Account privileges messed up

My sister's computer just arrived laden with "why doesn't this work" postit notes. Norton Internet Security was installed but disabled, AVG 2013 was installed but disabled. Ran the removal tools for both. Ran AdwCleaner, removed 24x7 and others. Malwarebytes removed more parts of 24x7. System appears clear now, accepting java/Win7 updates. This was all done on the Admin account.

Once I moved back to check the standard user account that she uses, I was faced with a dramatic change in access. Any time I try to directly access a feature of Windows 7 that involved a file, rather than a program, I get an explorer.exe error "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permission to access the item." I attempted to regain control by re-entering admin account and adjusting the properties of C:\ to allow read/execute for standard users. This was something I read on teh internet. Didn't have to change anything though as all appeared "normal".

So, One option is to create new user accounts, move files to them, and erase the broken ones. This is likely the fastest solution. The other is to apply a magic fix which will replace the bad permissions with good.

The odd thing is that while I can't open "My Computer" to view files, I can open MS Word, Open Document, and browse through places until I find the file I want and it opens. So, it's not the file itself which is denied to me, it is explorer.exe which not happy.

sfc /scannow (as Admin) shows no problems.

Thanks for reading this, apologies for running cleanup tools before being asked to do so, and I look forward to your responses.

via Bleeping Computer Last 20 Posts http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/513143/account-privileges-messed-up/