hey everybody i rarely post about computer issues due to the fact i can figure it out myself or find the information needed before i waste peoples valuable time but this issue has got me stumped... two different times today when i clicked on "my computer" or "my documents" it went directly to the xp search function... i could not get rid of this issue unless i did a full system restore... nothing i tried worked... i wasent downloading anything or surfing the net... this has happened one other time in the last 2 weeks on my laptop... today it was on the desktop... both computers are running a diff flavor of xp... one uses media center and the other xp pro... i performed full virus scan with nod32 and nothing came up... anybody got the slightest idea what this might be?? thanks in advance for any replies
First Please try the following. 1. Click [Start] [Run] and type "REGSVR32 /i SHELL32" then press the Enter key If the above does not help, please try whats below. 1. Start Registry Editor. 2. Locate the Default value under the following registry subkey: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell 3. On the Edit menu, click Modify. 4. In the Value data box, type none. 5. Click OK. 6. Exit Registry Editor.
ahhhh so you are aware of this problem? i did what you stated and everything worked fine so thank you very much... what exactly causes this problem?? in all my years with computers it has never happened
I would suggest you run a independent virus scan of all the PC's you have that had this problem. Not saying there is a virus involved with your particular instance of this error. But the last time I came across it there was a virus involved. The few other times I have seen it, it was either User error, meaning they caused it by mistake, or some program they installed screwed with that feature. I'm not going to say I know exactly what directly causes it when a Virus is not involved, but I do know that if it is caused by virus and the virus is not removed, the problem will come back. Glad I could help, your welcome.
i did in fact run a few virus scanners and nothing showed up... this computer is rather well kept in terms of keeping things clean system wise with various utilities... but i overlooked the fact that my modem was set up for an open connection for wireless... which i promtly changed... again thanks for the prompt reply to this baffling little issue!! its much appreciated cheers from the great white north!
so today this samew problem occured and now im wondering this... could this problem happen when im making/testing custom xp themes i am making??
highspeedmac thank you very much for the great info... gave me much better insight into this problem... tonite after i did what you wrote earlier in this thread another problem possibly associated came up... when inserting a usb stick and the options come up on the screen i got an error message... this only happened after i did what you mentioned... i do think however the fact i do make custom themes and such could possible mess things up but at the same time it never happened before this and it also happened on a seperate computer too... both computers are stocked with apps to keep everything going nice ya know... im not a clumbsy computer user by any stretch and for this to happen again... if anything makes me feel stupid a bit
LOL, don't feel stupid. I hose my computer almost on a daily basis. Even more so when i'm testing things. Sometimes when I'm troubleshooting a problem for someone else I will intentionally create the same problem on my PC's, just so I know I have the right method to fix theirs. lol I keep up to the hour backup images of my pc's, plus I try to do most of my testing in VM's. So, hosing the software is not really a worry for me. Now the hardware, well you don't want to hose that to often. lol If you find that you are having to run that command more and more often, or that after you have run it, you are getting other strange errors, I suggest you do either a repair install or refresh your PC from a backup. I also think you may want to take an audit of the software you have on each pc, especially the apps that are suppose to be keeping things running smoothly. Assuming you more than likely have install the same maintenance apps on each pc. It may be one of them that is causing the problem as well. Might not be your theme work that is causing the problem.
i wouldve wrote back sooner but i did in fact hose this computer 2 times over the weekend hahaha i did however audit what cleaning software i put on this computer and downgraded to only a few different cleaners... the problem has not occured since this final fresh install which was approx 24 hours ago... i have read that cleaning apps can cause some issues from time to time depending on how you use it... for example i liked to use jvpowertools on aggresive mode constantly and i never got any noticable problems in doing so buttttt since i stopped using it everything has been fantastic... what are using to make pc backups by the way?? ive got numerous diff apps for it but have never for the life of me tried any out... i did try out "rollbackrx" out last year and that seemed not so bad nothing like hosing your computer 2 or 3 times a week huh hahahaha
Well if your systems stay error free, then you will know it was jvpowertools. Maybe not the software directly, but you may be using it to much. "rollbackrx" Lot of people use it. I don't like it. I found that is was interfering with Defrags. I keep it simple. Acronis - When I start testing things, I fire it up, and have it take a Image of my Systems partitions. I have 3 of them at 155GB each, Xp, Vista & 7. Each contain about 25GB of data and it will compress the images down to about 6 or 7 GB in about 6 mins. I have it store them on my external Sata drive. It gives me the ability to restore any system drive in any combination in about 6 or 7 mins. If I'm testing something heavy I will have it manually run about every hour. In the morning I have it take 1 shot of the whole system. So far in about 2 years it has never failed me. I have quite a lot of data, about 70TB worth, That is a combination of work PC's and customer PC's, all of it stored in acronis backup images. LOL I sound like an advert for them. But it does work very well for me..
a few days in and everything is nice and smooth with no jvpowertools... i think you might be correct in saying using it too much... i find it very easy to overuse such tools... i also noticed the same problem with rollbackrx ands is why i got rid of it as well plus a few other odd issues... another acronis fan i see... well i gotta go find me a tutorial on how to use it correctly... i like the fact that you are making backup images that compress that much... that alone has me sold... im running xp on a full 232gb partition... i never bothered with vista for numerous reasons... mainly cuz a lot of my audio production stuff was beyond buggy... win 7 on the other hand is a nice improvement so far but again im in no hurry to toss it on the desktop... runs fine on the old lappy though i like your approach to backup and its basically exactly what i wanna do on this... thanks for the heads up on acronis and how well it works for ya i appreciate the info and insight into such a highly regarded product
@ JohnnyRebel, running xp or any os 232gb partition a total waste of space and asking for bother i would make the OS partition about 40gb maxx then you can store you documents downloads files acronis backup image e.c.t. on other partition.
thanks for the great idea urie... what partioning software would you recommend? oh highspeedmac acronis is fantastic... really love that piece of software... big thanks for turning me on to it cheers fellas!
since we are on the subject what do you guys think are the top 5 partitioning programs out there right now? i need to test out a few on my xp and win 7 installs i do like gparted but i had a few issues trying to resize... seems as though i need a more comprehensive piece of software i do remember liking paragon partition software
For you to get a feel for the one you would like to Use, I highly suggest you grab yourself - Hirens Boot CD 10 if you have not done so. It's has about 13 or 14 different Partitioning tools available for use from the CD. Most of the ones Urie and I have mentioned here, plus quite a few we did not. All of which are considered to be the best tools you can use. I know that might not be the exact answer you may want, But I try to never state or go with what is considered to be the top 5 or 10 or the best of. Example: I might say Acronis has the best Backup software you can get. But 5 other people may say Ghost is the best. For me, I always look at what I like to use and what has never failed me personally.
i do have a older copy of hirens actually... 9.6 i believe it is... very useful disk and forgot i had it till ya mentioned it so thanks! i tested out all the above mentioned partitioning tools and really they all worked fantastic the free partitionwizard was a big surprise but i should never underestimate the power of free utilities i do have one question about acronis true image home though... would you recommend setting up and using the safe zone and acronis startup manager? im assuming yes but as someone who has used it extensively id appreciate the opinion on such matters anybody test out genie backup manger? it gets rated pretty highly the old versions of ghost actually seem pretty worth while but i dont hear anything too good about the newer versions