DEP and computer administrator

[Guest]

Dear Forum,

How are you?

I am having a problem with DEP. It has closed a registry compactor I wanted
to use. I am directed to System ->Performance->Settings-> DEP and all the
fields are greyed out.

I am the only user on the computer and am the computer administrator. I
tried editing the boot.ini file and it’s not changed.

I am supposed to have a change settings button on the close program window
but it is not there.

Can anyone help?

Hope you are keeping well,

All the Best

Bill Z

 

[Malke]

Dear Forum,

How are you?

I am having a problem with DEP. It has closed a registry compactor I
wanted to use. I am directed to System ->Performance->Settings-> DEP
and all the fields are greyed out.

I am the only user on the computer and am the computer administrator.
I tried editing the boot.ini file and it’s not changed.

I am supposed to have a change settings button on the close program
window but it is not there.

Windows was saving you from yourself. Using a registry compacter on XP's
registry is, to put it kindly, insane.

The boot.ini file has nothing to do with you being an administrator.
Since you don't know that, are you really sure you want to tinker with
your operating system? I hope you have all your data backed up first.

Is this a standalone machine, not a member of a domain? You can try
logging in as the built-in Administrator and changing DEP there, but I
don't recommend it. Especially not for a "registry compacter".

Malke

 

[Guest]

Dear Malke,

How are you?

Thank you very much for your clearly-expressed warning. Too late but not in
a bad sense, I used another registry compactor on my stand-alone machine:-

NTREGOPT
========

Registry Optimization for Windows NT/2000/2003/XP

v1.1j, 10/20/2005, Freeware
Written by Lars Hederer
e-mail: (e-mail address removed)

Look for the latest version here:
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt


and it appears to have had no ill effects on my system. I will not use it
again but the logic of registry compaction makes sense doesn't it?

I did find the boot.ini file but did not try to make changes.

It sounds to me especially by your reaction that I am beginning to tinker
with things that I don't want to, and I take that warning.

However I would welcome some other advice. Something else has just told me
that I am not the computer administrator. How can that be?

How do I logon as the built-in administrator? Windows was saving me from
myself but at the same time I should have the choice, and from what you are
saying exercise it more wisely next time.

I created a system restore point before compacting, and have a backup of
data and outlook files saved on USB drive whilst they are also stored on a
separate partition.

But crashng the system is not something I want to do as it would take me a
long time to get it back into a similar state that it is in now!!

Hope you are keeping well,

All the Best

Bill Z

 

[Malke]

Bill Z wrote:

(comments inline)

Thank you very much for your clearly-expressed warning. Too late but
not in a bad sense, I used another registry compactor on my
stand-alone machine:-

and it appears to have had no ill effects on my system. I will not use
it again but the logic of registry compaction makes sense doesn't it?

No. The XP registry does not work the same way that the registry in
older MS operating systems did. It does not need to be compacted. I'm
glad your system suffered no ill effects, but it was foolish to do what
you did. Foolish and unnecessary. If you are having problems with your
system, I'm glad to help you but I can tell you with 100% certainty
that compacting the registry won't help.

I did find the boot.ini file but did not try to make changes.

Good idea since you presumably want to be able to boot Windows again.

However I would welcome some other advice. Something else has just
told me that I am not the computer administrator. How can that be?

Don't know since I don't know anything about your computer. Perhaps your
profile is corrupted, perhaps you have viruses and/or malware.

How do I logon as the built-in administrator? Windows was saving me
from myself but at the same time I should have the choice, and from
what you are saying exercise it more wisely next time.

All user accounts with administrative privileges are equal. There is a
built-in Administrator account but you never have to use it except in
an emergency. I'll give you the instructions of how to log into it at
the end of this post.

I created a system restore point before compacting, and have a backup
of data and outlook files saved on USB drive whilst they are also
stored on a separate partition.

It is wise that you backed up your data. You should do this regularly.
As for the System Restore point, that's OK but what if your registry
tinkering breaks Windows so badly you can't get back in? The System
Restore point won't help you now.

But crashng the system is not something I want to do as it would take
me a long time to get it back into a similar state that it is in now!!

