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

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.

No proof, but there was a "cheap" performance optimizer from Zone
Labs...part of a bundle...that I tried for laughs. It is the only
non-standard program I installed prior to the problems. That doesn't
elimiate a malware that snuck in unannounced. But nothing showed up in
any of the scans. The rewrite of the registry may be consistent with
"performance" enhancing tweaks. Again, not proof...but my
recommendation on this is, if your performance sucks, get a faster
computer. That is what I finally did....AMD dual 64 bit processor.
Haven't seen the smoke yet...he said hopefully.

Thanks for all your help.

Henry

On Wed, 16 Nov 2005 19:22:06 -0800, Chuck <none@example.net> wrote:

>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.

Actually, I rechecked and I have no idea where the suspect utility
>came from or if it was the cultprit....the explorer history and
>utility itself are so much scatterer magnetic bits at this point.

Henry


On Wed, 16 Nov 2005 19:22:06 -0800, Chuck <none@example.net> wrote:

>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.