"Sam" as a username

  • Thread starter Thread starter JL Hunt
  • Start date Start date
J

JL Hunt

I have a friend for whom I put together a computer with Vista Home Basic on
it. She is not very computer savvy, and relies on me for support. She
"suddenly" began having all sorts of problems that I couldn't explain. (The
one that made her call me was that the computer was asking if she wanted to
format her DVD... even the Vista installation DVD.) I thought it was a
communications problem between her and myself, so I had her bring her
computer to me so I could look at it. Sure enough, it was doing what she
said. I saw that she had the Google toolbar installed, and after I was sure
she didn't use it I tried uninstalling it. It didn't work. After further
investigation, I determined that she couldn't delete files, either. Nor
could she run anything that had the User Account Control on it. I
double-checked, and she IS the only administrator account. After lots of
dead-ends and talking to her, I found out that her son had changed the name
on his account to "SAM" about the same time she started having problems. I
didn't think much about this, but as I was going over this in my head, I had
a flash.... SAM ... Security Accounts Manager Service.

Just wondering.... Could this be the source of my friends problem? Or
should I look elsewhere?
 
JL Hunt said:
I have a friend for whom I put together a computer with Vista Home Basic on
it. She is not very computer savvy, and relies on me for support. She
"suddenly" began having all sorts of problems that I couldn't explain.
(The
one that made her call me was that the computer was asking if she wanted
to
format her DVD... even the Vista installation DVD.) I thought it was a
communications problem between her and myself, so I had her bring her
computer to me so I could look at it. Sure enough, it was doing what she
said. I saw that she had the Google toolbar installed, and after I was
sure
she didn't use it I tried uninstalling it. It didn't work. After further
investigation, I determined that she couldn't delete files, either. Nor
could she run anything that had the User Account Control on it. I
double-checked, and she IS the only administrator account. After lots of
dead-ends and talking to her, I found out that her son had changed the
name
on his account to "SAM" about the same time she started having problems.
I
didn't think much about this, but as I was going over this in my head, I
had
a flash.... SAM ... Security Accounts Manager Service.

Just wondering.... Could this be the source of my friends problem? Or
should I look elsewhere?
Click to expand...

Look elsewhere.
The users display name has no baring on anything as internally the SID is
used for all authentication and authorization tasks.
 
they can hurt your computer if you program it correctly. This may be the
problem I say that you should investigate.

David Herrera
 
Back
Top