On Wed, 16 Nov 2005 21:03:49 -0600, HLAMUTHNOSPAM@EARTHLINK.NET wrote:

>For closure, I discovered...with some help...where the networking
>problem I had came from, namely a PC on a network that was not
>accessible by other PCs. The message was that permissions don't exist
>to allow access.
>
>Well, that was in fact the case. Some application...applet...made
>significant Registry changes. Even though the policy controls in XP
>Home don't come close to the policy management in XP Pro, there are a
>lot of policy entries in the Registry of XP Home. Somehow, these had
>been rewritten. Not sure how. Only solution was a complete wipe,
>re-format, and re-load of XP.
>
>One symptom was that Windows Firewall was not accessible in the
>affected PC....the firewall settings were permanently greyed out. By
>incrementally deleting the policies, the firewall settings became
>accessible and changeable. Unfortunately, this did nothing to impact
>the network permissions issue.
>
>That's it. Some issues are not resolvable because they are the result
>of malicious intent. Time to punt. Thanks, Chuck, for your support.
>
>Henry

Thanks for the update, Henry. Sometimes, unfortunately, a flatten and pave is
the best procedure.

Do you have any idea what malware you picked up? Knowing that might make you
better able to:
1) Prevent it from happening again.
2) Assess possible damage to the rest of the network.

--
Cheers,
Chuck, MS-MVP [Windows - Networking]
http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/
Paranoia is not a problem, when it's a normal response from experience.
My email is AT DOT
actual address pchuck mvps org.