Re: Users all mixed up after reinstall: How to clean up?

You did good!

It appears that your original installation was an upgrade from Windows 98.
That's why you have a Windows system folder and all the new users had some sort
of ID appended to their name. As I suspected, the folders with the earlier dates
are from the first installation and are now probably null and void.

The question is, what applications are still active on your system now?. I
suspect that your last installation of the OS may have ignored some or all of
your previously installed applications, since it may not have been an "upgrade
install". Hard for me to tell from here. You'll have to test each and every
application to see if it starts and runs as designed.

Current User: You should be able to tell who is logged in by clicking on the
Start button. There should be a "Log Off <User>" option there. If not, enable
this via Start > Settings > Taskbar & Start Menu > Advanced tab > check "Display
Logoff".

Backup Utilities: The Windows 2000 backup utility is good for some things but
not as full system backup and restore tool. The best type are those that can
create an image of your hard drive. This image is a sector-by-sector copy of
your drive not just a file-by-file copy of its contents. These images can be
stored in another partition, another drive, or on removable media such as DVD or
CD. I send mine to an external USB drive and I save the image in segments that
can be burned to CD's if necessary. There are some freeware versions available.
If you're interested, let me know and I'll track them down.

I think your main task is to see if all of your apps still work. If not, you may
want to consider a fresh start with a clean installation of Windows 2000.


"Clueless in Seattle" <spamless_in_seattle@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1149718836.748122.126600@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
| Thanks for all the info!
|
| Here's what I've found:
|
| Set: SystemRoot=C:\WINNT
|
| System folders: WINDOWS & WINNT
|
| Users: Administrator
| anonymous
| Guest
|
| Both "Administrator" and "anonymous" show as being in the
| "Administrators" Group.
|
| Here are the "Created:" dates shown by Windows Explorer for the folders
| under "Documents & Settings":
|
| Administrator January 27, 2006
| Administrator.MICRON June 7, 2006
| All Users January 22, 2006
| All Users.WINNT May 31, 2006
| anonymous January 22, 2006
| anonymous.MICRON May 31, 2006
| Default.User January 22, 2006
| Default User.WINNT May 31, 2006
|
| Or, sorted by date of creation:
|
| All Users January 22, 2006
| anonymous January 22, 2006
| Default.User January 22, 2006
| Administrator January 27, 2006
| All Users.WINNT May 31, 2006
| anonymous.MICRON May 31, 2006
| Default User.WINNT May 31, 2006
| Administrator.MICRON June 7, 2006 (I don't have a clue how this
| got created)
|
| I am the only user of this computer, so I don't need to have any kind
| of log on profiles.
|
| I don't know how to tell which user is the default, but I believe that
| right now it may be anonymous.MICRON.
|
| I'm working on trying to get a viable back-up system set-up for this
| computer. I had an HP tape drive running under Win 98 for backing up
| my old computer and I backed it up nearly every day. But when I
| switched to my current computer (a hand-me-down from a friend who
| upgraded), my HP back-up software wouldn't run under Win2K. And severe
| health problems prevented me from getting a new back-up systme in
| place.
|
| So, right now, I'm just trying to keep this beast up and running while
| I continue to try to come up with a workable back-up system. I'm
| disabled and on a very small disability pension so I'd like to avoid
| having to buy back-up software. I'm going to try back-up software
| built into Win2K.
|
| Once I'm able to back up my system, then I'd like to tackle either
| sorting out this user profile mess, or else perhaps reformatting the HD
| and doing a clean reinstallation.
|
| Will in Seattle
| a.k.a. "Clueless"
|
| David Webb wrote:
| > Sounds like you may have reinstalled over the existing OS and possibly
installed
| > into a new system folder, maybe that's why you have the additional user
folders.
| >
| > To check your current settings, open a command prompt window and enter this
| > command:
| >
| > Set
| >
| > Amongst all that good info you'll find the value for the SystemRoot. This
shows
| > you where Windows is presently installed.
| >
| > Close this window, launch Windows Explorer and scroll down the folder
listing to
| > see if you may have a previous system folder, maybe named "Windows" or some
| > variation of WinNT.
| >
| > For sanity's sake, you may want to verify what active user accounts you now
| > have. To do this, log on as Administrator then go to Control Panel > Users
and
| > Passwords. Note which users are listed and to what Groups they belong to.
| >
| > Do you require users to log on? If not, which user is the default and to
what
| > Group to they belong? This is important because if you have a User with
Admin
| > rights, they can install software and the data shows up under their folder,
| > whereas if you have been installing all software as the Administrator then
it
| > shows up under its folder. There's really no need to move this data as long
as
| > this Admin user remains as-is.
| >
| > If I'm correct in my thinking, the following folders (annotated with >) are
now
| > probably null and void:
| >
| > Administrator
| > >All Users
| > All Users.WINNT
| > >Anonymous
| > anonymous.MICRON ("Micron" is the network I.D. of my computer)
| > >Default.User
| > Default User.WINNT
| >
| > You can verify the most current by r-clicking on each folder then select
| > Properties.
| >
| > None of the above suggestions offer any fixes, they hopefully may give you a
few
| > ways to evaluate your situation better.
| >
| > If I were you, I wouldn't make any changes to the user folders unless you
have
| > the ability to backup and restore your system. A backup utility like Acronis
| > True Image is highly recommended for this.
| >
|


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