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the_seeker
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April 2nd, 2006 23:00
Recent Annoying Problems with Win ME
I'm hoping someone might be able to help me solve a recent set of annoying problems I'm having with my old Dell Dimsenion XPS T-500 running Win ME.
I keep this machine in service because it's always performed great and because it has some programs that I've come to depend on which can't be run on a new Win XP machine.
Just recently, and without any explanation that I can think of (no new programs installed and no virus,spyware, trojans, etc that any scans can find) several problames have arisen.....
These all seem to be related since they all started happening at the same time:
1) Even though "drag-n-drop" is enabled for my Start Menu, I can no longer drag-n-drop or move the Start Menu program order. I DO get the little shaded box when I try to drag one to another location but the "bar" that used to appear is gone and the program's shortcut doesn't move.
2) Every time the machine is rebooted, my desktop icons re-arrange themselves to the left-hand side of the screen in alphabetical order. This happens DESPITE the fact that NONE of the options are checked under the Right-Click menu "Arrange Icons".
3) In Outlook Express, I've noticed that the list of Blocked Sender addresses has disappered (it used to be quite long). Yet, all of my "Message Rules" have remained. If I ADD a new adress now to the Blocked Senders List, they disappear again when I close and re-open Outlook Express.
Now I should say that when I realized these things were happening, I first checked the usual things like that drag-n-drop was enabled for the Start Menu, the Arrange Icons items were not accidently checked-off, etc.
When I got stumped, I tried System Restore only to find that none of my Restore Points in bold actually would successfully restore the computer. On each bold date....it would seem to run only to reboot and tell me that it was not successful. That has also never happened to me before.
I've already run scans by Computer Associates' Pest Patrol, AGV Anti-Virus, Ad Aware, SpyBot, and I keep my computer updated in every respect.
I get the "feeling" that it's not remembering it's own configuration of personal perferences between reboots.
Has anyone got any clues? Could a file have gotten corrupted that might affect these items?
Outside of that, the machine still functions well. I should say that these are the only symptoms that I actually have IDed although there might be others that I haven't stumbled across.
TIA for any comments or thoughts.
the_seeker
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Posted April 4th, 2006 13:00
Thanks for the reply but I have already tried System Restore and I really do not want to do a full clean install because I doubt I have the discs for all the programs that are installed and are no longer available anymore.
Then you are more than likely going to be completely out of luck. Clean installations of Windows are a fact of life on anything prior to Windows XP, and if you use XP more than 5 minutes a day, you'll probably wind up reinstalling that at some point, too.
@the_seeker wrote:
I really do not want to do a full clean install because I doubt I have the discs for all the programs that are installed and are no longer available anymore.
the_seeker
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Posted April 5th, 2006 03:00
With all due respect, I've never had to do a reinstall of any Windows machine before. I have always been able to eventually track down and isolate the problem and correct it.
Just lucky I guess?
I'm beginning to think that it's got something to do with the file "user.exe" and/or a dll(s) that works in conjunction to it.
I'll keep plugging away and brainstorming. You see, there are two programs created by companies that no longer exist which were so good, and I use so often, that I've never found a modern equivalent to. I have tried to install them on a Win XP machine and they won't run even in Win '95 compatibility mode.
Thanks for the replies!
Rather incredibly so, but it's going to depend to a certain extent on how the system is used, what's installed, and how it's maintained. Periodic clean installations were a fact of life for Win9x systems in professional settings, though. XP and Win2k are a lot more forgiving, but there certainly isn't any guarantee that it won't be necessary to reinstall either of those at some point.
@the_seeker wrote:
With all due respect, I've never had to do a reinstall of any Windows machine before.
Just lucky I guess?
Is there a detect and repair function in Outlook Express, if so, try using it. (I use MS Outlook .)
You may also want to try and re-install Outlook Exp. Before doing so try http://support.microsoft.com/oex and scrounge around for ways to preserve your current mail box.
Just found a reinstall/repair help at microsoft for XP maybe that will offer som insight. http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;318378&spid=2578&sid=49
Do know Outlook rescans desktop shortcuts and recreates so I am thinking perhpas your problems started it OE.
Message Edited by Sput on 04-30-200602:37 PM
Flooby
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Posted April 4th, 2006 12:00