Well, You Asked For It

I'd appreciate a helpful little guide through the myriads of microspeak attached to the MMC.

I have the Microsoft Management Console at my disposal, so to speak, and before I grit my teeth to suppress an animal growl...

I'd like to apply it's potential. Not on a corporate network. Not to lock myself out of my own resources. Not to invite disaster to my solo PC. Not wanting to limit my understanding, but to focus in on good discipline regarding the practical nature of...

Configuration

Securely... given the fact I'm not living in a military installation or planning to launch an extraordinarily successful business endeavor that will require a high level of internal controls and anticipatory safeguards.

Maybe I'd like to setup some garage sale units for one reason or another... eventually a laptop or something for grandma in a guest room.

I'd like to apply some underlying basic commonsense words of advice as I grow in my use of the technology at hand (and be able to reassure others who might not be enjoying some of the benefits of it due to the intimidation factor)

When confronted with "public key policies" or "IP Security Policies on Local Computer" for instance and knowing these are just the tip of an iceberg that may sink the good ship Lollypop...one would choose to not be ignorant... but it can be daunting.

Just a thought.

I'm truly amazed and pleased at what you've accomplished here in such a short time. In all fairness to your organization, I suspect all I seek and more are here already so off I go to another something to read and consider. Thank You.

Well the MMC is really just a shell for various templates that you can open. For example when you go into start, control panel, administrative tools, services, you are actually opening up the mmc program, and loading into the services.msc, which is the document that tells mmc what information it should retrieve.

You can see all the msc's on your computer by opening up c:\windows\system32 and sorting by type. Look for the type: Microsoft Common COnsole Document. Then you can run mmc and load those particular documents to control certainaspects of your computer.

Are there particular msc's you want info on?

Excellent

• fsmgmt
• secpol

(For my own clarification, I copied the entire list of Microsoft Common Console Documents to an unused partition on my primary disc. Then I got concerned that maybe I shouldn't do that. Comments?)

a recent new problem I'm experiencing brings these particular msc's to mind

• In MyDocuments...msg your current security settings do not allow you to download files from this location

I am going to move this thread to a new topic in the windows forum as we are starting to go off base here.


As for the copying of the files, that will not cause a problem.

What are you doing that gives that error message?

Simply trying to

• move,
• copy or
• delete...any normal action to

any file! It began this behavior about the same time the problems relative to my "browser hijack" issues began.

It only does this in My Documents, I think. I can move/delete/copy/etc files between and on my other disks and partitions of them

Double-click on my computer, and right click on the c drive and tell me the type of filesystem it is.

NTFS

that drive was FAT32 (until late June this year when I added a different slave HDD)

I read a good tutorial on the issue, wish I could remember where...but I took good notes.

XP pro or home?

pro

Ok go into c:\documents and settings\yourusername\ and then right click and go into properties of my documents.

Click on security and then permissions. And make sure your username is listed there with full permissions

Going to sleep now so will see your reply tomorrow

Since the dialog box I face differs from your desciption somewhat, I'll describe it.

Titled: My Document Properties

2 tabs...General & Sharing

• General

with the following information:

• type: File Folder
• Location C:\Documents and Settings\m.j. jensen
• Size 282 MB
• Size on disk 285 MB
• Contains 1,313 Files, 103 Folders
• Created Wednesday, Jul 07, 2004

• Attributes Read Only or Hidden

and an Advanced Button:

• Archive & Index Attributes
• folder is ready for archiving
• for fast searching, allow Index Service to index this folder [checked]
• Compress or Encrypt Attributes
• compress contents to save disk space
• encrypt contents to secure data

• Sharing

with the following information:

• Local Security

• to share this folder with other users of this computer only, drag it to the Shared Documents folder
• to make this folder & its sub-folders private so that only you have access, select the box - make this folder private

• Network Sharing & Security

• to share this folder with both network users & other users of this computer, select the first check box below & type a share name - allow network users to change my files

In the interest of education... not really expecting to be "spoon-fed", but concerned that I can't simply implement your directions verbatim, I include the above stuff.

