Trouble with Windows XP

[ibbydibby]

Am v heavy user of my PC as I work from home...have switched on this morning and found that I am able to access very few programs from start menu - ie previously I had icons for Word, Excel, etc etc - the icons are still there, but don't seem to be showing as Word, Excel, just that standard microsoft "don't know what this is" type icon. I can access Word and Excel by clicking on the appropriate file names, but this is a bit clumsy and not right. Anyone any ideas as to how I can retrieve my apparently lost bits?

Also notice that when I click on All Programs only about 8 are listed, whereas previously in region of 50 or 60 were listed.

Tried to do a system restore but couldn't. In fact this function has never worked on my PC.

On the plus side can still connect to BT broadband, internet, and remotely access work computer.

Thanks for any help/ideas

Since you had icons for Word, Excel, etc, and the applications are still present, then it looks as if your Desktop / Start Menu has been corrupted.

As the icons for Word etc are present, can you check the properties (use mouse and with right-button click on the icon, should show a menu and last item should be properties).

The properties might show entries like "Target" (name of application) and "Start in" ... I don't have Excel or Word on this PC, but Google Chrome browser shows

"C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe"
for the Target of the shortcut, and
"C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application" for the start folder.

If you've had some software update there's a chance some folder names for new versions have changed. If you can locate the binary files (with slightly different names, perhaps) then you could alter the shortcuts to go to the correct folder and program.

One other thought is that Tuesdays are normally used for Microsoft Updates.

I have to admit I disable this from running automatically (so just about every PC I have will not be 'up-to-date') but the updates themselves can cause problems.

Cannot answer for the 50-60 start menu items dropping to under 10 - it sounds like files have been deleted or software uninstalled or possibly a virus even... I'd put it down to some Microsoft glitch, but that's no real help for you right now.

System Restore will only have worked if it is enabled for your machine (enabling it would then have allowed 'backups' aka 'restore points' to have been created). If it was not enabled, no backups would have been taken, so restore would have no settings to restore 'from'.

If you have automatic updates enabled, I would suggest you consider allowing system restore too. It can 'runaway with disk space' if you let it because it will be used frequently for system updates, of course, however, you can limit how much disk space is used.

You could, in future, put your own data and copies of any software you have installed onto an external drive - it is common to download software these days so not all s/w has an installation CD or DVD...

At least that would allow you to install the software again on another PC and have your working data available too). You need to keep a record of any licence keys and other registration / purchase details with the applications, of course.

Thank you. Have right clicked on the icon gicen for Word, and found that the Start in and Target boxes are empty. Presume this is a Bad Sign...?

Coincidentally have also noticed a spanner icon in bottomw right hand corner of my screen, when I hover the mouse over, it says "Registry Mechanic" - I am wondering if this is part of the problem?

Thanks for your comments about System REstore, did not realise it had to be enabled, as often used to do this on previous PC. If I had enable it on this PC, would this have helped me now?

Thank you again!

Well, had restore been possible, it might have helped you out...

Not sure whether Registry Mechanic is a good or bad thing.

1 Do you remember installing it ?
2 Did you visit any unusual sites ?
3 Does it ask you for money ?

If other people use your PC from time to time, it might have been some dodgy site someone else went to. I regularly had to sweep my sister's PC free of rubbish after her son had been home from uni for Christmas, and clients have had problems caused when teens go on games 'cheat' sites.

Hi

No, didn't install it.

I didn't visit any unusual sites, but my 2 boys (13 and 9) may have done....

Eek. Just remembered that my uncle (85) gave me a website for a v interesting on-line clock yesterday and that may well be the unusual site to blame....

Not sure if asks for money, daren't click anything, seems to be under the umbrella of "PC Tools"...

thank you for reading!

not sure what anti-virus you might be using but I generally recommend AVG Free but you could also test your machine with Trend Micro's Housecall

I will dig out a link for LavaSoft's AdAware in the next 20-30 hours.

Thnk you. Have been trawling microsoft support forums also, and sounds like this is a virus....

AdAware can be got from here:
www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

It's really rather good.

One thing I would like to work out is if the applications are still on your machine and it's just the links from your Start Menu and Desktop that have been trashed.

