[Hate Computers]

Hi everyone,

Something strange seems to have happened to my computer, literally over night. It was fine yesterday, and running as normal, but today there seems to be a few strange things happening and I have no idea what could be causing it or why. I hope someone can help!

My OS is Vista Home Premium, I use Norton Internet Security 2008, and I connect to the internet via a wireless Linksys adapter.

Like I said, everything was running fine until yesterday, but now the following problems occur:-

- The network connection icon in the taskbar constantly has a red X across it, and when I mouse over it it says “Connection status unknown. Server execution failed”. But I am still able to access the internet and emails etc. so I must be connected!
(the same icon used to flash when I was connected and give details of the connection on mouse over)

- The Windows Security Alert icon has started to appear in the taskbar, saying that there are multiple security risks and that there is no firewall and no anti-virus protection on this computer – Norton is running as normal and is fully up-to-date.

- I can’t access network information or folders. When I select Network from the Start Menu, a folder appears but with no titles, menus or content. It’s just white and blank!

- I can’t play music tracks using Windows Media Player or iTunes. When I try to open them with WMP the following error message appears, “Windows Media Player cannot access the file. The file might be in use, you might not have access to the computer where the file is stored, or your proxy settings might not be correct.”

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing all these issues?

Hope someone can help!

Thanks in advance!

[hugme179]

i assume ur that ur computer is not connected to ur network.
its connected to ur neighbours.

do the following steps to findout on which network it is connected,,
go to network and sharing center -- right click on wireless network -- click on viw available network and select ur network..

[NIGHT5ER]

And for the Windows Security stuff if you know Norton is running then just for in your control panel then security center and tell it to ignore the stuff that is popping up.

[juddx039]

My computer is doing the exact same thing, and i cannot figure out what caused it. I looked to which network i am actually connected to and it is my network however the icon on the taskbar still tells me i am not connected. And my computer is a lot slower so im assuming it is some sort of spy/malware but no programs i have installed have found anything yet.

[juddx039]

I figured out what is causing these problems on my computer. I recently upgraded my AIM to 6.5 when i did that it caused media to no longer play and my network icon to not display my network...did a system restore to a point before i upgraded to 6.5 and now music plays correctly again. DO NOT DOWNLOAD AIM 6.5

These problems are linked to the AIM upgrade, stick with your old AIM version and you will have no problems.

[Hate Computers]

Hi folks,

I've tried the stuff suggested above (thanks for your help!) but nothing seems to have made any difference.

I can't access the Network and Sharing Centre to check that I am definately connected to the right network - the folder opens but its blank and the cursor icon constantly spins round but nothing happens! I can't even close the folder, it just crashes.

I checked my Norton Firewall settings and it says that I am connected to the Linksys network, which is the right one. I can access the internet as normal, but the network taskbar icon doesn't show the connection anymore, it just has the red X and the error I mentioned in my first post appears when I mouse over it.

Funnily enough, I did recently upgrade to the new AIM, but I have just uninstalled it and it doesn't seem to have made any difference. After reboot, the network icon and folder problems still exist and I am still unable to play music.

I have no idea what to try next! It's irritating!

[juddx039]

No uninstalling it is not enough. You need to access the system restore utility that is embedded in windows by typing system restore in the search field in the start menu. Then open that program and restore to a point before you installed AIM.

Just uninstalling AIM does nothing because the system files have already been damaged. Restore the system files to a previous state and do not redownload AIM 6.5 download the old classic 5.9 version or if when you downloaded 6.0 you saved it to your computer re-install that, just do not put 6.5 back

System Restore is the only way to get your system back to what it was before the install, so use that and your music should play

[Hate Computers]

Thanks for your help with this, juddx.

I have just tried running System Restore but when the computer restarted, I got the following error message:-

"System Restore did not complete successfully. Your computer files and settings were not changed.
Details: An unspecified error ocurred during system restore.
You might want to try system restore again and choose a different restore point."

I've tried it with three different restore points but got the error message every time. Am I doing something wrong?

[NIGHT5ER]

I am not sure if you can do this but start your computer in safe mode and try a restore point.

[juddx039]

another thing you can try is use your windows vista dvd...you can repair your system with the disk and use a restore point...this will allow you to restore a point with never accessing the files it is trying to replace in the OS. I would try doing that and see if you still get the error message. Hopefully you can find your Vista Disk because that is the only way were you can replace the files without accessing them first on boot up...because safe mode still runs most OS files.

[kalex80]

okay this might be my problem anyone know the settings before aim 6.5? My restore point does not go back that long since I reinstalled almost everything since aim, did not think it could be a problem from AIM!!!

[juddx039]

Did you reinstall windows or just all your programs? Because if you did not reinstall windows there should be an option to open a restore point older than 5 days old down on the bottom of the window and that should have every restore point for quite a while from your pc...otherwise i cant help you out sry