Deleting corrupt user

[Paul D.Smith]

All,

I have had a problem with my Anti-Virus software and it seems to have left a
corrupt user on my system [1]. I can see the user from the Computer
Management applet but when I try to delete it, my machine all but hangs.
Anyone suggest a way of deleting this user?

[1] The product is Sophos Anti-Virus and the Auto-Update feature adds a
special user called "SophosSAU<computer-name><0-9>". A recent bug caused
problems and has apparently left one of these users behind.

Thanks,
Paul DS.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Hi Paul,

Perhaps Sophos Anti-Virus needs that user account. Have you contacted their support yet?

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


All,

I have had a problem with my Anti-Virus software and it seems to have left a
corrupt user on my system [1]. I can see the user from the Computer
Management applet but when I try to delete it, my machine all but hangs.
Anyone suggest a way of deleting this user?

[1] The product is Sophos Anti-Virus and the Auto-Update feature adds a
special user called "SophosSAU<computer-name><0-9>". A recent bug caused
problems and has apparently left one of these users behind.

Thanks,
Paul DS.

 

[Paul D.Smith]

Hi Paul,

Perhaps Sophos Anti-Virus needs that user account. Have you contacted their
support yet?

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com

I've got an outstanding problem log with them. It creates accounts like
this for use but since Sophos is uninstalled completely at the moment, it
should have deleted them. It left this partial user behind and it's proving
impossible to get rid of it. It also seems to be corrupt as reinstalling
Sophos still doesn't clear the error that started this odyssey, namely the
failure to update virus definitions. In fact, I have two versions of Sophos
that I've tried installing (6 & 7, either should install and then update to
the latest automatically). 7 installs but does not update, 6 causes a WinXP
blue screen trying to install and leaves another of these phantom users
behind but at least these can be deleted - unlike this one stubborn phantom
that is causing me pain!

Paul DS

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

See if the "Net user " command help you delete the SophosSAU user account.

The syntax of this command is:


NET USER
[username [password | *] [options]] [/DOMAIN]
username {password | *} /ADD [options] [/DOMAIN]
username [/DELETE] [/DOMAIN]



--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com



Hi Paul,

Perhaps Sophos Anti-Virus needs that user account. Have you contacted their
support yet?

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows Shell/User]
Windows® Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com

I've got an outstanding problem log with them. It creates accounts like
this for use but since Sophos is uninstalled completely at the moment, it
should have deleted them. It left this partial user behind and it's proving
impossible to get rid of it. It also seems to be corrupt as reinstalling
Sophos still doesn't clear the error that started this odyssey, namely the
failure to update virus definitions. In fact, I have two versions of Sophos
that I've tried installing (6 & 7, either should install and then update to
the latest automatically). 7 installs but does not update, 6 causes a WinXP
blue screen trying to install and leaves another of these phantom users
behind but at least these can be deleted - unlike this one stubborn phantom
that is causing me pain!

Paul DS