Limited user receives "can't open service control manager" on logon

In XP, I have done something which now means that when limited users log on, a warning box says "can't open service control manager ". This does not happen with the administrator log-on.
The only thing I did was try to load a version of pop-up stopper from my old pc (Win98). On loading I got a warning that a dll file could not be found but the programme seemed to load anyway. As I now had this "service control manager" problem, I tried to uninstall the pop-up stopper. It did not appear in the list of add/remove programmes so I simply removed it using windows explorer. The problem however has not been cured. Help !!

 

The first thing I'd try is to download another copy of the same popup stopper, install it and see if the problem goes away.

If it doesn't go away, at least the popup stopper can be properly uninstalled through Add/Remove Programs....and that uninstall might solve the problem, too.

 

Thanks.
I tried that but sadly no joy

 

If it was an old application from Windows 98 that was written before Windows 2000/XP came along then that is probably the cause of the problem. In Windows 9x all users had access to all system files so the issue with user rights doesn't cause a problem. Windows 9x applications have a history of not moving to the newer Windows versions very easily.

There are two things I would do.
1. Create a new user that is limited and see if the error message follows. If it does then there is still some bits of the old application on the machine. If it hasn't been too long since you installed it, try a system restore to see if you can get rid of that way. Otherwise you are going to have to remove the bits from the machine yourself, which might be tricky.

2. Find another popup stopper that has Windows 2000/XP support and install that instead. There have been loads created recently without having to return to an old one written for Windows 98.

Simon.

 

Thank you for this.
I have found a more recent XP pop-up stopper so that aspect is ok.
I don't know whether XP is normally installed with Restore working but I was upset to find this very new machine had it disabled. Needless to say, I've turned it on now but that won't help with this problem.
I created a new limited user and that had the same problem, "can’t open service control manager" although the administrator does not have that problem.
Stuck as to what to do next - are limited users meant to have this service control manager? If not, how do I stop the pc complaining that it can’t be opened? If they are meant to have it, how do I give it to them?
Grateful for any advicce !