MSN Explorer Zombie Application

  • Thread starter Thread starter ollie_w_holmes
  • Start date Start date
O

ollie_w_holmes

I'm working on a portable running XP home and it came with MSN Explorer
v 6 pre-installed. Dated, but a client had an msn account and is now
deceased. Even after uninstalling this sucker using add/remove windows
components, the registry seems to remember the original owner's msn
account. Going through the registry and carefully removing or zeroing
out references to msn and msnexplorer does not reset the dead account
holders dominion over this application. That's right, after an
uninstall and reinstall, there is no way to change the master account
holders control and insert a new one. And no, we do not know the dead
person's msn password, since the account was long ago deactivated.
What's the story-

1. Hope that later versions of MSN Explorer start the process from
scratch, with no zombie holdovers?
2. Ditch this dumb program and sign up with another ISP?
 
I think what you will need is Protected Storage Pass View written by Nir Sofer
http://www.nirsoft.net/

--
George (Bindar Dundat©)
http://dundats.mvps.org
$Post_Count = $Post_Count +1
..
| I'm working on a portable running XP home and it came with MSN Explorer
| v 6 pre-installed. Dated, but a client had an msn account and is now
| deceased. Even after uninstalling this sucker using add/remove windows
| components, the registry seems to remember the original owner's msn
| account. Going through the registry and carefully removing or zeroing
| out references to msn and msnexplorer does not reset the dead account
| holders dominion over this application. That's right, after an
| uninstall and reinstall, there is no way to change the master account
| holders control and insert a new one. And no, we do not know the dead
| person's msn password, since the account was long ago deactivated.
| What's the story-
|
| 1. Hope that later versions of MSN Explorer start the process from
| scratch, with no zombie holdovers?
| 2. Ditch this dumb program and sign up with another ISP?
|
 
You learn something new every day. I didn't think USERPASSWORD2 was available
on XP Home.
I'm not sure about where MSN explorer stores that because I've never used it but
I know that the rest of my MSN info is in Protected Storage.
--
George (Bindar Dundat©)
http://dundats.mvps.org
$Post_Count = $Post_Count +1
..
| Hello,
|
| This is a complete guess, click on Start/Run and type in CONTROL
USERPASSWORDS2 and press enter.
| Flip to the advanced tab and click on 'manage passwords'. You might find the
said account there in
| the list. Select it and hit delete.
|
| --
|
| Anando
| Microsoft MVP- Windows Shell/User
| http://www.microsoft.com/mvp
| http://www.mvps.org
|
|
| Folder customizations
| http://newdelhi.sancharnet.in/minku
|
| Protect your PC!
| http://www.microsoft.com/protect
|
|
| | > I'm working on a portable running XP home and it came with MSN Explorer
| > v 6 pre-installed. Dated, but a client had an msn account and is now
| > deceased. Even after uninstalling this sucker using add/remove windows
| > components, the registry seems to remember the original owner's msn
| > account. Going through the registry and carefully removing or zeroing
| > out references to msn and msnexplorer does not reset the dead account
| > holders dominion over this application. That's right, after an
| > uninstall and reinstall, there is no way to change the master account
| > holders control and insert a new one. And no, we do not know the dead
| > person's msn password, since the account was long ago deactivated.
| > What's the story-
| >
| > 1. Hope that later versions of MSN Explorer start the process from
| > scratch, with no zombie holdovers?
| > 2. Ditch this dumb program and sign up with another ISP?
| >
|
|
 
I'm working on a portable running XP home and it came with MSN Explorer
v 6 pre-installed. Dated, but a client had an msn account and is now
deceased. Even after uninstalling this sucker using add/remove windows
components, the registry seems to remember the original owner's msn
account. Going through the registry and carefully removing or zeroing
out references to msn and msnexplorer does not reset the dead account
holders dominion over this application.
Click to expand...

Does a search for the user id find anything?
That's right, after an uninstall and reinstall, there is no way to change
the master account holders control and insert a new one.
Click to expand...

Uninstalling an app shouldn't kill user data, so in that sense this is
appropriate behavior. Is there no "reset account" UI in MSN Explorer?
And no, we do not know the dead person's msn password, since
the account was long ago deactivated.
OK

1. Hope that later versions of MSN Explorer start the process from
scratch, with no zombie holdovers?
Nah

2. Ditch this dumb program and sign up with another ISP?
Click to expand...

Yup. If you want a standard ISP, IMO it's best to stay away from any
"special" ISPs to "add value" through "special" software.

All I'd want from an ISP is an IP address, standard login and servers
for email and news. If I can't use the ISP via standard/generic
software, or thier presence screws up the system, I'd dump 'em.


-------------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
Click to expand...
Tip Of The Day:
To disable the 'Tip of the Day' feature...
 
George said:
I think what you will need is Protected Storage Pass View written by Nir Sofer
http://www.nirsoft.net/

--
Click to expand...
I think what you will need is Protected Storage Pass View written by Nir Sofer
http://www.nirsoft.net/
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion, but pspv.exe does not hold the master
account holder's email address or password. Not sure if this is due to
all the mucking I did in the registry. It appears that the original
owner had an account on the machine and on msn. At some point, a second
administrator account was added under the second user's name. The
original owner's account was later deleted, This may explain why pspv
does not find the original owner's msn email address. Of course, MSN
Explorer can still resurrect it. I'll wait to see if the latest MSN
Explorer installation disk fixes the problem. My crystal ball tells me
a disk scrub (fresh install) is necessary. Even attempting to upgrade
SP1 to SP2 on this Compaq machine gives me infamous "System cannot
find the file specified" message during initial install with no
listing of the file they are looking for. Very informative. Thank you
berry, berry much, MSFT.

Anyway, the MSN zombie phenomenon seems like an ancient and annoying
problem:

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...lorer.ie6.browser/msg/1051aeee08064ee7?hl=en&
 
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