Besides, it dovetails into my desire for a tutorial on Administrative Tools (MMC)

Significantly, data not seen yet includes the fact that in June I reloaded my OS after installing a second Maxtor 120 Gb HDD. I used the MaxBlast CD to re-format both old and new HDD,s. The second Maxtor replaced the previous NEC 60Gb drive that, for some reason would only "yield up" 32Gb's after fdisc-ing it. It was then that I changed to NTFS fromFAT32 on the original Maxtor 40 Gb HDD...and that I accomplished after switching the primary/slave drive configurations around a couple times testing the use of the MaxBlast application. (somewhere in the user manual it says they don't recommend using fdisc on their manufactured drives, so my confidence in my techniques used previously was furthor eroded)

To make matters worse (probably) on the date listed in the above "General" My Documents properties as "created" I re-loaded OS again, without deletion of any data. I was expecting to open up the "repair" feature, but I didn't encounter it that time through. to the best of my recall.

Trial & Error, I admit, but something was messing up my routine. So theres the ugly truth, I The Novice Plod Ever Onward. lol

I think I could apply your advice as a suggestion towards making some choices in the properties of My Documents, but I'll wait to hear from you instead.

Lets try to get it so we can see the permissions tab. I want you to turn off simple file sharing on your computer.

To turn Simple File Sharing on or off in Windows XP Professional, follow these steps:

1. Double-click My Computer on the desktop.
2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
3. Click the View tab, and then select the Use Simple File Sharing (Recommended) check box to turn on Simple File Sharing. (Clear this check box to turn off this feature.)

Then try the steps i outlined above.

Good, now I see 2 additional tabs:

• Security
• Customize

and under security I get the permissions options.

I've checked all boxes for all of these (not including special permissions)

• Administrator (GRAYCASE4\Administrators)
• CREATOR OWNER
• martin j. jensen (GRAYCASE4\m.j. jensen)
• SYSTEM
• Users (GRAYCASE4\users)

and the problem is thankfully gone. No more msg re: security settings prevent etc.

It does demonstrate (to me, at least) the probable source of several other problems I have now and those I'll inflict upon myself in the future if I don't...

restore simplicity.

(and understand the complexity, too.)


this is asingle-user gateway computer not on a network and I haven't set passwords.

(which brings to mind that several months back all of a sudden one morning I couldn't access my BIOS like usual. A password was now needed. Why? Well, I learned about the jumper location on my motherboard via TFM but wasn't confident
that that would do it until I held my breath and did it)

talk about multiple-personality schitzophrenic PC's being operated by paranoid-delusional users! Besides being insecurely configured, one can only wonder Why? else would these behaviors exist.

Anyway, General, you've done it again. Another spendid victory!

phawgg,

Let me tell you that you are learning how to use computers the best way possible, by fixing a broken one.

I consistently learn new things by purposely infecting myself with malware or breaking things, and then fixing them. Its really the best way to learn in my opinion because you h ave to get into the thick of things

This morning I booted up, opened My Documents....got the error code again. Then opened My Computer...got the blank screen with the flashlight searching. It took about a minute.

opened C:\Documents and Settings\myusername\properties > security

chose each of the 5 listed, and only CREATOR OWNER had no allowed permissions.

checked the boxes, rebooted (the sequence seemed slow and kinda choppy)

same problem at My Computer, back to permissions, same none at CREATOR OWNER, so I tried again and this time it would accept the change and immediatly erase it (them)

I chose CREATOR OWNER and opted to remove it.

rebooted, etc. and slowdown still exists, My Documents still displays msg "your security settings don't allow download from here" but now I down to 4 ID's under my username.

I don't think I'm out of the woods yet


(My Computer only "balks" first time opened after boot, normal quick access thereafter)

That and my status as "student" both encourage me...

I have some concern that it might be kinda like introducing the (fire)Fox to the Chicken Coop... I'll perservere, though.

