Cost efficient?

southman

Honorable
Jun 4, 2012
8
0
10,510
Hello, Concerning Windows 7 Home Premium

Downloading online; something completely disabled my &anda security 2012 and then made me the guest without Administrator control.

Now I can't get into many of my file due to the file Lock.

Factory recovery doesn't change a thing.
I have never been denied access from my own computer files.

I have followed many threads of the same situation and many of those results are the same.
It's like the computer gets smart and acts like a 2 yr old.

One computer chain wants 150.00 to make things right. Another wants 200.00

My Idea; I concidered buying a new blank hard drive 80.00 and install the operating System? Premium or Professional.
Professional will allow me to run some expensive programs I lost with the upgrade from XP.

Anyhow, that's my delima.
Would "My Idea" work and fix the lock problem?
Or do I shell out 150.00
 
Get into safe mode on your computer (press F8 during startup)
Transfer any files you need to some other media (flash drive, HDD, CD, etc.)
Insert your recovery CD, and during the prep process tell it to reformat the drive (which will knock out whatever this bug is), and then reinstall everything.
-This is basically the same as buying that new HDD and starting over

Professional vs Home does not normally restrict what programs may be used on a computer (I have a lot of pro grade software that runs just fine on my home edition machine). It merely gives you extra network options so that you can add your PC to a domain (the domain may be required for some bulk license software, but there are normally easy and free ways around this). Some programs will require a 64bit OS, while other programs might work best on a 32bit OS (though this is rarely a problem these days).


Your idea would not fix the lock problem on your files, but it would give you a clean machine to work with (be sure to disconnect the old drive before installing windows on the new drive). After you were to install everything on the new drive you can reconnect the old one, transfer files over to the new drive (run antivirus!), and then reformat the old drive to knock out whatever the bug was that was causing the issues. It will work, it is just a matter of how long it takes you to do it, vs the 4-8 hours it would take a pro to do it, and if that time difference is worth $150-200 to you.
 

unclejehmimah

Honorable
Feb 27, 2012
168
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10,710
If windows you can just install it over the old install. This will move all of your files over to a new folder called windows.old. I'm not sure you will be able to access those files if they are locked, but you could at least get rid of the virus causing these woes. So no, you do not have to buy a new hard drive and you do not have to give anyone $$$ to solve your problem.
 

southman

Honorable
Jun 4, 2012
8
0
10,510


I tried it and I still have locks on folders such as Documrnts and Settings. I never had to log in until this whatever struck.
Do you have any other ideas?
 

tester321

Honorable
Jun 5, 2012
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10,540


Of course, there are many ideas. It just depends on how savvy YOU are with computer(s). Since it seems like you are one of the later ones to be raped by Windows, naturally you find it not so pleasant. To solve your issues, the sure shot solution is to backup your files on another computer / external media and reinstall windows from scratch. This way, your account issues, permissions and everything else is sorted out the "right" way.

If that is too much, you can try to run virus scan / spybot and other utilities to see if your computer is infected and spend countless and frustrating hours tweaking and wondering why You!

Do yourself a favor and don't waste money. Go to you tube and see some videos on how to reinstall windows and go from there.

I am not trying to be a d!ck here but, that's really the right answer to your problems.
 
A factory restore would have wiped the drive and setup Windows again, none of the issues would have carried over. Is that what you did or did you do something else?

Did you do a "repair" maybe?

You have to logon as an administrator account to grab ownership of the files, a guest account won't let you do anything.