Help please, changed permissions and locked myself out

Hi,
I am a newbe to this level of computing but here goes;
I have changed the security settings of my C drive and cant access any of the windows actions. backup, restore, copy etc.My C drive wont open. I can write to the drive from word to desktop etc and can access my second drive perfectly well.
What I did was try to prevent the kids getting to my files by going to C ...right click properties...go to security tag....and change the permissions...this looked complicated and dangerous once I started and I thought I had reset it to the original settings. Obviously I had not done so and neither my kids screen nor mine as administrator can access the changes anymore. The security tab for C reports "to continue you must be an administrator etc". Pressing the continue button leaves a message "Cant open access control editor. Access is denied" Then there is no where to go. Can files be reset using any of the above?

CarlTR6 said:

Once you enable the hidden administrator account, restore your system using a restore point previous to the changed settings.

I suggest you create a standard user account for the kids (and anyone else) and password protect your administrator account. When you have your system back operational, disable the hidden administrator account.

Thanks..I tried that and system restore fails with Details "shadow copy provider had error.Check system log 0X80042306". When i tried that it returns "Access Denied"

Any other ideas?

No I cant change permissions from any of my user accounts for the C drive. Not even the newly set one.

I can/could for my second drive K so I can see where I made the mistake by looking at the K but when I go back to C it is now hidden completely. Can I change permissions in the registry?

Hate to tell you, but you're done. You can fight this for days, or you can reinstall Windows in under an hour. You'll never get the permissions back the way they are supposed to be regardless.

Thanks,CarlTR6, Petey7 and MacGyvr...I'm done and reinstalling. Thank you all...wont make that mistake again.
Cheers all.