I managed to strip off ALL security of all the top-level folders on my C: drive -- Program Files, Users, Windows, everything. (Don't ask how...I screwed up..ok?). When I right-click on C:\Program Files (or Windows, etc), select Properties and then select Security, the "Group or user names" box says: ============================================= "No permissions have been assigned for this object. Warning: this is a potential security risk because anyone who can access this object can take ownership of it. The object’s owner should assign permissions as soon as possible." ============================================== Anyway, how do I restore the appropriate ownership and privileges back to the defaults? What are the correct settings?

Run chkdsk on the volume which will check the permissions and restores the default permissions on files/folders. During its third pass, CHKDSK displays a message that tells you that CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors and, for the third time, displays "percent completed," counting from 0 to 100 percent. During this phase, CHKDSK examines each security descriptor that is associated with files or directories that are on the volume. Security descriptors contain information about ownership of a file or directory, about NTFS permissions for the file or directory, and about auditing for the file or directory. The "percent completed" that CHKDSK displays during this phase is the percentage of the volume's files and directories that have been checked. CHKDSK verifies that each security descriptor structure is well formed and is internally consistent. After this is completed, check if System has permission on folders under c:\ Default Permissions are: 1. SYSTEM - Full Control 2. Users - Read & Execute, List Folder Content and Read 3. Administrators- Full Control 4. Authenticated Users - has special permissions. To get more details, you might have to verify with a different system. I hope this helps.Manoj Sehgal