[66wreck]

Hello,

I'm running Windows XP Home edition on a Dell Dimension 8200 Series Pentium 4 Processer at 1.7Ghz and 256MB RDRAM. which I purchased in December 2001. It is a standalone home computer and not on any sort of business or any other network.

As my topic description indicates, I've lost access to the Control Panel on my machine and also the program to access Microsoft Updates is also being blocked. I'll provide some more specifics a bit later, but first wanted to provide a bit of history.

The problem is less than a month old and I'm relatively sure it is related to some Malware that go onto my machine. My Norton Antivirus program was finding a Trojan AV virus and doing the quanrantine step, but when the machine was turned off and restarted the virus showed up again. The only outward manisfestation I noticed at first was a window dialogue box that popped up about every 5-6 minutes warning me of aberent behavior and recommending I hit OK to download some software to "fix" the problem. There were mispellings in the warnings so I ignored them and never hit OK only the close out upper right hand X.
I also noticed that when I right clicked my Internet Explorer desktip icon and then tried to open Properties I got the following message. Note I do this from time to time to clear out my History and dump temporary internet files.

"This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator."

A few days later I happened to notice that Control Panel was no longer an item on my Start list. I went to My Computer and it wasn't there either. A friend told me how to add things to the Start list so I went in to do that and couldn't find Control Panel there to be added. I did find Printers and Faxes so added that to my Start list and when I opened it it looked normal and listed over on the left side under Other Places was Control Panel. I clicked to open it and got the same message that is in quotes above.

Then I noticed that automatic Microsoft Update downloads weren't getting downloaded. I clicked on Microsoft Update program and got this message:

"[Error number: 0x8DDD0003]
Network policy settings prevent you from using this website to get updates for your computer. If you believe you have received this message in error, please contact your system administrator."

Now to the best of my knowledge, I am set up as the User/Administrator on the machine, at least that is what I recall from 6 years ago when I was setting it up initially. I can't check it because I can't find and open Control Panel where this resides. I also know that I didn't intentionally make these changes to restrict the activities I've described. I could only assume that the Malware had don these things to my machine.


I took my problem to the Malware Board and over the last 10 days or so, GreyKnight17 has been helping me identify and remove the Trojan and some other Malware.

He tells me I now have a clean log and he believes my residual problems are most likely registry setting and/or disabled services issues and suggested I bring it to this board for help and guidance.

The last thing we did was this:
I peformed a procedure to change the NoControl Panel value to 0 (zero). It was indeed set on 1 (one) After making the change I rebooted the machine and performed a few tests.

First I went back to the regedit file to confirm that the change I had made from the 1 to 0 had indeed occurred. It had.


I then went to see if I could access my Control Panel. Recall that since it has disappeared from my Start list and from the My Computer location, the only place I have been able to find it is in a listing of "Other Places" when I bring up the Printers and Faxes file. When I clicked on Conrol Panel I got that same message as before, to whit:

"This operation has been cancelled due to restrictions in effect on this computer. Please contact your system administrator."

I then right clicked on my Internet Explorer Icon on my Desktop and then tried to select Properties. I got the same message.

I then decided to see if all the cleaning and purging that GreyKnight had me tod, had resolved my problem with getting access to Microsoft Updates, so I clicked on that and got the same message I had received before, to whit:

[Error number: 0x8DDD0003]
"Network policy settings prevent you from using this website to get updates for your computer. If you believe you have received this message in error, please contact your system administrator."


So I then "Googled: that error number which led me to this Microsoft site:


http://support.micro...spx?scid=326686

Where I found this article:

Article ID : 326686
Last Review : May 7, 2007
Revision : 9.2

The article describes procedures for restoring access to Microsoft Updates by making a Registry change and outlined a procedure which involved:

Start, Run, type gpedit.msc , then hit OK.

When I did this I received the following message:

"Windows cannot find ‘gpedit.msc’. Make sure you typed the name correctly, then try again. To search for a file click the Start button, and then click search."

So...ooooo, I've got the bad stuff out of my machine, (we believe), but I still have serious limitations and I still need help.

Thanks in advance,

66wreck

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gpedit.exe (the Group Policy Editor) does not exist in the Home Edition of XP, it's only included with XP Professional, hence Windows cannot find it. I suggest you submit a HijackThis log to the malware forum first, to be really sure you still don't have any malware lurking about. If you read the 'pinned' posts on malware forums they will explain how to get HijackThis and how to proceed. Don't post the log on any forum other than the one entitled "Malware - HijackThis logs go here"

[pip22]

gpedit.exe (the Group Policy Editor) does not exist in the Home Edition of XP, it's only included with XP Professional, hence Windows cannot find it. I suggest you submit a HijackThis log to the malware forum first, to be really sure you still don't have any malware lurking about. If you read the 'pinned' posts on malware forums they will explain how to get HijackThis and how to proceed. Don't post the log on any forum other than the one entitled "Malware - HijackThis logs go here"

[66wreck]

pin22,

Thanks for the prompt reply to my post. Here is the last post from GreyKnight17, whiich indicates Malware isn't the problem.

"There might be a combination of registry edits and disabled services that is causing these problems.

I think the malware part should be removed now. Try posting this in the Windows board and let them know every detail of what's disabled (give them the exact error like you gave me above). They should be able to give you the required registry edits and services to enable to make this computer functional again. Tell them you have XP Home Edition so they know it's not a group policy restriction.

If they can not assist you or think it's still a malware related issue, post back to this topic. I will leave it open for about 7 days. So please reply back (good or bad news) before then or it will be moved to the inactive topics"

Any other thoughts on how I should proceed?

66wreck

[1101doc]

One good step would be to take the time to ensure that all your Services are set to default for XP home. This often provides increased functionality. Rather than looking for 'tweaks,' at this point I think defaults should be chosen.

The Elder Geek offers a good descriptions: http://www.theelderg...vices_guide.htm

Black Viper lists them as a chart: http://www.blackvipe.../servicecfg.htm

It may also be helpful to run the "Remove Restrictions tool"
http://majorgeeks.co...Tool_d5635.html
Although this only corrects Regedit, Taskmanager, and Folder Options.

It may also be interesting to check the behaviour of a newly created Admin level account. If all is well there, it is not difficult to switch:
http://support.micro...om/?kbid=811151

You may also have results with the Regedit available from Kellly's Korner. #256-left side: http://www.kellys-ko...m/xp_tweaks.htm
(Instructions at the top of the page.)

Before making any Registry changes, I strongly suggest that you get free ERUNT and put it to work. Make a backup of your current Registry just in case. Your current situation is better than a non-functional installation.

ERUNT info and simple tutorial: http://www.larsheder...erunt/erunt.txt
Download ERUNT: http://www.larsheder...nline.de/erunt/
(click on a 'Server')

Good luck, and please post back with your progress

Edited by 1101doc, 25 October 2007 - 12:20 PM.

[66wreck]

Hello 1101doc,

Thanks for your earlier post with a series of ideas for addressing my problems. Before I was able to act on any of them, I had to be away for a few days and when I returned the issues I had described had been resolved , so I'm back in business even though I'm not completely sure what precise combinations of activities led to the positive result. I'm guessing that one or more of the series of Microsoft updates that I received (I was way behind because I had not installed SP 2) in combination with the Malware elimination work that GreyKnight 17 worked me through lfinally resolved the problems.

Thanks for your willingness to review my problem and offer suggestions.

66wreck

[1101doc]

Glad to hear you're up and running.