XP Pro - software restriction turned on but not by me - help

[Guest]

I had stopped a couple services that didn't seem necessary after reading up
on them online and when I tried to open computer management again, I got the
message "Application cannot be opened due to Software Restriction Policy...."
See your system administrator...". The same error message came up for any
application I tried to run, whether IE, a System32 app or Office. Very
frustrating!
And I am the sys admin! When I booted into safe mode, I checked the
Security policy section and no policy was set. Everything appeared to be
"normal". I checked the Services and undid what I'd done but that did nothing.
Complicating this is that somehow my System Restore got corrupted and
there were only points going back to the onset of this problem. I have tried
using the Install CD to do a Repair; I have also installed as an Upgrade but
so far nothing has touched this issue. I have lots of software installed that
I'd rather not reinstall but I haven't found any info on the net that touches
on quite this problem.
I need to find a way to turn off this software restriction policy which
is in effect for every user account including the Administrator and I suspect
it's in the registry but I haven't found it. Any input would help. Thanks.

 

[Ron Martell]

I had stopped a couple services that didn't seem necessary after reading up
on them online and when I tried to open computer management again, I got the
message "Application cannot be opened due to Software Restriction Policy...."
See your system administrator...". The same error message came up for any
application I tried to run, whether IE, a System32 app or Office. Very
frustrating!
And I am the sys admin! When I booted into safe mode, I checked the
Security policy section and no policy was set. Everything appeared to be
"normal". I checked the Services and undid what I'd done but that did nothing.
Complicating this is that somehow my System Restore got corrupted and
there were only points going back to the onset of this problem. I have tried
using the Install CD to do a Repair; I have also installed as an Upgrade but
so far nothing has touched this issue. I have lots of software installed that
I'd rather not reinstall but I haven't found any info on the net that touches
on quite this problem.
I need to find a way to turn off this software restriction policy which
is in effect for every user account including the Administrator and I suspect
it's in the registry but I haven't found it. Any input would help. Thanks.

That type of problem is often a symptom of a virus/trojan/spyware
infestation. Go to one of the following free scanning sites and check
the computer for any malware:
Bit Defender http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie.html
Trend Micro http://housecall.trendmicro.com
Kaspersky Online Scanner http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner
Panda ActiveScan http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan
WindowSecurity.com TrojanScan http://windowssecurity.com/trojanscan
Webroot http://www.webroot.com/

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."

 

[Guest]

Thanks Ron. I ran those scans and found a couple bits of malware and virus
lurking but they were not the problem. It persists. I may be living that fear
that new computer users have that they'll somehow "break it". ;-) I'm of
course long over that fear which may have been my undoing!

I had to take the drive out of the 1st machine and run the scans on it from
a 2nd box since no applications will start on the sick one except in SAfe
mode and then somethings still aren't loaded.

Any other ideas?

 

[Ron Martell]

Thanks Ron. I ran those scans and found a couple bits of malware and virus
lurking but they were not the problem. It persists. I may be living that fear
that new computer users have that they'll somehow "break it". ;-) I'm of
course long over that fear which may have been my undoing!

I had to take the drive out of the 1st machine and run the scans on it from
a 2nd box since no applications will start on the sick one except in SAfe
mode and then somethings still aren't loaded.

Any other ideas?

Boot the problem computer and open a Command Prompt window (Start -
Run - CMD). Then enter the following command (it may ask you for the
Windows XP installation CD):

SFC /SCANNOW

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."

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Ron. Catch 22! I am unable to run sfc /scannow when the computer is
booted up normally because I can't even open a cmd window because "this
program cannot run.... software restriction policy...". In Safe Mode, where I
can run some programs, I can't run scannow bcs RPC isn't running. I'm
beginning to think I just need to bite the bullet and reinstall from scratch
- repair didn't work either probably bcs the system doesn't see anything
broken. I just can't do anything bcs of an apparent policy that I can't seem
to find. Would it be in the registry somewhere? (thank goodness I have a
backup computer!)