Adminstrator's Profiles disappear

[TheRevMom]

If this is not the correct place to ask this, please
redirect me.

The Administrators' profile(s) on my XP Pro keep
disappearing. This leaves no profile from which I can
create a new administrator's profile.

Then, without explanation, they will reappear.

Left alone for 20 minutes, the system will then revert
back to the log in screen (it should after 20 minutes of
inactivity anway) and the administrator's profiles will be
gone again.

I have been diligent in downloading and installing all the
updates. And NAV updates daily. NAV runs constantly in the
back ground and does a full system scan every midnight.
The XP firewall is active. Between the cable modem and
the system, there is a router that acts as a firewall as
well. Norton finds no evidence of a virus, not even
blaster.

Any suggestions, ideas, recommendations?

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Once any additional user accounts have been created, the
Administrator account will no longer be displayed on the Welcome
Screen. This is a default security feature that may, or may not, be
needed in your specific situation. By design, the only way to log
into the Administrator account of WinXP Home is to reboot into Safe
Mode. For WinXP Pro, pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL twice at the Welcome
Screen will produce the standard login dialog box.


Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Ah, sorry. I understood you to mean that the built-in
Administrator account was disappearing.

I've never encountered the specific situation you describe. Do
the entire user accounts and profiles actually disappear, or do they
simply stop being displayed on the Welcome Screen? In the meantime,
here are a few things to check:

1) Do you have any sort of 3rd party remote control software (such as
Symantec's pcAnywhere) installed?

2) Do you have any spyware-laden peer-to-peer virus sharing
applications, like KaZaA, installed?

3) Have you ensured that your PC is fully protected from external
exploits by using a properly configured firewall, an up-to-date
antivirus application, and a strong password on the built-in
Administrator account?

4) Is there another person, perhaps with a warped sense of humor, who
has physical access to your PC?


Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

 

[TheRevMom]

The login disappears. The files in the Documents and and
Settings directory remain. But since I can't log in under
the profiles designated as administrators, I can't run
anything except what is in those other restricted
accounts.

Other responses follow your questions below.

-----Original Message-----
Greetings -- .....

1) Do you have any sort of 3rd party remote control software (such as
Symantec's pcAnywhere) installed?

None. I'm skittish about external access and have the
system double firewalled.

2) Do you have any spyware-laden peer-to-peer virus sharing
applications, like KaZaA, installed?

No. Again, I'm extra careful.

3) Have you ensured that your PC is fully protected from external
exploits by using a properly configured firewall, an up- to-date
antivirus application, and a strong password on the built-in
Administrator account?

I have a router between the cable modem and the computer,
have XP's firewall enabled AND run Norton Personal
Firewall.

Have Norton set up LiveUpDate and scan daily. And Windows
Update runs daily.

And, for the last three days, I've been turning the power
off of the cable modem when I'm not actually sitting here
using the internet. Paranoia around the recent worms.

4) Is there another person, perhaps with a warped sense of humor, who
has physical access to your PC?

No one. This has happened in front of my eyes while I'm
sitting at the computer. I copied the primary login with
Admin properties to a secondary one for backup. In the
middle of the copy, the system dropped back to the login
screen with nothing but the secondary, limited profiles.
Rebooted, and still nothing.

If I run a full scan on Norton (one button checkup or NAV
full scan), then log off the profile I'm using, the
original profiles return.

Very odd to me. I can't figure it out.

Any thoughts you have, I'd appreciate. I'm getting
nowhere fast.