Member Avatar for joesblues

I usually run in a Limited Users account to leave Administer Acct. closed against attack. In the past few weeks I"ve been unable to access User Accounts. If I click on Pick A Task I get the three choices: Change Accounts, Create a New Account etc...click on any of these and I get a large blank dialog box with the Windows logo, the title User Accounts in the blue border at the top, then in a tool bar just below that a left-right set of arrows, the User logo and the word "Home." No clicking taks me anywhere. Of course below Pick a Task is "or pick a Control Panel Icon" here I have "Cardspace" with no icon and User Icon with that icon. User takes me to the blank screen while this "Cardspace" takes me no where.

I went through the My Computer tree and discovered some sort of "English something or other Toolbar attached to Control Panel and deleted it with Revo-Uninstaller which is usually excellent. Now i can find no way to get rid of this Cardspace option and User takes me nowhere. Who's got control of my Control Panel/Computer and what do I do? I'm desperate as sometimes I like to do things that require me to change user accounts from Admin. to Limited, etc. I'm running XP-SP 3 Pro. Help!

Joe Hayes

Edited by joesblues because: Forgot to list Pro to OS info.
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As described, a blank User Accounts pane with an odd Control Panel item can be caused by damaged or unregistered scripting components that many XP dialog boxes rely on. A common, documented XP fix is to reregister the JScript and VBScript DLLs — run these from an elevated command prompt (Start → Run → cmd):

regsvr32 jscript.dll
regsvr32 vbscript.dll

This step is the first and least-destructive fix to try. (ftp.zx.net.nz)

If registration fails or the files are missing, repair system files next. Run System File Checker:

sfc /scannow

If SFC cannot restore a file you can use msconfig’s Expand File option (or extract the specific file from the XP install media) to restore nusrmgr.cpl or a damaged DLL. These steps will often restore the User Accounts applet without a full reinstall. (support.microsoft.com)

The extra Control Panel item (CardSpace) is shown because Control Panel builds its list from registry namespace entries. Inspect and (carefully) edit:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ControlPanel\NameSpace

Back up the registry first; then remove or temporarily rename the CLSID entry for the unwanted item (CardSpace is commonly {78CB147A-98EA-4AA6-B0DF-C8681F69341C}). Hiding or removing the CLSID removes the item from Control Panel. (geoffchappell.com)

Manage user accounts directly if the applet remains unusable: list accounts with net user, disable or delete suspicious accounts with net user <name> /active:no or /delete, and open the management consoles with lusrmgr.msc (XP Pro) or control nusrmgr.cpl / control userpasswords2. Always work from an Administrator or Safe Mode admin session and keep backups of critical data and the registry before making changes. (learn.microsoft.com)

If system behavior or unknown accounts point to compromise, follow an offline rescue-scan and treat a clean reinstall as the final option.

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Member Avatar for samarudge

I think you might have a virus, make sure you are using one of the big 3 (Norton, AVAST or KAPERSKY/KAPERSPY or however its spelled) and they are fully updated then run a boot scan or run a scan from Safe Mode, Make sure you back up as much as you can as soon as possible, if you do have a virus then you wouldn't want it to do any harm to your other files.
Alternatively upgrade to Vista/Windows 7 (Newer and more secure) if you are not upgrading because of compatibility issues look up Vista/Windows 7 compatibility mode but thats a whole other forum post =P

Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

And hope against hope that you don't carry the virus to the new OS. Before you even think about upgrading/updating, ensure that your PC is clean. Go here to read all about cleaning your PC, there is some very interesting reading.
http://www.daniweb.com/forums/forum64.html

Member Avatar for joesblues

Thanks for the input...I'm a little slow out of the gate on this. I thought I had an eye inflammation but it's glaucoma and I just learned that my right eye is gone. It's a tough pill to swallow...
Carbonite has all of my stuff backed up...I've been using Avast and Ad Aware, but found a third "user" when in safe mode (there should only be two, my Administrator account and Limited User Account which I run in.
I disabled the third account which allows for a remote computer. But am having a problem finding "paths" to files and basic PC procedures...ignorance is not bliss.

Have run SpyBot and am just now getting back to work. Thanks again and I'll keep trying.

Member Avatar for joesblues

Thanks everyone but no success. Going to clean the disc in the morning and go for a new install.

Joe

Member Avatar for joesblues

Thanks to everyone but no success. I'm cleaning the disc and going for a reinstall in the morning.

Joe

Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

Hi,
If it is a virus, this will not help but just in case it is not you could try a windows repair from your OS CD. Search the net if you do not know how.

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