If you like to tinker - and that's fine, all of us learned by tinkering
and breaking and fixing - then get some third-party imaging software.
Make an image of your working system and store it on your external hard
drive. If you break your operating system, restoring the image to get
back to the way things were takes only a few minutes. My personal
preference is for Acronis True Image.

Logging into the built-in Administrator account:

In XP Home, boot the computer into 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. Once in Safe Mode, you will see the normally hidden
Administrator account. The default password is a blank.

In XP Pro, you do not need to go into Safe Mode. At the Welcome Screen,
do Ctrl-Alt-Del twice to get the classic Windows logon box. Type in
"Administrator" and whatever password you assigned when you set up
Windows.

Malke

 

[Guest]

Hope you are keeping well,

All the Best

Bill Z

 

[Guest]

Dear Malke,

How are you?

I wrote a detailed answer to you earlier to find I had not submitted the
post correctly. Then I came to add something to discover the post was not
there.

I can remember being advised to compact the registry - export and then
import the registry, I just didn't know XP ws different. how would I as a
user?

My system is working reasonably well although there are 3 issues that
concern me:-

1) Computer Administrator and wrong installation discs.

2) Cannot install fax

3) DNS client service needs to be started manually.

I am discussing 1) with you, but am concerned about HP. Took the machine in
to be repaired and suddenly HP appeared as a user after they replaced the
mother board. Is this another Big Brother protecting me? They didn't ask for
my recovery discs so under the system information of my HP computer is
entered the wrong info.

2) I tried to install the fax service from Add/Remove programs only to find
the system couldn't read the files. My advice from HP was to format C -
refused, and then do repair - should have refused. Instead found that most of
the dlls were not being read. I cancelled the setup and luckily was able to
system restore to be working OK.

3) I live in Thailand where the ISPs are atrocious. I have an ongoing battle
to actually have internet in my home. Setting security settings on my
wireless router locks me off the internet, and manually setting an IP address
or DNS servers does the same.


I have always wanted to use imaging software but am scared. If I failed I
would have to format C? I did however buy Ghost but haven't head of Acronis.

The information I wanted to add was that I went into the built-in
administrator and found the DEP was still greyed out.

Hope you are keeping well,

All the Best

Bill Z





Hope you are keeping well,

All the Best

Bill Z

 

[Malke]

Bill Z wrote:

Comments inline:

I am discussing 1) with you, but am concerned about HP. Took the
machine in to be repaired and suddenly HP appeared as a user after
they replaced the mother board. Is this another Big Brother protecting
me? They didn't ask for my recovery discs so under the system
information of my HP computer is entered the wrong info.

There is no reason to be paranoid about this. The shop restored the
computer to factory condition without using your recovery disks. There
is no way for me to know why. The HP user account is a generic one
produced on the image the shop used. Create your own user account if
you haven't already and you can delete the HP generic account if you
like.

2) I tried to install the fax service from Add/Remove programs only to
find the system couldn't read the files. My advice from HP was to
format C - refused, and then do repair - should have refused. Instead
found that most of the dlls were not being read. I cancelled the setup
and luckily was able to system restore to be working OK.

Couldn't read the files from where? Problems with files not being read
during an operating system installation are usually caused by bad
hardware - bad RAM, bad hard drive, bad optical drive, or bad
installation disks. If your machine has failing hardware, software
solutions (repairing Windows over and over) will be useless.

3) I live in Thailand where the ISPs are atrocious. I have an ongoing
battle to actually have internet in my home. Setting security settings
on my wireless router locks me off the internet, and manually setting
an IP address or DNS servers does the same.

There is something wrong with your router or perhaps the network adapter
in your machine. Or you have a third-party firewall that isn't properly
configured.

I have always wanted to use imaging software but am scared. If I
failed I would have to format C? I did however buy Ghost but haven't
head of Acronis.

I don't know what there is to be scared of. You were willing to trash
your machine by messing about with the registry. Simply imaging your
drive won't break anything.

The information I wanted to add was that I went into the built-in
administrator and found the DEP was still greyed out.

