Need advice re USB ports not working?

[WilfSell]

Can anyone help?

Since some software/programmes and files were removed inelegantly from a PC (ie not everything was properly uninstalled, and not by me BTW) the two USB ports are not working.

Have tried everything we can think of (which is er not much) - PC recognises them and recognises when things are plugged into them (memory stick etc) but nothing else happens and can't open folders etc...

Any advice?

Thanks.

It's probably trying to open one of the missing programs by default. If there is any chance of reinstalling the ones removed (you could then uninstall them properly if you wanted to) that might help.

If the drivers themselves are messed up you can select USB items in Device Manager and 'update driver' or even uninstall driver (which causes windows to reinstall it on next bootup)

Thanks - I don't think there is a chance of reinstalling the programmes because the person who donated the PC is no longer in the country!

Will try updating/uninstalling/reinstalling drivers.

Is there anything else we can do to prevent it attempting to open missing programmes?

There are a couple of ways to stop programs autorunning. Though I can't be sure they will help with this particular problem. I'm not sure off hand where it keeps a record of which program to run with USB stuff.

The most straightforward way is to run msconfig.

Start menu - run - type msconfig.

Then on the startup tab it lists programs which can be unticked.

If you do then on the next bootup it asks a question. I forget the exact wording but something like 'do you want to run msconfig on every bootup' and you should say no and you won't see it again.

You can also check the start menu - programs - startup section. Anything put in there autoruns, but it isn't used so much anymore.