Computer trouble

[Benpc91]

Okay, so a Windows XP update was running on my computer two nights ago.  Those are normally harmless though, right?

Well, I ran my computer the next day only to find my computer set to look as if it was at it's company default.  Wallpaper was at the same old default Windows wallpaper, my bookmarks were all gone, and all things saved to my desktop/documents seemed have disappeared.  However, shortcuts to programs I have installed seemed to still appear on the desktop.  Looking further, I found that all my files were still stored in the same EXACT directory they were before the update, however on a different profile than the one I was on.  Checking the control panel only gave me one profile as well (the one I was on).

So I did a rollback set for one week, and everything is now back to normal.  But I can't help but wonder what caused this or how to prevent this if I wish to re-apply the update.

Any suggestions.

[Drunken Watermelon]

It changed the profile you were logged into Windows on?
Just set your normal one back to default and it should work.

[Silver]

Except that, as stated, there was only one profile option listed...

[Drunken Watermelon]

Were the files still there and was the profile folder still there?
Also which version of Windows XP? Home or Pro?

[Silver]

All files were present and accounted for, including the profile folder, and it was home edition.

Why yes, I am Benpc91... no, I'm not! Just a stalker, that's all.

[Drunken Watermelon]

Tried recreating the user profile?
Or even what the heck was it logged in as? Home doesn't have an administrator account.

[quadrain]

Restart the computer a few times. Some times that helps. This has happened to me a few times and it sucks.

[Procyon]

Open a cmd prompt as administrator and you might be able to see what is wrong

net user  (list of users)
net user username     (list of settings. look for active and such)
net user username /active:no    (change settings. disable the unwanted accounts)

[curriegrad2004]

Open a cmd prompt as administrator and you might be able to see what is wrong

net user  (list of users)
net user username     (list of settings. look for active and such)
net user username /active:no    (change settings. disable the unwanted accounts)

I don't think user permissions or settings here might be the problem. It might very well be a problematic application or service that's causing this issue.

Tried recreating the user profile?
Or even what the heck was it logged in as? Home doesn't have an administrator account.

Home Edition does have an Administrator account. You just need to enable it under User Accounts.

Okay, so a Windows XP update was running on my computer two nights ago.  Those are normally harmless though, right?

Normally they're harmless, but Microsoft is known to pull updates from WSUS  (aka. Windows Update for Corporations, as WSUS is what I use at home instead of the slow crappy Microsoft Update) if the fix causes a problem that they can't solve that easily. Some security updates have broken applications in the past either due to poor coding or the developer doesn't want to spend the time on fixing the app to use more secure APIs.

Well, I ran my computer the next day only to find my computer set to look as if it was at it's company default.  Wallpaper was at the same old default Windows wallpaper, my bookmarks were all gone, and all things saved to my desktop/documents seemed have disappeared.  However, shortcuts to programs I have installed seemed to still appear on the desktop.  Looking further, I found that all my files were still stored in the same EXACT directory they were before the update, however on a different profile than the one I was on.  Checking the control panel only gave me one profile as well (the one I was on).

Looks like Windows 'decided' that your hard drive was either too slow or your NTUSER.DAT is corrupted and switched it to another temporary profile. Good thing that you did a System Restore to one week's prior.

[Drunken Watermelon]

Home has an administrator account that only works in safe mode, enabling it will not make it display on the log in screen.

[curriegrad2004]

Home has an administrator account that only works in safe mode.

It can be enabled under normal operating conditions. Go into compmgmt.msc and give it a shot. But enabling that was pre-SP2 days. Don't know if Post-SP2 patched that or not.

EDIT: Found it. Seems like my memory is fading ever since I ditched XP Home for XP Pro back in 2002

Instructions to enable Admin account in Home Edition
   1. Launch Registry Editor.
   2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList in the Registry Editor.
   3. Double-click the Administrator key in the right pane.
   4. If the Administrator key doesn’t exist, right-click on the above tree in the pane, choose New, DWORD Value, name it Administrator and press .
   5. Type 1 in the “Value data” box, and press .

[Drunken Watermelon]

It can be enabled under normal operating conditions. Go into compmgmt.msc and give it a shot. But enabling that was pre-SP2 days. Don't know if Post-SP2 patched that or not.

EDIT: Found it. Seems like my memory is fading ever since I ditched XP Home for XP Pro back in 2002

Instructions to enable Admin account in Home Edition
   1. Launch Registry Editor.
   2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList in the Registry Editor.
   3. Double-click the Administrator key in the right pane.
   4. If the Administrator key doesn’t exist, right-click on the above tree in the pane, choose New, DWORD Value, name it Administrator and press .
   5. Type 1 in the “Value data” box, and press .

Tried that before, it causes the welcome screen to display the normal users but not the administrator under normal mode, logging in manually pops up with some error that I can't remember. The apparent fix being to add a password to the administrator account.

Derailing this thread a bit here.

[Silver]

This is Ben posting through Silver here.

Okay, so some odd things happened.  After I posted this, I decided I wanted to go watch some YouTube.  A minute into the video, a command prompt screen opened up on it's own.  Instinctively, I kind of closed it without looking what it actually was, but I know those things shouldn't open out of nowhere like that.
So then I decided to disconnect my internet and do a quick virus scan.  While scanning, I decided to walk away to let it do its scan.
When walking back a few minutes later, I saw another window has opened.  "Windows Automatic Updater" has updated and wanted me to restart my computer.  Yeah, I don't think that normally happens either, but you can correct me on that.
However, I am under the assumption that this is a virus trouble.

[curriegrad2004]

Okay, so some odd things happened.  After I posted this, I decided I wanted to go watch some YouTube.  A minute into the video, a command prompt screen opened up on it's own.  Instinctively, I kind of closed it without looking what it actually was, but I know those things shouldn't open out of nowhere like that.

Some updates do just that when they get installed. It could might just have been Internet Explorer updating or there was a .NET Framework security update. I can't really remember...

When walking back a few minutes later, I saw another window has opened.  "Windows Automatic Updater" has updated and wanted me to restart my computer.  Yeah, I don't think that normally happens either, but you can correct me on that.

Did you configure your PC to automatically download and install updates on a specific time of the week? If you did then it may be the cause, otherwise there could be malware on your machine.

[Silver]

Once more, this is Ben.
Firefox user, so would it normally do that.

As for the auto update, I never set it to do so.