2 Qs: windows admin and directory changes

Q1: Can someone remind me how toobtain admin privileges in windows xp please.

Admin is not one of the profiles offered on bootup and I can't remember how to access it.

I changed the access/read/write permissions of some folders of my own account and now can't even open them so need to change them back.

Q2. Something is updating files on my system (and using HD space in the process and I don't have much spare atm) and I don't know which program. Is there a way to ask my computer to tell me of recent changes within my file system (without manually looking at the 'date modified' of each folder/file)?

Thanks.

Q1
http://www.wikihow.com/Login-to-Windows-XP-as-the-Administrator

...if that fails, Hiren offers allot of options for removing passwords etc...

Q2
Not really....
Although it's unusual for something to be doing this, especially as support/updates have been kinda pretty much finished for XP. You could try 'msconfig' to see whats loading when you boot up...
Which files are being changed/updated?

Re Q2. I've decided then to look into it manually by following the 'date modofoed' information in the file directory.

This is the strange thing, as far as I can tell the only files to have been changed this year and which seemingly get modified every day are boot.ini, and 2 sys files pagefile.sys and hiberfil.sys (all 3 on the harddrive itself, not in a folder; dunno if these are genuine but have been all-clear on a virus scan).

The only folders on the harddrive to allegedly be updated (pretty much daily) are the Windows and Program Files folders and a folder created by me.


Within the Windows folder is another system-created folder called Installer. It has a dodgy-seeming file called MSI1FB.tmp (1KB) that updated today and besides the 3 above that's the alleged only other update. That's the only change today within the Windows folder that I can find.

In Program Files there are no losse files, just more folders. Although the Program Files folder indicates it has been modified today, none of the Folders inside indicate they have been modified this year (I have hidden files/folders set to be displayed btw) so that doesn't make sense anyway. Ah, now I think about it I delted QuickTime today to create a bit of space and the Updater on that did prompt to update it today so that hopefully explains that little mystery.

In the user-created file called Others, which the file system indicates was modified today also, there are just a bunch of home-movie files, none of which indicate they have been updated today.

It does actually seem a bit dodgy now i've looked at it a little more closely, just becasue it doesn't make sense. it's like being on a wild goose chase or like following the footsteps or trail of something to find it doesn't apparently exist.

Yet something is eating up between 30 and 100 MB of my HD every day.

As per my reply to your other thread on disk space, and in respect of Q2

Once the system is definitely clean of malware

"Assuming your PC hasn't been compromised and a rootkit isnt hiding something using your storage, then this saves a lot of time in identifying disk usage.

Full graphical breakdown & by file types. I use this to housekeep on low disk space systems at least once a week.

https://windirstat.info/"


Hope you nail the usage problem, do take great care with what you delete to claim space though

Maybe this could help

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/15101-63-pagefile-hiberfil-gigantic-filling

This was totally it. At least turning of hibernate certainly has just freed up 1.5GB of HD. So it was those files after all.

Awesome thanks so much.

You're welcome!