Where did they hide "administrator" account on an XP/Home pc?

[Al Dykes]

I rarely use XP/home and when I do, it's been preinstalled on a Big
Name PC with tons of crap.

I'm on a Compaq machine right now. The default login is "Compaq_Owner"
and ControlPanel/Users tells me that it has administrator privilages.
The only other account I can see is "guest".

My problem is that when I try to uninstall Norton Anti-everything
I get "insuffient privilages" on a bunch of stuff
and now I've got a mess.

Before I did the uninstall I stopped any service that looking like
it belonged to Norton.

Is "Compaq_Owner" just administrator, renamed and if so,
why doin't I have enough privilages?

Suggestions?

And any suggestions as to how to clean up a broken Norton 2006
uninstall are welcome.

Tanks

 

[Little Brother]

Reboot computer hit F8 and go into Safe Mode. The Administrator account
become available. You can check the state of the other accounts (make sure
they have Administrators Group privileges etc etc)

 

[Mac]

Norton have their own uninstall program which you will need to download from
their site...

Mac

 

[djs0302]

I rarely use XP/home and when I do, it's been preinstalled on a Big
Name PC with tons of crap.

I'm on a Compaq machine right now. The default login is "Compaq_Owner"
and ControlPanel/Users tells me that it has administrator privilages.
The only other account I can see is "guest".

My problem is that when I try to uninstall Norton Anti-everything
I get "insuffient privilages" on a bunch of stuff
and now I've got a mess.

Before I did the uninstall I stopped any service that looking like
it belonged to Norton.

Is "Compaq_Owner" just administrator, renamed and if so,
why doin't I have enough privilages?

Suggestions?

And any suggestions as to how to clean up a broken Norton 2006
uninstall are welcome.

Tanks

Start the computer in Safe Mode to access the built in Administrator
account. Navigate to the folder(s) in question and right click and
choose properties. Click on the Security tab to change permissions.

 

[Kelly]

To gain access to the System default Admin account once hidden:

On Pro Edition, from the Welcome Screen, press ctrl-Alt-Delete Twice. On
Home, boot to Safe Mode, and logon.

Tip:

TweakUI/Logon/Show Administrator on the Welcome Screen
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp

Or...

Enable/Disable Administrator on Welcome Screen (Line 5)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Note:

If you have disabled the built in administrator account, booting into
Safe Mode will automatically enable it again (temporarily, for that
Safe Mode session).

Added note: If you want to logon to one of the other users, hold down shift
as the system boots up.

Boot into Safe Mode (tap F8 repeatedly early in the computer/Windows
startup process)

If no user logon appears in Safe Mode where you can type in the
user account name "Administrator" (or click on it), press
Ctrl+Alt+Del twice.

As for Norton, run the uninstaller:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Uninstallers/Norton-Removal-Tool.shtml

--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP/DTS&XP)

Taskbar Repair Tool
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

 

[Jim]

I rarely use XP/home and when I do, it's been preinstalled on a Big
Name PC with tons of crap.

I'm on a Compaq machine right now. The default login is "Compaq_Owner"
and ControlPanel/Users tells me that it has administrator privilages.
The only other account I can see is "guest".

My problem is that when I try to uninstall Norton Anti-everything
I get "insuffient privilages" on a bunch of stuff
and now I've got a mess.

Before I did the uninstall I stopped any service that looking like
it belonged to Norton.

Is "Compaq_Owner" just administrator, renamed and if so,
why doin't I have enough privilages?

Only Compaq can tell you the anser to the first question.
It is rather unlikely that they would rename the built in administrator
account. However, you should.

You should investigate what privileges and which group the Compaq_Owner
account possesses.

Suggestions?

And any suggestions as to how to clean up a broken Norton 2006
uninstall are welcome.

Tanks

Go to Symantec's website and download uninstall procedure for your version
of NAV. This is a difficult and time consuming task.
Jim

 

[JS]

For Norton see:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005103109480139

JS

 

[Ron Martell]

I rarely use XP/home and when I do, it's been preinstalled on a Big
Name PC with tons of crap.

I'm on a Compaq machine right now. The default login is "Compaq_Owner"
and ControlPanel/Users tells me that it has administrator privilages.
The only other account I can see is "guest".

My problem is that when I try to uninstall Norton Anti-everything
I get "insuffient privilages" on a bunch of stuff
and now I've got a mess.

Before I did the uninstall I stopped any service that looking like
it belonged to Norton.

Is "Compaq_Owner" just administrator, renamed and if so,
why doin't I have enough privilages?

Suggestions?

And any suggestions as to how to clean up a broken Norton 2006
uninstall are welcome.

All Norton products are broken by design.

Go to the Symantec website and get their supplementary uninstaller
utility (SYMNRT) and run that to clean up the system.

The account named Administrator is hidden in XP Home but is available
when you boot into Safe Mode.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."

 

[Fact Attack]

the big secret is Norton Anti-virus looks more and more like a virus
everyday.

 

[Al Dykes]

For Norton see:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2005103109480139

JS

For the record, I was able to uninstall Norton 2006 by booting
into safe mode, logging in as administrator and creating a new
administrator account.

I rebooted and logged into it, and was able to uninstall Norton via
ControlPanel/Programs

Either XP or Norton wouldn't let me ininstall while in safe mode.