To update you 'bout present behaviors:

• I checked on properties at all disk/partition levels in addition to "My Documents"
• Each still listed the CREATOR OWNER group, so I restored that to the My Documents config
• Then I enabled permissions to all as before
• rebooted, same situation as I described above:
• slow boot, kinda choppy
• My Computer isn't "up" til about 60 seconds after the flashlight

• Simple file sharing is still off
• all permissions have reverted back to:
• Admin......Full Permission
• CREATOR OWNER....No Permissions checked (in My Documents, this is Power Users, limited the same as users below)
• Everyone....No Permissions (in My Documents only, same as users below
• System.....Full Permissions
• Users....limited to: Read & Execute, List Folder, Read

scan disk function now displays msg: Can not open volume for direct access. Test finished.

So, while wandering in the woods, I reset all permissions, in all places, and repeat the above to those results each time. Things work until I reboot.

At least

"Security Wonks Community Site Network is temporarily closed for site maintenance ( to add more redundant hardware and powerful new software Framework set-ups. Will be back positively within Aug. 15, 2004" so that explains that problem a little bit better.

Having read Microsoft help regarding these matters, I'm really sorta confused, still.

I'm inclined to reload the OS, press on with new awareness, and just take it on the chin that I'd have to re-update, reload all the apps, etc.

or restore system...but I really haven't established a good point as of yet.

(I read the tutorial here on the subject and was tempted to try editting the numerous restore points I have logged now, but I hesitate knowing my OS isn't configured well... or some remnant of previous modification by me or malware remains.)

I'm open to your suggestions

Well the permissions on my mydocuments folder is as follows:

Administrators (All)
My username (all)
System (all)

These are inherited from the parent directories.I hate advising people to reinstall but as the permissions on your directories seems to have gotten fully out of what it would be extremely difficult to reset them back to their defaults.

Thats OK, maybe better not to try and scale a cliff wall without ropes, then

Also, following a path deep in those woods (actually another post thread led me to...)

Perfect Process LSPfix which when I scanned revealed this:

Perfect Process Alert
Possible SpywareProcess Found (Memory)
editpad (EditPad.exe)
C:\Program Files\JG soft\EditPadLite\EditPad.exe
PID 168
CoolWebSearch parasite varient

see doxdesk.com

which I thought unusual given what I've recently done...yet I did install it, and have used it alongside the dozen other apps that are not on my HDD presently.

I"m pepared to continue my personal learning which does include an element of this...



its the "and fixing them" that I'm afraid I fall short of at times

Editpad is a file that the CWS may impersonate. if you downloaded a valid program that works like an editor its probably a false positive.

OK

I understand the concept of Parent-Child relationships , to a degree, as in 3d modeling and animation... but if the Parent principles cannot be edited or set as prefernces satisfactorily resulted in constantly resetting file properties security, and reloading will correct the problem, then so be it. Does that also explain the prolonged search for "my Computer" right after re-booting?

Its possible. I do not know for sure to be honest. It is one of those things that will be hard to diagnose over these forums unfortunately as it could be so many factors of how your default config has changed.

Do not think this is your fault though. I make it a habit of reinstalling windows on my pc at least once a year to combat slowdowns that occur.

I have similar advice from my son. He does so more often, in fact, and feels the OS is at fault far more often than hardware for problems he's encountered.

Another problem encountered , unfortunately for me, involved paperwork at my ex-wife's household as well...

Oh, well. I've gone to the Local Security Policy, User Rights Assignment tab in the MMC and re-set all headings there to include:

• Administrators
• Eveyone
• my user name
• SYSTEM
• any others already there, which included:
  
  [LIST]
• Replace a process level token...LOCAL SERVICE & NETWORK SERVICE
• Generate Security Audits...LOCAL SERVICE & NETWORK SERVICE
• Adjust memory quotas for a process...LOCAL SERVICE & NETWORK SERVICE
• Log on locally...GUEST
• Log on as a service...NETWORK SERVICE

I'll post this, re-boot and see what happens.

I may be down for a while
but In the words of the guv of california, I'll Be Back.

"how else do you keep a good fog, but down?" See Ya!

BTW,

I did re-boot and the combination of what I did, outlined above, essentially locked me out of my computer.

msg was " ..you cant interactively logon", leaving my only option as "shutdown"

Bad loop to get into. The sorta thing you would definately try to avoid.



It was, however, worth the experience.