Re: XP working not quite right.
From: Ron Martell (ron_at_onlinehelp.bc.ca)
Date: 08/18/04
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Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2004 19:00:26 GMT
"Edd Alexander" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>I have XP Professional installed on my laptop. Windows
>began behaving oddly last night and I'd like advice on
>how to proceed to fix it. Most of XP seems to be
>functioning properly, but certain things are not.
>
>
>I had shut XP down properly the night before. Then when
>I booted it yesterday, I immediately got an error
>message, which said an error had been detected, but that
>a backup had been successfully restored. The
>word "registry" was somewhere in that message.
>
>After clicking OK, a dialog box appeared saying that
>VERITAS was attempting to install something. I hadn't
>tried to install anything. Upon cancelling this, a box
>appeared saying it wasn't able to install SGuard.msi.
>Then Norton Anti-Virus gave me a warning message that it
>wasn't able to load because a network resource was
>unavailable.
>
>At the time, I was able to connect to the Internet via
>the AT&T wireless card in the laptop. I have been able
>to surf the net without problem.
>
>Most programs boot and operate normally, but some do not
>boot, no matter whether I click an shortcut or use the
>START menu. Word, Excel, IExplorer, Outlook, and others
>work properly. WordPerfect, Quattro Pro only cause the
>mouse pointer to change to an hourglass briefly then
>return to the usual arrow. Nothing more happens.
>
>XP's Search function doesn't work either. The
>START|hELP&SUPPORT function doesn't fully work. I can
>click to go to that screen, but searching doesn't not
>produce any results. I went to Microsoft's support page
>and attempted to ask for help there. Unfortunately, the
>web page requires the Product ID number. I cannot obtain
>my ID# because that requires searching in Help&Support.
>
>I'm concerned that the registry was corrupted somehow. I
>am unfamiliar with how to work with the registry. At
>this point, I don't feel I can trust the computer to
>function properly.
>
>
>How do I proceed to diagnose and fix these things? Is
>there a diagnostic or repair routine I can run? Should
>I just re-install XP from the CD? If my registry is
>corrupted, can I restore it, despite the message that it
>has already done that? Must I re-install the programs
>which don't boot now?
>
>I would appreciate being pointed in some direction.
>
>
Hi Edd.
When dealing with these types of problems it is very helpful if you
can provide the complete *verbatim* text of the error messages. There
are hundreds of thousands (at least) of different possible error
messages that can be produced and quite often it is the presence or
the absence of a single word in the message text that is the essential
clue to identifying the underlying cause of the error. Comments such
as 'The word "registry" was somewhere in that message.' are really not
that useful in helping to diagnose these types of problems.
>From what you have said I would suspect some sort of virus or spyware
as being the culprit.
Make certain that your antivirus software is completely up to date,
with the virus definitions not more than a week old, and do a complete
virus scan of the hard drive. Then get a "second opinion" by doing a
free online virus scan at http://housecall.trendmicro.com And if
your Norton Antivirus will not load properly on a normal startup try
booting the computer into Safe Mode and then launching the virus scan
manually. Note that in Safe Mode you will not be able to access the
Internet for virus definition updates etc. You might also want to
try downloading Stinger (free) from http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger and
running it to check for the most common of the current crop of
viruses. Stinger can be downloaded on any working computer and the
file then copied to a 3.5 inch diskette. Then you can boot the
problem computer into Safe Mode and run Stinger from the diskette.
Also check for spyware by going to http://aumha.org/a/noads.htm and
doing the free online quick check. Follow that up with the Quick Fix
procedure at http://www.aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
Good luck
Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
-- Microsoft MVP On-Line Help Computer Service http://onlinehelp.bc.ca "The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."
- Next message: Mike: "Problems with Service Pack2 and taskbar?"
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