I have been experiencing a number of problems with my Dell XPS M140 laptop with Windows XP Media Center, service pack 2. Here is a list of the problems:
1. I can no longer drag and drop files in windows explorer. When I click on a file and drag it, I see the faded image underneath my mouse like you are sapposed to, but when I try to drop it in a different place, nothing happens, and the original file remains unchanged.
2. For some programs, and only for specific tasks, my mouse just doesn't seem to work. For example, I have a virtual sheet music writing software, and I am able to click buttons on the top of the screen of this software, but when I click on the virtual sheet music to create the notes, nothing happens, so now I need to use to keyboard shortcuts in order to do so. Another occurance is when I open Mozilla Firefox, sometimes, but quite rarely, I cannot click on anything. So what I do is hold Ctrl Alt Delete to bring up the task manager, then go back to Firefox, and my mouse works again. This also sometimes happens in the startup screen where I choose my desktop, where I can highlight my desktop name, but can't click on it. Please note that these occurances are random, with the acception of the song writing program.
3. My third problem has been going on for months now, and I have sought help in this forumn numerous times without getting a single reply. My windows firewall has been de-activated, and I can't turn it on. In other words, the options to choose On or Off for the windows firewall are faded out, and is stuck on the "Off" selection.
I have tried scanning with Norton in safe mode, as well as Ad-Aware, Ewido, and Spybot. Nothing has solved any of these problems. Please help asap as I fear my computer is going to have a breakdown any day now.
Thanks in advance,
Dan