System administrator

About a year ago I installed 98SE to satisfy my new digital camera software. Since then I have not been able to run regedit except in safe mode.
Last week I installed Firefox and it runs mostly ok. I then decided to install Thunderbird in order to get totally away from Netscape. The first time I ran it it asked me "do you want to use Mozilla Thunderbird as your default mail application?" I said yes since that was the whole idea. It replied "cannot be set as the default mail application because a registry key could not be updated. Verify with your system administrator that you have write access to your system registry "
I have no system administrator and no system password. This is a home machine and no one but my wife and I have ever used it. I run Norton virus and Spybot and have no apparent problems with infection.
Last July I had a 3 week run in with Earthlink and their dsl support. I talked to over 30 "tech support" people and I could have messed something up while following their instructions. Any help or advice will be appreciated.

 

SpyBot's TeaTimer is most likely the cause. It will not let system changes take place. Disable it then install T-Bird.

 

Hey whiskeyman - Thanks for your prompt reply but I don't think that's the problem! I have Spybot 1.4.0.3 and I see no reference to tea timer anywhere.
I'm not aware that I'm using it. Would it keep regedit from running?

 

Rodrocket,
take a look at this thread . It may apply to you.

 

You can check to see if TeaTimer is enabled.

Disable TeaTimer

 

Hey guys tea timer is most definitely not active. I've never heard of it until now but following your collective threads I found it and no, it has never been activated on my box. It looks like a good idea but not until I get straightened out. Any ideas why I can't run regedit except in safe mode? I was able to use it at one time. Is this connected to not being able to activate Thunderbird?

 

Is this a newer version of Norton? Maybe one of it's features is stopping the access.

 

No! Norton will not restrict you from running regedit. I feel that I have a more sinistrer problem.

 

Follow the directions here;
http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=37074

When done post the HijackThis log here;
http://www.windowsbbs.com/forumdisplay.php?f=41