MS Internet Explorer problem

Factual Questions
1

I have Firefox as my default browser, but I keep MSIE (V7? the one that cam NIB with XP) around because there are occasions where Firefox won’t work.

My problem is that when I try to access the Internet Options under Tools, I get a popup saying something to the effect of the item is locked and I should contact the Administrator.

Uh, yeah. It’s a home PC, and I am the administrator.

Any help on clearing the lockout?

2

  1. Download the “IE-Tab” extension for FireFox – it allows you to specify that you want to load certain pages in FireFox “as if” it were IE. Works for me on all pages that break in FireFox, so far.

  2. Having said that, get yourself an anti-rootkit presto – the loss of Administrative Privileges on a home computer often (usually?) means that the computer has been compromised.

3

This is something that can be done via the registry or group policy. Was this computer inhered from a business? Im guessing some anti-malware programs might enable this key too. it can be undone like so:

Open regedit (Start>Run… and type “regedit” - without the quotes - in the box)
Browse to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Restrictions
Under this key you should find a value “NoBrowserOptions” - simply delete this value, reboot your computer, and the restriction should be gone (if not, it is a global restriction, so try browsing to the same location under the “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE” branch of the registry)

4

I doubt I have an actual malware problem. I have so many antivirus programs and spyware dectector/eliminators running that updating them and scanning is a 5 hour job.

I’m going to try the registry edit HorseLoverFat suggested first. It’s basically what I was looking for.

5

Also check in the settings of your various anti-spyware programs. Spybot Search & Destroy, for example, locks the Internet Options as part of its web immunisation feature.

6

Reporting back.

The regedit fixed the problem. No rootkits found, and Spybot was updated in the recent past, and is the likely culprit.

Thanks for the help, y’all.