Re: XP Pro - software restriction turned on but not by me - help

DylanM <DylanM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I had stopped a couple services that didn't seem necessary after reading up
on them online and when I tried to open computer management again, I got the
message "Application cannot be opened due to Software Restriction Policy...."
See your system administrator...". The same error message came up for any
application I tried to run, whether IE, a System32 app or Office. Very
frustrating!
And I am the sys admin! When I booted into safe mode, I checked the
Security policy section and no policy was set. Everything appeared to be
"normal". I checked the Services and undid what I'd done but that did nothing.
Complicating this is that somehow my System Restore got corrupted and
there were only points going back to the onset of this problem. I have tried
using the Install CD to do a Repair; I have also installed as an Upgrade but
so far nothing has touched this issue. I have lots of software installed that
I'd rather not reinstall but I haven't found any info on the net that touches
on quite this problem.
I need to find a way to turn off this software restriction policy which
is in effect for every user account including the Administrator and I suspect
it's in the registry but I haven't found it. Any input would help. Thanks.

That type of problem is often a symptom of a virus/trojan/spyware
infestation. Go to one of the following free scanning sites and check
the computer for any malware:
Bit Defender http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie.html
Trend Micro http://housecall.trendmicro.com
Kaspersky Online Scanner http://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner
Panda ActiveScan http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan
WindowSecurity.com TrojanScan http://windowssecurity.com/trojanscan
Webroot http://www.webroot.com/

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
Syberfix Remote Computer Repair

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."
.

Relevant Pages

  • Safer
    ... support the software restriction policies themselves. ... The default policy is to ... // Set safer level parameter passed ... // Delete previous safer entry for the program ...
    (microsoft.public.scripting.jscript)
  • Re: How to Remove Software Restriction?
    ... Hopefully you created the software restriction in it's own policy... ... HASH to work on an application... ... policy and create a new one in a GPO that is applied to the entire OU. ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.active_directory)
  • Re: run only allowed windows applications
    ... You can still use software restriction policies to do this on Windows 2000. ... -Make sure drives are formatted NTFS ... -Set a default software restriction policy to disallow all applications. ... You should also look at the policy to prevent Registry Editing tools ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.group_policy)
  • Re: [Full-disclosure] Windows Software Restriction Policy Protection Bypass
    ... This MS answer speaks volumes to their approach to security (I had ... "Software Restriction Policy and Group Policy are not meant to be ... "...Software restriction policies are a part of Microsoft's security ...
    (Full-Disclosure)
  • Re: [Full-disclosure] Windows Software Restriction Policy Protection Bypass
    ... This MS answer speaks volumes to their approach to security (I had ... "Software Restriction Policy and Group Policy are not meant to be ... "...Software restriction policies are a part of Microsoft's security ...
    (Bugtraq)