Registry permissions defaults

From: cpnet (cpnet_at_nospam.nospam)
Date: 08/15/04 

Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2004 23:23:28 -0400

I am trying to install Norton AV Pro on my father's Dell Inspiron 8200 w/ XP
Pro sp1, and all critical updates applied. I have an almost identical Dell
Inspiron (different modem I think), and have used NAV Pro 2002 through 2004
no problems.

On my father's computer, near the end of the install, I keep on getting an
error which is essentially caused by the Symantec registry keys not having
the correct permissions. At first I was thinking this was a problem with
the newest NAV install, but as I looked deeper, I'm not sure. I looked at
permissions for a number of registry keys, comparing both Inspiron's, as
well as the registry in a Virtual PC XP Pro sp1 install that's on my
Inspiron. What I saw was odd. On my dad's laptop, there are many more
registry keys that only have Administrator and SYSTEM with assigned
permissions, and many more keys where permissions apply to "this key only",
and for Administrator, there is usually only 'read' rights. On my XP, and
my virtual XP, I see Power Users, Users, etc. with permissions - not just
Administrators and SYSTEM. I also see many more keys where permissions
apply to the key and its children. Administrators generally have the
correct permissions (i.e. full control).

One interesting example is for some software that I authored, that's
installed on the machines. My install is a Windows Installer install that I
built myself, and my install code does NOT explicitly set any permissions on
the registry. Anything that gets set is done by the OS with it's defaults.
On my Dad's machine for "HKLM\Software\MyCompany", only "Administrators" and
"SYSTEM" are assigned permissions. The are only assigned "special
permissions". When I examine the permissions, I see that "SYSTEM" has 'full
control' on "this key only". "Administrators" have 'read' on 'this key
only'. This is compared to my own machine for the same key
("HKLM\Software\MyCompany") I see permissions for "Administrators", "Power
Users", "Users", "SYSTEM", "CREATOR OWNER". For all except,"CREATOR OWNER",
their respective permissions apply to, "this key and subkeys". The
permissions for each of the users/groups seems appropriate - i.e
Administrators have 'full control'.

What is going on here?

I also see something that is a concern... On my Dad's machine,
"HKLM\Software\Microsoft" only has permissions for "Everyone", and
"Everyone" has plain "Full Control"!!! Some of the subkeys are more locked
down - but not all - this doesn't seem good.

I have scanned my dad's machine w/ Trend Micro's free HouseCall, the
pre-scan that the NAV install does, and the free PestPatrol scan. None have
found any viruses or malware. My father uses another PC for most of his
web/e-mail access, so this laptop doesn't get a lot of exposure to threats.

Is there any way to fix this?

Thanks

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