Groups and Users

  • Thread starter Thread starter ram
  • Start date Start date
R

ram

I have Win XP Pro.
In my Documents & Settings folder in addition to users I have created ,
there are two users I did not create.
1. Default User and 2. null

Is this normal. How can I remove these two users. They are not listed in
Local users group panel in Administrative Tools.
Thanks for the help.

-ram
 
ram said:
I have Win XP Pro.
In my Documents & Settings folder in addition to users I have created
, there are two users I did not create.
1. Default User and 2. null

Is this normal. How can I remove these two users. They are not listed
in Local users group panel in Administrative Tools.
Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

Default User is a system folder and you should leave it alone. It is the
template used when making new user accounts.

The "null" folder I'm not sure about. Does it appear in the User
Accounts applet in Control Panel? What is inside it? Do you have
security software installed that might have needed to create this user
account? Was this account always there? If not, when did it appear and
after you doing what? What firewall and antivirus protection do you
have in place?

Perhaps someone else will know the answer to your "null" account but it
will help you get focused help if you answer the questions in the
preceding paragraph.

Malke
 
Default User is a system built-in folder which contains the initial
information of all user accounts. However, you can remove the NONE user
account from Computer Properties -> Advance -> User Profile.

Hope it helps.

Betty
 
"null" folder doe s not appear either in User Accounts applet in Control
Panel or in My Computer-Properties - Advanced-User Profiles.
I have Norton Anti virus 2003 and I have Windows firewall enabled for my dsl
connection.
I do not know when it first appeared but only recently I noticed it. Except
Google Earth I have not installed any new software lately.

Thanks for help.

-ram
 
While searching in the registry I found one entry at
HKEY__CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Account
Manager\Accounts\Account Directory GC
value LDAP UserName REG_SZ NULL
Is it safe to remove this entry ? I have backed up this portion of the
registry.

-ram
 
ram said:
While searching in the registry I found one entry at
HKEY__CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Account
Manager\Accounts\Account Directory GC
value LDAP UserName REG_SZ NULL
Is it safe to remove this entry ? I have backed up this portion of
the
registry.
Click to expand...

That registry key is legitimate:
http://www.insideoe.com/files/regkeys.htm#regIAMkey

I don't know why you would have a Null account. I've never seen one in
all the machines I've dealt with over the years (very many). But that
means nothing; I don't know everything after all. ;-)

Googling for "Null user account in Documents and Settings" brings me
various links, but this one may be applicable:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnwxp/html/winxpfus.asp

Perhaps the null account was created by your OEM (if you have an OEM
machine) although I've never seen one in any of the OEM boxen I've
worked on. You mentioned that you have NAV 2003 which is a seriously
obsolete antivirus. It would be smart to do systematic scanning for
viruses and malware. Here is a link to help you with that:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

Include scanning with either Sysclean or Multi_AV, plus Ewido. Do all
prep/finishing work and follow instructions to do all scans in Safe
Mode.

When all else fails, run HijackThis and post your log in one of the
specialty forums listed at the link above (not here, please).

If the procedures look too complex - and there is no shame in admitting
this isn't your cup of tea - take the machine to a professional
computer repair shop (not your local version of BigStoreUSA).

Malke
 
Thank you Malke for detailed info.
I have removed "null" user from my Documents and Settings folder by moving
the folder to my backup disk. On reboot this folder did not reappear. I am
gong to check for couple of weeks before finally deleting this folder.
I do hope I have not done anything to upset the system.

-ram
 
ram said:
Thank you Malke for detailed info.
I have removed "null" user from my Documents and Settings folder by
moving the folder to my backup disk. On reboot this folder did not
reappear. I am
gong to check for couple of weeks before finally deleting this
folder. I do hope I have not done anything to upset the system.
Click to expand...

You did the right thing by just moving it to your backup disk. I would
still scan for malware.

Malke
 
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