Totally disable CONTENT ADVISOR

[http://forums.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum1/noncgi]

Hi ya'll.

I have been messing with this problem for quite some time and am sick of messing with it.

Is there a way without performing a COMPLETE RE-INSTALL (format and all) of Win98 to fix an UNKNOWN password for the CONTENT ADVISOR. What's happening is that any website that I go to is non-viewable. And since I don't know the password to Content Advisor on each machine, I have to re-install the OS.

I've even looked for certain .ini files that may contain passwords or such for Content Advisor, but have come up with nothing.

I run a PC Lab at work, and users go into the IE5 settings and mess with them, and then the next user can't work.

If anyone knows of a way to either disable Content Advisor, or remove the password used for it, I would appreciate it!!!

Thanks,

Kevin <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

[Sowulo]

Run Regedit. Go to H_KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\microsoft\windows\cur rent version\policies\ and delete 'ratings'

Now you can exit regedit, reboot Windows, and browse away without the content advisor bugging you anymore.

[Orangeman]

Another way would be to delete your .pwl files. These are your password files. Be careful, if this doesn't work you might want to restore them after you put them in your recycle bin.

If your problem was that you installed your parental control software and since uninstalled it, you might want to reinstall it and contact the manufacturer to figure our a way to get it back. I was in this situation myself and it wasn't until I was able to delete the original password from the software that I was able to correct the problem.

On the other hand if you just used the standard Windows content advisor just go to start>settings>control panel>internet options>content and undo - or uncheck what you checked.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Sowulo's fix is the easiest and fastest. Listen to the man...

[rrockey]

Okay I've posted it before, guess I'll post it again. The easiest fix for this problem is to rename the dll file msratings.dll. This will completely disable content advisor, so it will fix your problem and keep it from happening again.

[Ya_know]

[quote]Originally posted by rrockey:
<strong>Okay I've posted it before, guess I'll post it again. The easiest fix for this problem is to rename the dll file msratings.dll. This will completely disable content advisor, so it will fix your problem and keep it from happening again.</strong><hr></blockquote>

I wonder, if you want to remove the password, but keep the content advisor, which option should you use? Obviously the dll file won't be viable, will the registry hack to the ratings policy disable the advisor, or will it allow you to reuse it?
Thanks

[Sowulo]

Deleting the Ratings key in Content Advisor is the easiest way to just get rid of the password lock without disabling the feature completely. After deleting Ratings and rebooting, you can go right back into the Content Advisor settings and reenable it with a known password if you wish. We had to learn this fix because there was a bug in an upgrade from IE4 to IE5(?) I don't remember exactly) Which activated Content Advisor and turned on an internal switch to require a password that didn't exist.

[Ya_know]

I would have to go with that option. Thanks Sowulo.