wilkes

Very glad to hear it!

Thanks, everyone for the info. Reinstalled Windows XP & working great.

Great advice. What Ant Flo said.

Id recommend downloading the network/admin install of SP3 for XP prior to formatting, as well as a free antivirus program. Burn it to a CD or put it on a USB drive or something. DISCONNECT your network cable (or wireless or whatever, just dont be on the net!), format and reinstall XP, then SP3, then your antivirus, THEN hop back on the network and continue with the updates.


It doesnt take long for an unprotected system to be compromised - without SP3, it can be within half an hour of reconnecting to the public internet.

The problem with a years-old version of XP is that it's WAY out of date....years worth of security patches and updates will need to be downloaded and installed. This could take an entire day. Or longer. In the meantime, your computer is vulnerable, and may well become infected with a virus or malware.

That's why I suggested that you simply buy a copy of Win 7. OR, you could try a free operating system like Ubuntu or Mint Linux (which is a tweaked version of Ubuntu with all the codecs you need for multimedia pre-installed).

I run Mint Linux on my netbook, and love it.

Thanks, RadioGiant

My Computer is a Sony. Reinstalled Windows XP a couple years ago computer did great for a while. A friend said they can get full of junk and needs to be cleaned out every not and then. Going to try XP again if that doesn't work guess it's either a New Computer or New Windows.

Pleasures, if you haven't reinstalled Windows in 6 years, therein lies your problem. Windows becomes bogged-down over time. When you uninstall a program, it doesn't really completely go away. There are little files left behind, sometimes entire folders, but more importantly, registry entries usually remain. Like little rat-droppings (forgive the analogy), Windows becomes more and more clogged. Eventually something "breaks".

It sounds to me like you're WAY past needing to do a reinstall. Back EVERYTHING up first! If you have a six-year-old version of XP, updating it to current specs will take a LONG, LONG time. It might be a good time to install Windows 7! It runs just fine on a netbook, so it should run fine on your system. It's more robust and secure than XP.


Of course, a full version of Windows 7 will cost about 200 bucks. For 300, you could buy an inexpensive desktop with Win 7 installed. Even though it would be from the bottom of a manufacturer's range, it should still run circles around even a state-of-the-art system from six years ago!

Your money/Your choice!

I'm using Windows XP with Symantec Corporate AntiVirus. I tried the Safe Mode, the add and remove programs came up. Went back to normal Start Up, they wouldn't come up. Oh well guess i'll be reinstalling Windows XP. Guess i picked up a virus. Maybe i need a New Computer, this 1 is about 6 years old.

Thanks, for the help.

Are you using Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7?

I've never seen this, but there's the possibility that you have a virus that's trying to prevent you from deleting it. In that case, be sure to scan your computer for viruses using something like Avast Free, available here:


http://www.download.com


If that doesn't help, then try rebooting into Safe Mode, and uninstalling from there. To reboot into Safe Mode, go to Start > Run, and type "msconfig" (without the quotes). Go to the BOOT.INI tab, and put a check next to /SAFEBOOT, then click on Apply and OK. It will ask if you want to restart; click on Yes, and when it reboots it will be in Safe Mode.


Once you're finished, go back to the same place and uncheck /SAFEBOOT to reboot back into normal mode.

HELP...Add or remove programs will not load. I pull up the box but it just sits there nothing will load. What's up with that?