I'm sorry, but there is just too much wrong with your computer and too
many unknown factors about your setup for me to give you accurate and
useful tech support in a newsgroup. I don't know what resources you
have available to you in Thailand, but I do think your best course of
action is to take the machine to a professional computer repair shop
(probably a different one) or have a professional come on-site and fix
you up. Sorry, but I don't make housecalls to Thailand.

Good luck,

Malke

 

[Guest]

Dear Malke,

Thanks for your continuing help. I now think your conclusion is absolutely
correct that there is too much wrong with my computer to be able to offer
sensible advice. I will add one thing that you haven’t accepted - although I
have reported it to you, the poor quality ISPs, so if you include WAN as my
system I am in complete agreement.

The hardware might be faulty as it is not reading windows files from the
Product Recovery CDs – even if I reformatted I might not solve the problem as
I might not then have a system if the hardware cannot read the CDs. As a
personal user I cannot afford to simply replace the computer, but I will
probably do so when Vista settles down and when I understand enough about the
new Office restrictions – will I be able to use my Office 2003 with Vista for
example?

The router might be faulty but as I cannot rely on the ISP I cannot say for
sure. Both times I have been locked out, the server had been down. In one
case they were putting up a new server, and this has improved the service.
Perhaps they didn’t backup and install some settings – I have no idea. Two
months ago the internet would go off in the evening as if there were too many
people using the ISP – there is an internet café in the corner of my street.
So I am unable to say that the ADSL is constant and of constant strength; I
therefore cannot be sure that the router is faulty. I stopped using Zone
Alarm because of possible conflicts with the firewall in the router. My local
supplier said leave the IP and DNS settings as automatic – probably learnt
that from experience, and then wonders why people like me listen to technical
support!

HP did not setup a user account called hp but this is the pathway to My
Documents - C:\Documents and Settings\hp\My Documents. I tried renaming the
hp folder to what I always use – my user name, and it caused problems. In
defence there might have been a language issue involved – there often is here
in Thailand but ….

From a position of being more in the know you might call my thoughts
paranoid – I am proud to be a conspiracy theorist! However the issue is very
straightforward, on my machine I should be able to do what I want if Windows
is capable of doing it. Take this DEP. Assuming my problem is not because of
my system why cannot I make the changes? It is not up to someone else to say
whether I am stupid. They can advise me that I am doing a stupid thing as you
very clearly did. But if I don’t take that advice that is my choice – and my
stupidity! As a computer person you might say to me that most of the problems
you have seen from personal users have been caused such stupidity, but I
maintain the right to be stupid on my machine and then pay the price for it.

“I don't know what there is to be scared of. You were willing to trash
your machine by messing about with the registry. Simply imaging your
drive won't break anything.â€

Point taken to a certain extent. Here is what I understand of imaging. I use
the software to take an image, reformat the drive and then import the image.
My system is back where it was, but with windows cleaned! If I do the imaging
wrong then when I import the image wrongly I will have no system. From your
quote I think I am conceptually wrong here. I almost messed up my system with
Drive Image on floppies in earlier days, maybe that is why I am wary.

I agree with your conclusion. Firstly there aren’t the quality professionals
where I live. If I went to Bangkok there might be but I suspect they would be
working for the larger companies, and I certainly could not afford to pay
them.

But I would not in fact pay a professional to come in and look at the
machine for two reasons. Firstly the logical conclusion is the one you have
alluded to – reformat, see if the hardware is good; if not buy a new machine.
Secondly a computer professional would not allow me to use the shareware I
use. As far as I understand it this would be on the grounds that any one
piece of software might be good but because in combining them there would be
no control of the system and a professional could not point to the problem.
So even if the computer was definitely OK – and the router proven good, my
computer practices would be criticised – and the professional would want to
restrict them – or make me buy reliable expensive software. Understandable if
we are talking of a business budget but not in my personal case. I will
continue with my backups, wait until my situation is irretrievable, or more
likely wait until whim or finance says I buy the next machine, and I muster
up the energy to reinstall the lot.

Thank you for all your help and advice, it has moved me forward and also
made my understanding of my system clearer – even if I have been unable to
solve the problems.

Hope you are keeping well,

All the Best

Bill Z