Group Policy?

[bigredmachine]

Ever since I took my comp. to the "PC Doctor" to get fixed, I have not been able to access any of its resources (printer, shared files) from other computers on my home network. I haven't been able to figure out this problem, but one thing that is a mystery to me is that when I went to turn off Windows Firewall, I noticed that it was turned off, but all of the options were gray (there was no way to turn it back on if I wanted to) It said at the top that it was controlled be "Group Policy" and that I had to contact the administrator, which is me. (I'm the IT guy at my house). Does this have something to do with my networking problems, or is there something else wrong? Everything worked perfectly before I took it to this place to be fixed.

Thanks, Sid

 

[LNCPapa]

The tool you'll probably need to use to correct that is either secpol.msc or gpedit.msc. I can't think right off the top of my head which settings in there but if you aren't connected to a domain and that's your error then I'm pretty sure the correction to be made is in there.

 

[smore9648]

Check help and support and look in advanced system info then group policies. It shows you all the policies that have changed

 

[Rick]

There's a number of viruses that do exactly as you described.

Did you take your computer to have viruses/spyware fixed?

Many times, viruses and spyware make changes to your system which affect how your computer functions. Virus scanners do not fix these problems, usually. Most companies (like Computer Doctor) don't care enough to fix or even warn you about this... But of course, it is difficult to spell out absolutely everything that can go wrong after every single repair for every single customer.

If you did not take it in for viruses / spyware, then you should definitely get yourself checked out by something like http://housecall.antivirus.com

 

[bigredmachine]

the reason i had it taken in was to remove viruses and spyware. However the networking operated fine when they were on the comp and when they were removed it got screwed up.

 

[bigredmachine]

How do I fix these problems?

 

[Rick]

How do I fix these problems?

You should still do a virus scan. This may be a sign you've gotten another virus. But here's how you might fix it.

• Start > Run > gpedit.msc
• Click 'Computer Configuration'
• Click 'Administrative Templates'
• Click 'Network'
• Click 'Network Connections'
• Click 'Windows Firewall'
• Click ''Standard Profile'
• Double click 'Windows Firewall: Protect all network connections'
• Change value to 'Enabled' and click Next.

The default is 'Not Configured', but I've seen entries in gpedit.msc that were enabled or disable, but the interface did not say so. You may also find a related option in User Configuration / Administrative Templates / Network / Network Connections and possibly anywhere else. If a virus did this, it is perfectly possible to create new gpedit entries that you and I would have no idea about. You just have to look around.

 

[DelJo63]

try Spybot S&D.
It has integrity checks for Registry ->to file locations,
settings that get malconfigured and many good feature.

install it, update it, and run
be sure to set Mode::Advanced to get control of all the features.

btw: all these policy editors work well with XP/Pro but not the Home Ed

 

[bigredmachine]

I cant't get into gpedit.msc

 

[Rick]

I cant't get into gpedit.msc

Are you logged in as Administrator? Do you have an Administrator account?

 

[bigredmachine]

I'm logged in as owner, the only option

 

[Rick]

If you have XP Home, you can login as Administrator via Safe Mode and you should be able to access GPEDIT from there.

Alternatively in normal mode, you can press CTRL+ALT+DEL twice at the logon screen and you should be able to login as Administrator. To get there, you can logoff (Windows key + L).

Although I might assume any "Administrator" account cannot be filtered from gpedit.msc like this, there may be an option in GPEDIT and/or a key in the registry to deny access even to administrators (which would be silly). I'm not sure what it could be though, so try searching for such a thing.

 

[bigredmachine]

I cant even get into the admin account, using both of these ways. When i try safe mode it stops at "loading personal settings" and when i try the control-alt-delete method It says I dont have administrative rights or something.

 

[smore9648]

Start
HELP/SUPPORT
pick a task
choose the last option
my computer information
view advanced system information
view group policies applied

 

[bigredmachine]

what is "the last option"
I have hp help and support..?

 

[smore9648]

what is "the last option"
I have hp help and support..?

The option with Use Tools