Member Avatar for TexasSky

A visiting relative decided to "help" my son by installing spybot on the system and running an immunization. Unfortunately, they clicked the "lock" options under tweak, and locked out everyone on the system from changing certain IE features.

The result is that when I go to IE tools/options I get a notice that I don't have authorization to do this, and to contact the system admin. (I am the admin).

I've unchecked these, restarted spybot, no change.
I unchecked them, restarted the computer, no change.

I'm uninstalled spybot, no change.

Does anyone know how to unlock this the options feature?

This all began when my son lost the ability to hear sound on flash players and was trying to find solutions to that.

  • 2 Contributors
  • 3 Replies
  • 138 Views
  • 18 Hours Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by jholland1964

Dani AI

Generated

Quick, safe recovery steps that complement 's report and 's malware advice. The symptom you describe is normally enforced by a policy/registry restriction rather than a missing program file; the fastest way to confirm that is to test another administrator account and try to open Internet Properties directly.

Try these checks first:

  • Run inetcpl.cpl (Start → Run → inetcpl.cpl) to see if the dialog itself is blocked.
  • Test a different admin user (create one if needed). If the other admin can open Internet Options, the restriction is in the affected user hive; if not, it’s machine-wide.

If the problem is a registry/policy restriction, this is a controlled, reversible fix:

  • Create a System Restore point and export any registry keys you will change (Regedit → File → Export).
  • Using Regedit, inspect and export/remove suspect policy keys such as:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Restrictions
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Restrictions
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer
    Remove only keys/values that clearly reference "Restrictions" or "NoBrowserOptions" after exporting them.
  • If you cannot delete a key, take ownership (Right‑click key → Permissions → Advanced → Owner) and grant Administrators Full Control, then retry.

If gpedit.msc is available, check User Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → Internet Explorer → Internet Control Panel and set any enabled restrictions to Not Configured, then run gpupdate /force.

If uncomfortable editing the registry, use System Restore to roll back to a point before the tweak. After restoring access, follow ’s recommendation to run a full malware scan so any unwanted changes (or the tool that made them) are identified and removed. Always keep registry exports and a restore point until you confirm the system is fixed.

Recommended Answers

All 3 Replies

Member Avatar for jholland1964

Are you absolutely certain these were the only "tweaks" your relative made to the system? Honestly cannot understand why this was considered because of difficulty with flash player sounds.
What version of Internet Explorer are you using? How many users are on the computer?

Please download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (MBA-M) to your Desktop.

* DoubleClick mbam-setup.exe and follow the prompts to install MBA-M.
* Be sure a checkmark is placed next to Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, then click Finish.
* If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.
* Once the program has loaded, select Perform full scan, then click Scan.
* When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results.
* Be sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
* When MBA-M finishes, Notepad will open with the log. Please save it to the desktop. The log can also be opened by going to Start > All Programs > Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware > Logs > log-date.txt.

Then give us a scan log using ?
Run a full system scan and save the log to the desktop also.
Come back here and post both logs for us.

Member Avatar for TexasSky

The flash player issue came up prior to her installing the Spybot.
She thought that spybot would find malware and shred it.

Instead, Spybot locked the tools/options.

It is the only thing she did.

It is MIE 7

When I talk about "Tweaking", I am talking about the spybot "tweaks".

Member Avatar for jholland1964

That's fine, I would not have been thorough if I had not asked. Can you do those scans for me and post the logs? The reason I need the scans is your relative could very well have been right, there may be malware causing problems on the computer, though I still wonder why this lock feature was enabled as this must be done manually and has nothing to do with Spybot scanning...anyway, run the Malwarebytes program and let it fix as instructed and then do the HJT scan. Post both logs here and we can see what, if anything, turns up. We will then go from there.

Since you removed Spybot and cannot get to the program again to check other settings that were possibly tweaked also is a resgistry edit if you feel comfortable doing that but would recommend the scans first.
What operating system are you using?

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.