One of the most difficult things for an administrator can be troubleshooting permission problems. Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 include a wonderful feature known as Effective Permissions. It can be used to quickly and easily determine what a user’s or group’s actual permissions are to a resource. You can use the following steps to access the Effective Permissions tool:

1. Within Windows Explorer, right click the appropriate folder and click Properties.
2. Select the Security tab and then click the Advanced button. If you are using Windows XP, simple file sharing must be disabled for the Security tab to be available.
3. From the advanced security settings dialog box, select the Effective Permissions tab.
4. Use the Select button to specify the user or group for which you want to view the effective permissions.

The results displayed are based on the permissions granted to the user account as well as permissions granted to any groups the user is a member of. It also takes into account the permissions on the parent object. In any case, Effective Permissions provides you with a quick and easy way to help troubleshoot resource access. [Diana Huggins]