[kcchief]

Hi Guys and Gals,

I'm new to this forum and I hope someone can help me. I will be as descriptive and informative as possible. I have Windows XP Sp 2. When I power on the PC everything seems fine. When I get to the desktop I double click Internet Explorer and it comes up fine. Now the problem happens. Anytime I try to do something, whether it be open email, go to another site, etc., I'm in limbo. The envelope that you click on to open email is greyed out, I click on the URL drop down to go to another site (anything ESPN.com, etc), nothing happens. I then do the old triple finger Ctrl ALt Del and Task Manager comes up. It lists Internet Explorer of course and it says running, just like normal. I was expecting to see not responding or some error type message but nothing. So I simply click on the X to close Task Manager and voila, explorer is responding and the email envelope is not greyed out anymore and I go on my merry way. Here is another little bit of info that may help though I doubt it. Let's say that I power up and leave the PC sitting there for x amount of minutes, here comes my screensaver just as it should come up after the specified minutes. Let's say I do as before, go into Explorer, visit some sites, then I go away for x amount of time. I'm sure you can guess, no screensaver comes up. I have it set for ten minutes. I can go into ESPN.com, leave the page up, go uot for hours and when I come back there is the ESPN.com page and no screensaver. I'm sure there are worse problems, but it's quite annoying and perplexing. I have a friend that works with PC's on the technical side and she believes that it could be a registry problem. When I upgraded from my old PC to this one I used a migration software. She says that sometimes these softwares cause some minor and unfortunately for some major problems. They can cause havoc with the new PC's registry. She recomended a good one in Registry Mechanic from PC Tools. I did some research and it got basically 5 stars from everyone who reviewed it. It also states that these kind of problems happen when the registry is messed up, caused frequently by software not loadinf correctly or software not be removed correctly. I trust my friend quite a bit and also find that this software seems to be highly thought of. I also like this site very much. I have had a couple of problems rectified by the nice people on this site. So I guess I'm looking for any information that you can give me to rectify the problem and also your opinion about the registry mechanic software. Like I said this is not a horrible problem but it is quite annoying and disconcerting because possibly there are other problems that are lurking behind the scenes. Another thing is obviously this not occur on the old PC. Maybe this also indicates that during the migration something (registry ) got screwed up. I asked her aboy another software called System Mechanic, but she feels the registry mechanic is the way to gos. It also helps with system performance.

Please Help !

Steve

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First--Yes it would seem that Registry mechanic has the best reviews. This is sort of like picking the least rotten banana from a black bunch. I have never read a post from a user who said that a "Registy Cleaner" solved anything. I have read many in which they created problems. The XP Registry is the very heart of the installation. Don't mess with it. Instead back it up with a utility that makes it easy to restore: ERUNT.
ERUNT info and tutorial:http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/erunt.txt
Download free ERUNT: http://www.larsheder...nline.de/erunt/

System mechanic is a program that I had on my old system. Yes, it did many things, but nothing that I can't do for myself. AND. It is very resource intensive, contains a Registry cleaner, and has been the source of many problems posted on this and other forums. As a former user, I cannot recommend it. For everything it does that is needed, there are free (and safer) tools available.

All that being said, it would appear that you have a glitch in IE. If you are using IE7, it is not difficult to un- and re- install it. There is an Add/Remove entry for IE7, and can be downloaded from: http://www.microsoft...ie/default.mspx

Your system will revert to IE6, and in my experience, your bookmarks will be saved and transferred. For insurance, I suggest exporting Favorites to an internal directory before making the change.

The screensaver behaviour makes me think about the user account.
I think I would also first examine the behaviour of IE when launched from a newly created user account with Admin rights. If everything works properly there, the problem was with the old account, and it is not difficult to switch. Microsoft explains: http://support.micro...om/?kbid=811151 If it turns out that the new account is what is needed, I will be happy to walk you through the process.

