I need some technical help. Is it possible to delete a program file in a network environment by changing your desktop properties? My son has been accused of this by his school librarian. He admits that he did take a picture from the MSN homepage and saved it onto the PCs desktop. I guess I don't understand how another users file could be affected by this action.

I don't think so. Changing the desktop doesn't remove any files. It simply changes the picture you see. It is possible the old picture was renamed, but that wouldn't be a program but a BMP (Bitmap) file.

A virus or worm would have to be introduced to unknowingly do this.

Could it be that the icon was removed from the desktop or moved to the edge of the desktop where it can't be seen? Is the program still in the list of Add/Remove programs? Can you do a "Find" on the program?

I’m no PC expert by any means, but if the network’s security rights are set properly, this should not be possible. Your son would only be able to delete, modify or add to the directories that he had rights to under his logon “profile”, and any changes to his desktop properties should only affect his profile and not someone else’s. With NT, you can get pretty specific with the security rights from the logon on down to a specific file.

Thanks Andy and Dan. I just got off the phone with the school's principal - who, by the way, is an ex-attorney. He seems to be running scared because my son gave him a letter wanting to begin a grievance process. The tone of the conversation was that the grievance process was somewhat of a nuisance and could ultimately involve both the superintendent and school board. I told him I understood that and if we didn't get some clear answers that it would indeed end up there. I wouldn't bother with this but my son is an honor student, will be entering high school next year and has a great future ahead. I don't want this one incident to place a black mark on his record. Normally, I am quick to blame him for causing trouble but I really do believe that he did not do this.

Hopefully they have some who has the responsibility of being the LAN administrator. They may be able to better define what capabilities the user has and doesn't have. As the administrator on my home LAN, my kids can't install or delete programs as an example. What they can do effects their user profile and not others.

If all users have administrator rights, your son could have deleted something. Again, that would be done by changing the desktop.

Certainly there are variances based on the OS, 98, XP, Mac or PC, etc. But some due diligence is required before they point fingers. And if all users can add and delete programs, they have a bigger problem than needing to reinstall a program.

Andy, that's what I hope to determine by meeting with the principal. In the past, the school district has had a pretty weak tech department. The principal tells me that the tech director determined that the incident was either accidental or intentional and punishment was determined from there. The punishment was that my son was banned from the school computers until the end of the semester, which is two weeks away. This tells me that they can not determine what happened. I have asked about system logs and they said they don't have them. By the way, in the meantime I have learned that it was not a program deleted but a student's file. I have also learned that the school's server had a minor crash. Doesn't it seem that the crash could have resulted in a file being lost?

The crash could result in the file being lost if the file was stored on the server. Your son making a change to the desktop does not affect the server- just the local hard drive. So the question now becomes- where was the file actually stored?

That's the problem, no one can tell me, or will tell me. The more I think about this the angrier I get. I'm getting the impression that they need someone to blame.

Very frustrating! If you find that the file was on the server, a backup copy should be available - assuming, of course, that the system was backed up!

Of course they need someone to blame. Just look at the 'expert analysis' they've provided you:
The principal tells me that the tech director determined that the incident was either accidental or intentional

In your shoes, I would continue to pursue the grievance route until this is resolved. This seems to be the only realistic shot at getting some controls in place on the school network- and at exonerating your son.

Good luck!! I've only had one incident that upset me so much that I ended up talking to the school counselor. He was very helpful and we worked things out.

Having some experience with "crashes" I would ask them what kind of a crash took place. Did a Hard drive go bad?

If you have a database open and the operating system goes down and reboots itself you can loose data. There are all kinds of reasons an operating system "crashes" In each crash the potential to have unrecoverable data is very possible.

I agree copying a picture off MSN and pasting it to a file, in no manner shape or form is going to delete a student record in a database that wasn't even open.

To delete a record your son would have had to access the student database which he or any other student were probably not allowed access to.

I would like to thank everyone who replied, your help has been very valuable and appreciated. It reinforces the idea that we have become "family" and makes me feel good that you would take time away from your jobs to help me on a personal topic. I'll let you know what happens.

In reply to:

---

I have asked about system logs and they said they don't have them.

---

If they have no logs, how do they know it was your son that accidently or intentionally deleted the file.

In reply to:

---

It reinforces the idea that we have become "family"...

---

You be sure and let us know if there will be a conference. We'll be there and I'd bet we could beat them up if it comes to that.

Count me in!

After that, could you guys swing by my area. My second grader having all sorts of fits with this 'new math' stuff.

At the very least we could argue with them until they gave up just to get us out of there!

LOL! Thanks for all the support, I'm getting that warm fuzzy feeling.