How-To Geek

After you take ownership do you then edit the permissions to allow full control?

Have you tried activating the hidden account named "Administrator" and performing what you need to do under that account?

I tried Unlocker, got a message saying the folder was not locked, but when I then tried to delete it I got a red X, unable to delete.

>After you take ownership do you then edit the permissions to allow full control?

I haven't been able to take ownership, the reg hack did not give me a right-click option to do it.

>Have you tried activating the hidden account named "Administrator" and performing what you need to do under that account?

Now this is something I've never heard of! So I am the administrator, but I do not have administrator rights. Is that right so far? And there is another account, named Administrator, but it's hidden away from mere mortals, like the owner of the machine? This sounds more and more like Alice in Wonderland, all I need is the Red Queen and the Mad Hatter to pop up. So please, please, please, tell me how to activate the hidden Administrator account.

David

AND then you also have to give yourself Complete Permissions with Files, Objects, Registry Entries, etc., etc.... so System Setup after the initial O/S installation can take a Day or Two.
"This kinda of stuff" http://www.howtogeek.com/77878.....windows-7/

More the reason for imaging the System Often.

Windows 8 ain't gonna get no easier either with all this Setup Stuff. Probably much MORE to do.

Rick P.

>Actually you are only the owner and do not have full and unadulterated command of the computer. Who do you think you are?

Thanks for all the help, I am beginning to realize that I have ideas above my station in life and seem to have a can of worms here. I had the bright idea of borrowing an XP machine thinking that the simpler OS, and one that created the folders, would allow me to simply delete them. Curiously in XP the folders are not marked "Read Only," but delete? No way! I copied the folders I need to keep to another drive, then formatted the USB drive. It worked. However, I have also been reading about ownership and permissions. This for instance is from the MS site:

"By default, the owner is the entity that created the object. The owner can always change permissions on an object, even when the owner is denied all access to the object."

So the owner owns, but may not even have permission to access an object?!? And:

"Ownership can be taken by:
"An administrator. By default, the Administrators group is given the Take ownership of files or other objects user right."

So I AM the administrator, not one of the administrators, I'm it! By default I should have the Take ownership user right. It says os right there. But it doesn't work out that way. I wonder if there might be something in the air that they're breathing in Redmond? They're awfully close to Mt. Rainier, leaking gasses perhaps? It just convinces me that I should have stuck with XP.

I'm new to Win 7, but I started computing with a Z80 machine, soldered together pin by pin from a kit. The Z80 processor ran at several cycles a minute, started out with 16K of RAM, later bumped up to a massive 64K, with a compact-tape drive for loading and saving programs, that was an extra. So I really resent anyone in Redmond, or anywhere else, telling me what I can and cannot do to my machine. Would I buy a car if I was told that the hood was locked, and I wasn't going to get the key to open it? Only the manufacturer could do that. Would anyone? I don't think so. If I pull the spark-plug wires off and replace them in the wrong order and wreck the engine whose problem is that? If I do something stupid and trash the OS is anyone in Redmond going to lose a night's sleep? Have I made mistakes? Of course, but "anyone who never made a mistake never made anything," as my father used to say.

I've read that Win 7 is "the most secure" version ever. So what? I am not impressed, have never had a virus, never had any malware, don't download trash and I run several different scans at frequent intervals, all come up clean. It's just a matter of common sense. Don't respond to e-mails from Nigerian bankers, don't open attachments from unknown senders, and if you want to browse ify Websites use a sandbox. How about a version of Windows for grown-ups? "U screw it, U fix it!" They could print it in large letters on the box.

>>LMAO!!

Now if only I knew what that means I might be closer to getting my head around ownership. Must go and do some reading, a lot of reading. Maybe one day I'll be the master of my own destiny. Or maybe I'll just go back to XP.

Thanks again for the help.

David

Download Ubuntu or another Linux OS and burn the .iso to a disk. Boot with the live disk and click 'Try Out', don't let it install.

You can browse to the external drive and see if you can delete the old XP folders.

Good luck!

On no account take ownership of system files, unless for a very specific reason.