I hope that you have been scrupulous in your security and that malware is not a factor. These days that is actually a wild assumption. G2G has an excellent malware removal section of the forum, and if you even suspect it, or if your scanners have recently reported it, it would be most prudent, and strongly recommended that you go there before making any further changes to your system.

Step one: http://www.geekstogo...-Log-t2852.html
Step two: Post the HiJackThis log here only: http://www.geekstogo...o-Here-f37.html
Step three: Do everything your trained malware removal specialist recommends.

If any problems reman after being given a clean bill of health, post back here, and we will help get everything functioning properly.

[1101doc]

First--Yes it would seem that Registry mechanic has the best reviews. This is sort of like picking the least rotten banana from a black bunch. I have never read a post from a user who said that a "Registy Cleaner" solved anything. I have read many in which they created problems. The XP Registry is the very heart of the installation. Don't mess with it. Instead back it up with a utility that makes it easy to restore: ERUNT.
ERUNT info and tutorial:http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/erunt.txt
Download free ERUNT: http://www.larsheder...nline.de/erunt/

System mechanic is a program that I had on my old system. Yes, it did many things, but nothing that I can't do for myself. AND. It is very resource intensive, contains a Registry cleaner, and has been the source of many problems posted on this and other forums. As a former user, I cannot recommend it. For everything it does that is needed, there are free (and safer) tools available.

All that being said, it would appear that you have a glitch in IE. If you are using IE7, it is not difficult to un- and re- install it. There is an Add/Remove entry for IE7, and can be downloaded from: http://www.microsoft...ie/default.mspx

Your system will revert to IE6, and in my experience, your bookmarks will be saved and transferred. For insurance, I suggest exporting Favorites to an internal directory before making the change.

The screensaver behaviour makes me think about the user account.
I think I would also first examine the behaviour of IE when launched from a newly created user account with Admin rights. If everything works properly there, the problem was with the old account, and it is not difficult to switch. Microsoft explains: http://support.micro...om/?kbid=811151 If it turns out that the new account is what is needed, I will be happy to walk you through the process.

I hope that you have been scrupulous in your security and that malware is not a factor. These days that is actually a wild assumption. G2G has an excellent malware removal section of the forum, and if you even suspect it, or if your scanners have recently reported it, it would be most prudent, and strongly recommended that you go there before making any further changes to your system.

Step one: http://www.geekstogo...-Log-t2852.html
Step two: Post the HiJackThis log here only: http://www.geekstogo...o-Here-f37.html
Step three: Do everything your trained malware removal specialist recommends.

If any problems reman after being given a clean bill of health, post back here, and we will help get everything functioning properly.

[kcchief]

Thanks for the info. I'm certainly not tech savvy enough to do alot of the things you recommend. I don't think and hope the problem is malware. I have IE 6 right now. There is a link on the homepage of my ISP (Time Warner - Roadrunner) to upgrade to IE 7. Many times I thought of doing so but was concerned about the new release. A friend at work has upgraded and said it works fine. But if I do upgrade will all my current settings and favorites, email, etc. upgrade with it seamlessly. Once again I'm not quite technical enough to have to recreate all the favorites or risk losing my email and such. Also I'm a little perplexed about the user account and admin rights you mentioned. I'm sorry but I'm kind of weak about these things. You guys are always so helpful. I had a major problem with Itunes when I got the new PC and you guys solved that with a few posts back and forth.

Thanks again,
Steve

Edited by kcchief, 14 September 2007 - 08:49 PM.

[1101doc]

One thing at a time. Try checking the behaviour in a new account. Please be patient the first time you log in. It takes windows a couple of minutes to configure it.

What medium do you use for e-mail? On-line or on your system?

[kcchief]

Outlook Express. I went to control panel and created a new account with admin rights.

Edited by kcchief, 14 September 2007 - 08:57 PM.

[1101doc]

Outlook Express will not be affected by changes in IE. So loss of mail won't be an issue. You could use OExp with an alternative browser.