So bring up Windows Explorer (Windows Key and E or Start/Run and enter Explorer).

I find Word in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12, it might be something slightly different for you, and it's called Winword.exe (it might be just Winword on your machine).

If you find it can you double click on it to run it?

BP - from id's opening post: "I can access Word and Excel by clicking on the appropriate file names"

made me assume the software is present, with links from File Types still valid in the Registry... Just that the shortcuts have been corrupted, and many start menu entries have been lost. Unclear why. Thanks for the Lavasoft link, one thing less to remember today.

Thanks for your suggestions NetworkGuy and BadgersPaws...sorry for completely vanishing, my mum has been unexpectedly in hospital for a week (out now though) and visiting involved 50+ miles round trip several evenings, so little time for mning....

So, I used some software (malaware..? I think) that identified 150 or so dodgy files...so have quarantined them. Not sure now how I can replace the short cuts that have disappeared, is this possible? I am getting by at the moment with opening a document via windows explorer, this then gets me into Word/Excel which I frequently use. But a bit of a pain..

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can offer, and again, apologies for long period of silence on my part.

I don't know if there'a an automatic way of doing it but you can do it manually.

You need to find the application that you want using Windows Explorer, for example Word will be WinWord.exe and will be in a folder like C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12.

Right click on the program you want and select "Create Shortcut".

That will make a new file called something like "Shortcut to WINWORD.EXE".

Open up another Windows Explorer and find the link that you want to replace or get rid of.

For example you will find the links to office in a folder such as "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Microsoft Office"

There's a few short cuts to help you find that folder. If you right click on the "Start" button and select "Explore" that will take you to your start menu options. Selecting "Explore All Users" will open up the start meny options that every user will see.

When you find the folder with your Start Menu links delete the old version of the link. Then select the new link that we made earlier in the other Explorer Window and drag it into the window that's showing your start menu.

You can also then right click on "Shortcut to WINWORD.EXE" and rename it to be something a bit more useful, just Word perhaps.

All of this is a bit of a handful but it will work. I'm hoping that someone might know something a bit neater though...

One way to 'rebuild' the shortcuts would be to reinstall the software.

However, that could be quite drastic as a user may have created quite a lot of templates and could have done a lot of tailoring of their preferences within certain applications, and there's a real risk of losing those settings.

Some applications will 'give up' during the install because there is a version of the software already present, some may say 'do you want to uninstall' (that again might not work well if some files are moved/missing) and others might install without warning that it is wiping out anything previously saved.

Manually creating the shortcuts gets the job done, and should get easier as the task is repeated.

If this machine is the workhorse you have been using for years, had you thought of how to replace it when it (sorry to say it) dies?

There's only so much life in a hard drive and other components might go before that (eg a fan failure might mean the CPU overheats).

It's perhaps only a short-term 'fix' to get the shortcuts working, and you need (in my view) to consider getting some other machine running XP so you have a standby indoors.

On Ebay I've seen XP machines from 50 to 150 pounds (obviously you can find some costing much more, I was looking for some with 1 to 2 GB of RAM and 80 GB hard drive or better).

I hope you have some memory sticks or external drive so you can easily copy all your documents away "just in case".

If the bulk of your work is in small files, you may find some service like DriveHQ.com worth trying - they give 1 GB of storage for free (so you could back up hundreds of documents, they compress the documents as well as saving them on their storage, all the data gets transmitted via the internet, so be warned if you have a low data transfer limit from your ISP). There are others offering more storage, some for free, most wanting cash, but perhaps an investment for peace of mind and ready for you to 'retrieve' onto another PC just as soon as your old one is unusable.

JUST TO REMIND YOU - BE VERY CAREFUL IF YOU DECIDE TO REINSTALL ANY APPLICATIONS THAT YOU HAVE COPIES OF YOUR PREFERENCES AND ANY TEMPLATES OR SAMPLE FILES.

Sorry to shout, but reinstalling applications is quite easy to do, to get the shortcuts back, while having potentially dire consequences too!!

Sorry, don't know where I dreamed up 8 years, or windows XP from. Just running around in my head, perhaps...

PPS Glad your Mum out of hospital now.