How do I get rid of need for aministrator's rights?

[Linda]

I posted a rather long question a couple of days ago and
am unable to find it. I will now make this super brief in
case this doesn't post either....never posted to a
newsgroup and just read I have to sign up, but don't know
how. Anyway, I was given a computer when mine broke that
used to be on a network. Nothing was cleaned out or done
to it. It is a Dell PC w/ Windows 2000 Prof. I had been
working on deleting things and setting things up etc. I
installed my firewall software and got the blue screen
that told me the physical memory had been dumped and I was
to contact the system administrator or Network support.
MS told me they would charge me $245 to talk to me as it
is a Professional edition. Instead of trying to fix it, I
was told I could reinstall Windows, but I do not have the
disk. The people at the office that used to use the
computer know nothing about this as their computers are
all programmed and taken care of from another state. This
is a global company. I got the computer back finally
after someone suggested I continue to hit "F8" while the
computer was booting up. I am now scared to
download/install anything again out of fear of this
happening again. I need to at least install my printer!
I know nothing about this whole thing, but apparently the
employees are locked out of doing certain things, ie.
installing software. Can someone PLEASE tell me what to
do so that my computer no longer thinks it is on a network
and no longer locks me out of whatever I want to do?
Thank you SO much,
totally computer-frustrated.

 

[Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]]

I posted a rather long question a couple of days ago and
am unable to find it.

Hi - you might want to consider using a newsreader like Outlook Express or
Forte Agent rather than the web interface to the newsgroups - it's a lot
easier to do nearly everything there, including searching, which is always a
good idea to do before you post, as well as mark messages to be watched, and
filter based on replies to your posts.

The Microsoft public news server is msnews.microsoft.com and you can
subscribe to as many groups as you like.

For tips on using the web interface, should you prefer to use it, see
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=newswhelp&style=toc#faq2148

I will now make this super brief in
case this doesn't post either....never posted to a
newsgroup and just read I have to sign up,

No - see above. Much easier to use a newsreader client.

but don't know
how. Anyway, I was given a computer when mine broke that
used to be on a network. Nothing was cleaned out or done
to it. It is a Dell PC w/ Windows 2000 Prof. I had been
working on deleting things and setting things up etc. I
installed my firewall software and got the blue screen
that told me the physical memory had been dumped and I was
to contact the system administrator or Network support.
MS told me they would charge me $245 to talk to me as it
is a Professional edition. Instead of trying to fix it, I
was told I could reinstall Windows, but I do not have the
disk.

You probably need to buy a copy of Win2k - if you weren't given the license
and media, you aren't using a legal copy. Might want to consider WinXP at
this point, if the hardware will support it (but don't buy the upgrade
version - get the full version). You need to have installation media handy!
If this is an OEM install of Win2k, the company should have given you the
license & Dell recovery disks.

The people at the office that used to use the
computer know nothing about this as their computers are
all programmed and taken care of from another state. This
is a global company. I got the computer back finally
after someone suggested I continue to hit "F8" while the
computer was booting up. I am now scared to
download/install anything again out of fear of this
happening again. I need to at least install my printer!
I know nothing about this whole thing, but apparently the
employees are locked out of doing certain things, ie.
installing software. Can someone PLEASE tell me what to
do so that my computer no longer thinks it is on a network
and no longer locks me out of whatever I want to do?
Thank you SO much,
totally computer-frustrated.

I agree that a clean install is definitely indicated here - you'll be a lot
happier and will know exactly what is on the computer.