you do that, you should be able to log off and see that username in your welcome screen, click and enter the password, you should be in with that username. Now everything will be blank (very few icons on the desktop). What you can do to get your icons back is open up Windows Explorer, make sure you go into Tools -> Folder Options and click on the "View" tab. In there, you want to check off "Display the Contents of system folders," click on the radio button for "Show Hidden Files and Folders," and I suggest unchecking both "Hide extensison for known file types" and Hide protected operating system files." You'll have to hit ok to the box that pops up on this one to verify you want to do that. Then click on the "Apply to all folders."

                    Now, go back to the windows explorer and browse to C:\Documents and Settings" In there you will see ALL the user accounts for the machine. If you go into any of the user named directories you will see a "Desktop" folder, Favorites folders, Cookies, My Documents (or <your named> documents, and Start Menu.

                    Each one of these is how the computer separates logins and allows you to each have different things on your desktop/favorites/my documents/etc.

                    The nice thing is you can copy from each directory to a different user name's directory. So if you were in C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop and wanted all the files there to show up in your "George" account, you could copy all the files and paste them into C:\Documents and Setting\George\Desktop and there you go!

                    Now if you want to copy the cookies over, you need to be logged in as an account that is not used by either the copying from or to. So you need a THIRD account to do this with Administrative Rights. Then you can delete the third account when you are done.

                    This allows you to customize exactly what you want to copy from one account to another. And in all honesty, isn't real hard to do.

                    Another account listed in the Documents and Settings is the "All Users." This does exactly what it says, anything placed in the All Users\Desktop or \Favorites or \Start Menu will show up for EVERY user on the machine. So if you wanted, say, Internet Explorer icon on every desktop (even new users not yet created), place a copy of the icon in the All Users\Desktop folder and it will be on everyone's desktop. Now a word of caution, if someone deletes it from their desktop, then it's gone from everyones desktop...so that can happen unless you take away the rights to delete the icon from most users.

                    Do that and you should be able to find all your missing things... IF the spyware didn't remove all your stuff beforehand...
                    Digital Audio makes me Happy.
                    -Dan

                    Comment

                    • littlesaint
                      Senior Member
                      • Jul 2007
                      • 823

                      #11
                      I use Avast as well. Never had any problems. As far as running as an Admin, you shouldn't, but I know it can be a pain, especially under Windows where there isn't a very good "least privilege" model. They tried to fix this in Vista, and it hasn't gone very well.
                      Santino

                      The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

                      Comment

                      Working...
                      😀
                      😂
                      🥰
                      😘
                      🤢
                      😎
                      😞
                      😡
                      👍
                      👎
                      Searching...Please wait.
                      An unexpected error was returned: 'Your submission could not be processed because you have logged in since the previous page was loaded.

                      Please push the back button and reload the previous window.'
                      An unexpected error was returned: 'Your submission could not be processed because the token has expired.

                      Please push the back button and reload the previous window.'
                      An internal error has occurred and the module cannot be displayed.
                      There are no results that meet this criteria.
                      Search Result for "|||"