Access denied to all applications in control panel

[needhelp]

Here is the problem, My son is running Windows 98se on his computer and when I visited him today he told me that when he clicks on the icon on his desktop to connect to the internet, nothing happens. I had a look at it for him and sure enough no luck. I went into control panel to access dial up networking to make a new connection for him but when I clicked on the DUN icon I get the message "access denied to this location" (or words to that effect). In fact when I tried the other icons in control panel, same thing happens, every one of them comes up with the same message.
Now I figured out that he has created a profile on the computer for his young daughter cos when the computer boots up the password box comes up on screen. I have tried to access the programs in control panel through her profile (she gave me the password) but no dice. I have also clicked "cancel" when the box comes up at boot up, I believe this loads the original desktop profile, but still have the same problem, cant access anything from there.
I cant even access the display properties when I right click on the desktop and click properties, same message.
My son doesn't know much about computers and doesn't remember exactly how he set up the user profiles. I can only see one profile and that is for his daughter. But I dont know for sure cos I cant access the user application in control panel. Everything else works just fine including all programs. I need to fix this problem quickly as my son uses the internet quite a lot in his work. I am assuming it is something to do with the way he has set up the user profiles but maybe I am barking up the wrong tree. He said it has been working just fine up until yesterday.
Thanks guys.

[boxcarracer767]

The problem could be of the Coolwebsearch hijacker which is known to cause this type of problems; click the link to download CWshredder to get rid of the program, also run ad-aware and spybot.
http://www.merijn.org/downloads.html

[GaryRouth]

. . . and if the problem still exists after trimming the spyware thicket, try starting the computer with the Windows98 CD "with CD-support" - then from the command prompt, type

scanreg/restore

and pick a date from the list from before this problem appeared. If you don't have a date that goes back far enough, boot the computer into Safe Mode [tap the F8 key on startup] and try the Control Panel, Users from there.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[Pancake]

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win98/r1074646417