User Groups

[Guest]

Need some help please.
Have 3 usergroups, one of which is administrator which is mine. The other
two are the wife and a guest, both limited. For some reason I logon to mine
and although the desktop comes up I cannot access anything, or even logout
again. Nothing comes on the startup menu along the bottom either. the clock
also remains at the time I went into the account. The same is happening on
the wife's account but not the guest one.
Would appreciate any comments from anyone who's seen this before.

 

[Malke]

Need some help please.
Have 3 usergroups, one of which is administrator which is mine. The
other two are the wife and a guest, both limited. For some reason I
logon to mine and although the desktop comes up I cannot access
anything, or even logout again. Nothing comes on the startup menu
along the bottom either. the clock also remains at the time I went
into the account. The same is happening on the wife's account but not
the guest one. Would appreciate any comments from anyone who's seen
this before.

So you are saying that when you log into yours and your wife's user
accounts (not groups) you are not able to do anything. Unfortunately,
you haven't given us enough information to get focused troubleshooting.
Here are some suggestions:

1. Can you get into your account in Safe Mode? Do this by repeatedly
tapping the F8 key as the computer is starting up. This will get you to
the right menu. Navigate using your Up arrow key; the mouse will not
work here. If your account works in Safe Mode, then you know that
something starting in Regular Mode is causing the issue.

2. What is the virus/malware status of the computer? Be sure it is
clean:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

3. If the machine is virus/malware-free and you can get into your
account in Safe Mode, you can do clean-boot troubleshooting:

Clean boot in Windows XP - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353

Clean-boot advanced troubleshooting in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434

How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560

4. What changed between the time things worked and the time they didn't?
Install any software or hardware?

5. Go into Safe Mode and log onto the normally hidden built-in
Administrator account (the default password is a blank). Does this
account work? If so, go to the User Accounts applet in Control Panel
and create a new user account. Call it "test" or whatever. Now reboot
the machine and try and log into the new account in Regular Mode. What
happens?

This should give you a starting point in order to narrow down the cause
of the problem. If all this work and troubleshooting isn't your cup of
tea - and there is no shame in admitting that - take your machine to a
professional computer repair shop (not your local version of
BigStoreUSA).

Malke

 

[Guest]

Thanks Malke. Went into safe mode and added new account and managed to run a
virus check again. Found nothing but after I came out and went back into
normal mode, it was all fine again. Will remember your advice for future ref.

Cheers

 

[Malke]

Thanks Malke. Went into safe mode and added new account and managed to
run a virus check again. Found nothing but after I came out and went
back into normal mode, it was all fine again. Will remember your
advice for future ref.

Cheers

Ah, sweet mystery of computing life. Glad you got it sorted. Thanks for
updating the thread.

Malke