Cannot change security settings in internet explorer

[Xited]

Hi there

I have a dell inspiron 9400 with windows XP. My problem is that when I
try to change the security settings in IE i get a dialog box saying
ther recommend setting is medium. Usally you get to click yes or no
depending if you whant to change the setting anyway, but I only get to
choose Ok and then the setting reverts back.

I am working as a technical support agent right now and there are ALOT
of customers calling in with the same problem. Usally they experiance
other problems also. Like some settings don't save after they reboot of
certain functions are not available that are available to
adminstrators. Like one cust didn't get more then one tab when he
entered taskmanger, the program tab, when I heared this I assumed he
was missing admin rights. So we whent into user accounts to check. He
was set to administrator. The adminstrator account was nowhere to be
seen however which I found strange.

Sometimes it would help to reinstall sometimes it dosn't. Dell have a
PC restore function where you push ctrl+f11 and it will restor the comp
using norton ghost. Sometie that wouldn't help but reinstalling using a
windows XP cd would.

This is one of the screwiest problems I have experianced and I hope
someone from microsoft could give us an answere to why this happens.

Anyone have any comments or solutions?

 

[Jon Kennedy]

As for your Dell 9400 problem with not being able to change your security
settings - maybe there's a
"SecChangeSettings" registry restriction present.
See: http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/797/

As for the task manager issue - check for any restrictions here:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

Or this could possibly be the issue?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314227/en-us