Major Shortcut issues.

[Aolish]

My cousin is having a major problem with his comp. He has XP PRO installed but it seems EVERY SINGLE shortcut does not work. Not even IE. Also he can't system restore because for some odd reason every single one of his restore points are gone. When he manually points to where the programs at to fix the shortcut, the problems doesn't end there. For example he can't even go on MSN Messenger since it doesn't connect. Does anyone know how to solve this problem? He said the last thing he did was he went on partypoker.net... I've always heard this place to be trouble but im not sure. Anyone can fill me in? Any help is appreciated, thx in advance!

EDIT: He now says his Control Panel isn't even working either, all the icons in the control panel has a missing short cut asking him to point where the programs are at. Is installation of xp broke?

EDIT 2: wow he can't even install in programs, for some reason if he wants to install in something the 'Open With' window comes out. I dont know what to do. 🙁

 

[bruceb]

First thing I would do is boot into SAFE Mode ... then run some anitivirus & antitrojan progams
along with spyware programs .... see what they find .. if anything

Next, I would create another User Account ... create shortcuts in that & see if they work
If they do, just move all his old My Docs under safe mode to the new account and delete
the old account

If all that won't help, do a Repair Install of XP ... worst case is a full reinstall of XP

 

[Aolish]

he's tried safe mode to try and reinstall msn messenger. he just gets an error saying 'input not supported' in safe mode lol (whatever that means!) and in normal boot when he tries to install it, the 'open with' msg popups lol. I'll try and tell him your suggestions like run AV and AT programs in safe mode. The thing is he has norton installed and his definations are out of date and he's unable to update since its so old.... I know what your gonna say and i agree, norton = crapware. I will recommmend him AVG. But wouldn't that not work either? If msn messenger wouldn't install i dont think any other program will also. I think his installer is broke.

 

[bruceb]

He still needs to try what I said above about creating another User Account
It seems like his account is messed up
If that doesn't help, he will need to do a Repair Install or a full Reinstall of XP

 

[nweaver]

nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.


partypoker.net, or midgetgotsepr0n.com?

 

[Aolish]

nweaver: partypoker.net

bruceb: he can't go into User Accounts, it says: "C:/ WINDOWS/ system32/rundll32.exe Application not found" lol

 

[cleverhandle]

Nuke it already - you're only prolonging it's agony.

 

[Aolish]

he can't, he's got 4 gigs of mp3s and other files he doesn't wanna lose. He never backed any of it up.

 

[Forsythe]

Originally posted by: SSJGouKi
he can't, he's got 4 gigs of mp3s and other files he doesn't wanna lose. He never backed any of it up.

Screw that. Sounds like he tried to change the drive letter on which windows was.

Install linux on a separate partition/new hard drive, install ntfs support, get the mp3's, and then "format C:"


I just formatted 16gigs' of mp3, on purpose, decided to clean out my music library. This was alot easier.

 

[Aolish]

Forsythe: I'm almost positive he didn't do that, why? He wouldn't know how to do that. He's just a casual user, not even a gamer. He uses his comp for only chatting, browsing, email and most importantly he listens to mp3s all the time. Thats it.

Anyway it looks like he has to bite the bullet and reinstall unless someone else here has an idea to save his data. I told him to try and get an external hd so he can backup his stuff before he reinstalls. Of course I linked him to the ever popular Newegg site. 😛 He's going to get a 250 GB XHD, after he gets it he'll just do a reinstall. I hope the driver installation for the xhd works out fine. Since he can't install in any sort of programs I'm wondering how its gonnna handle driver installation. I guess we'll see. BTW, if anyone can answer this. He has a pretty old comp. I understand that there is a 137 GB limit for old computers. I know for certain he is running a P4. I know the 48bit LBA rule applies to internal hds but does it also apply to external hds? thx for any info.

 

[kamper]

Definitely nuke. You can get the data off using another operating system (doesn't sound likely that an external drive will work here). A linux-live cd with ntfs-read support would be ideal, but you'd probably have to have a fat32 partition somewhere to put the data on. A windows install on another harddrive should work, but you'll need another internal drive to install to.