Mystery Permissions in Registry

Some of my regestry keys have an unknown user with special permissions on them. The unknown user's name comes up as some sort of key with numbers, letters and dashes.

This occurs on two different computers, both running XP Home (I'm not even sure if the permissions are important on the XP Home verion-since it gives all users root access). The mystery permissions are not all on the same keys on the two computers. One common key with the mystery permission is the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Intel key. If someone will check and see if they have this mystery permission it may be helpful-this entry may be used by another software program. These entries may be linked.

I ran the autorun viewer and saw no suspect entries. I could have missed something though. - Also both computers are largely running different software- with the exception of some commercial things like Norton's Anti-Virus and Firewall, Real Player etc..

Any input would be welcome.

 

dear Traves, welcome to the forum. are you talking about those s-12-123-1234 keys? Windows XP has some pre-defined users with default permissions. they are SYSTEM, ADMINISTRATORS, EVERYONE, etc. there is no need to worry. even the Intel key is normal. perhaps you can post the contents if you still feel unsecure. when you log in you'll see the users list unless you configured manual username entry for mroe security. those are the users no more no less. when you log in the CURRENT USER will have the settings for that account. LOCAL MACHINE has the global configuration. in the DEFAULT USER section you'll see all sorts of users. no need to worry about them.

 

Thank you for clearing that up for me. Much apprec.

P.S. I am looking for a good guide to the registry (for XP) so that I can more easily diagnose what belongs and what doesn't- any suggestions?

 

Yeah me too, I want to better understand the registry and be confidant in making changes too it. Right now I really don’t like to mess with it as you can screw things up, but I would like to learn more about it.