XP Administration

[floydman80]

Helping out a friend - they have made multiple profiles under XP for the family - however they also set it up with passwords. I have done the same but without passwords. I can therefore use windows exporer and delete cache files for the whole family. He cannot access the other users files areas. Any way to create a master admin level for the father so he can access all folders for all users? There is also an interest in keeping an eye on where the kids are going.

thanks.
Your friendly floydman

 

[linney]

If the father was an Administrator User and the siblings Limited Users that would help.

Have a look at this too.

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP (Q308421)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q308/4/21.asp

 

[NoobX]

Is there password or no password? There is always basic auditing! Just enable sharing of the files and he should see them if that is what you are wondering! To have better control of the accounts he can goto run and use lusrmgr.msc or type mmc which takes you to console root and you can better manage those accounts and set passwords etc! I hope this better helps your question!

 

[TechNerd10]

That is not auditing noobx. That is called admin rights that your explaining!

 

[NoobX]

I wasnt trying to explain auditing Tech I was just letting him know that you can audit but what i was explaining to him was that you can play with user rights and set user pw's etc!

 

[TechNerd10]

Oh i c!

 

[TechNerd10]

What noobx has explained also works but too add on if it doesn't work use lusrmgr.msc then you can get there pw's and access there user accounts and this will enable you to check the history or w/e shinanigans you wanna do!

 

[floydman80]

OK - I'm confused (not hard to do I nmight add).

Here's what I think I 'm hearing...
I can use "run and use lusrmgr.msc or " this gives me control over the rights of the users on the machine , and I can change, create groups, passwords etc. since I did this on my PC -

But I cannot access their passwords to therefore access the files on their segment of the PC Correct?

"type mmc" - gives me a blank panel on the right - not sure what to do there but I can google and find out

My intent is really to clean up the pc - the people aren't clearing their cache, at the same time we'll look at the cache and see what's up

They are loaded with spyware so we need to get to all levels.

So again If I right click on start and select explore - how do I access the other users' folders?

Sorry for being dense on this...floyd

 

[bcastner]

The fundamental issue is that the Administrator is not all powerful. Individual user profile data areas do not, by default, allow the local Administrator access.

See linney's original note about asserting Ownership for the Administrator account over user profiles.

 

[floydman80]

as a matter of fact I just printed that refernece article out - as it looked like that was what I wa really oing to need - what was not clear onthe article was do I have to reverse the process?

 

[bcastner]

No.
You could revert the process, but it is reasonable in the setting you describe to maintain administrative access to user profile stores.

 

[floydman80]

Point for reviewers - you cannot use lusrmgr.msc if the PC is running XP Home Edition.

Thanks for the help - bottom line we just got everyone to log in and take care of stuff to start with. They had their disk at 90% capacity and it was killing repsonse.

We still have a lot of spyware cleansing - I may be back - I love this site. Happy T-bird all.

Floyd

 

[linney]

Tuck these away for later use.

Removing adware & spyware
faq608-4650

Cool Tip #2: Security Tab in Windows XP Home
thread779-685055

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_securityconsole.htm

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_home_sectab.htm