lost file ownership of computer

[matt98svt]

hi all, i have been searching the forum for answers and have tried a few things but am seeking help before i do anymore damage to my computer! first, i have a toshiba laptop running windows 7 32bit and made some changes to folder ownership that has wrecked havoc on my machine. i am the only user for this machine and am listed at the administrator. the changes i made were under the "users" folder, and the folder that listed my name.. i dont even recall why i was tinkering with it but made a change under file folder properties/security/ownership.
since that change, it has done many things, including removing files and folders from my desktop and computer that do not show up anymore at all. it has blocked me from the c: drive. a pop up upon start up stats microsoft visual runtime library error c:\program files. and on and on. i have done a system restore to prior when i made the changes to no avail. it does the restore, but does not change the folder ownership or issues im having. i have tried to reset the folder under options to a previous setting but that has not worked and now has me blocked from even going into my c: all together.. saying access denied. i have had no luck under control panel fixing this and have done more harm than good. is there an easy way to get back control of my computer and regain the files that are not showing up. i have been looking for a way, similar to system restore, to reverse the changes to file ownership and give me control of my computer again. i would think this would be easy since im the system admin but no luck so far..any help greatly appreciated!

 

[Mike Connor]

Once you mess about with system default ownership permissions on the system drive, you will get massive problems. ( As you have seen).

The only thing you can do is a clean install of windows. Nothing else will work.

Regards....Mike Connor