[vicks]

You have me stumped. You might try going to www.ultimatebootcd.com and burn that to cd and the try booting with it. and see if that will make the necessary correction.
Will do more research and get back later today. Hopefully, someone else with more knowledge will post too.
Vicks

[Newhavenmama]

Vicks...are you there? It worked! I'm in! I know that there is still stuff to do but I am just so relieved to be able to get into my account! When I got home, the screen was still at the same place as when I left this morning....so I took out the installation disk....rebooted and went into the change the boot up sequence back to the hard drive....and, although it took awhile, windows loaded and all my data was there just as I left it! Now...right or wrong, the first (and only) thing I've done is copy all my photos/data to the external hard drive.

My question now is....what has to be done to get things 'right'? My son wonders if he should go into his account and delete the application that seemed to have started all this...? I am a little confused as to 'where' things are right now...if all the data is there...what is 'not'? Or has Windows just repaired something? I've read things about Service Packs, etc...but it all gets so confusing....do you know what i need to do now?

Thanks so much - I am so relieved to have my stuff in a safe place now!

I hope to hear from you soon!

[vicks]

WOOHOO!!!! Doesn't if feel great to 'beat the machine'!!!! Because you used the repair mode, everything should be okay.
It is good that you have copied your important stuff off of the hard drive. I think it is JohnWill here on the forums, that says, something to the effect, anything worth having you should have 2 copies of.
I think that if you have an active firewall (only 1 though) I happen to use Zone Alarm, and 1 updated active anti virus (I would run it right away),( I use AVG but there are several other free ones) and 2 or more anti-spyware programs you should be pretty well protected. That is, as long as everyone who uses the computer is careful where they go and what they do on it. All the security programs I use are free, available at www.majorgeeks.com or www.download.com. Both of the sites check to make sure programs are safe to use (no bugs etc). There is a pretty complete list of programs on a sticky at the begining of the general security forum here on TSG.
I do suggest that you be sure you have Windows updated. Open IE, click on tools select windows update. Service pack 3 has updated everything from SP 1 & 2 but there are new security things at least once a month. I have my update set to notify me when updates are availabler rather than auto update.
I am happy for you.
I will check back later this evening to see if you have posted anything else.
If/when you feel your challenges are solved, feel free to mark this as solved by clicking on the solved button at the top of your original post.
I see you are in Canada, My husband was born/raised in Oshawa, Ont.
Happy Computing.
Vicks

[vicks]

Just thought, just in case all this is caused by a bad section on the HD, open My Computer, Right Click on C drive> select properties> tools tab> error checking. This will bring up a box with 2 items in it, check them both. then check okay.
It will ask if you want it to run on next start up. Select yes, restart. It will take some time to do but it will make sure the disk is good...
Vicks

[Newhavenmama]

Sigh...maybe I cracked open the bubbly too soon...! I can't get anywhere in IE...all I get is the error:

The requested lookup key was not found in any active activation context

I can't even do the Windows Update thing! I also was going to do a defrag but get the error:

MMC cannot open the file C:\WINDOWS\system32\dfrg.msc

Am I to expect a lot of these errors as I go along, do you think?

Nice to hear you have some ties to Canada! We are (very) East Coast - Prince Edward Island!

I appreciate all the help you're giving me....I hope these are just little things to be resolved...

Thanks again!

[vicks]

Which version of IE do you have? IE 7 or IE8?
vicks

[vicks]

Here are a couple of MS possibilities to the error you are getting.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326574
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307853/ This one may help most.
I don't know if this will work, but you could try right clicking on MY computer, click on manage, and try to start the defrag there.
Vicks

[Newhavenmama]

Yet another strange thing....I did what you suggested and went into C drive..tools....Error checking...checked off the 2 boxes...it gave the message that asked if I wanted to schedule the disk check to occur the next time I restarted...I said Yes...then I restarted but as far as I can tell....it didn't check for any errors...?

[vicks]

It should have shown a different type of page, indicating that is was checking 1 of 5 things or something like that. It can take quite a while..
vicks

[Newhavenmama]

Vicks, I did another restart and this time the check did start working...you're right...it takes awhile.....its been running now for about 1.5hrs but the last test is at 37% so its getting there!

When I went into IE, I checked to see what version it was...and it said V6?? I was sure we were using V8 before the repair...is this what happens...it goes back to what version was on it at the start?

I will check out those sites while I am waiting for the error check to finish....because as long as I am getting that error message on IE, I won't be able to update IE or anything else, right?

I will get back to you! Thanks!!

[vicks]

Your outlook express is probably V6. Your IE should be either IE 7 or IE8,
Keep hanging in there, we will get thru it and get an education at the same time. (keep your fingers crossed!)
I'll check back after while.
vicks

[Newhavenmama]

Good morning, Vicks....I contemplated calling in sick from work so I could just sit home and figure out all this computer stuff once and for all!!! But my conscience wouldn't allow it!

I don't have much to add other then the fact that I read through Microsoft stuff that indicated if I couldn't download a new version of IE, then to use a different browser and try from there (does that mean within my own computer or download if from another computer?). The only other browser I had was Safari because for some (other) strange reason, my Firefox went on the blink a few weeks ago and we can't seem to reload it.

Anyway - this is where I play the 'dumb' card....to find out what version of IE I have, do I just go to Help and click on About IE? If so, I've done that 5 times and it says Version 6....which doesn't make sense unless I'm looking in the wrong spot all together..?

I did find out that I have Service Pack 2 for XP though so I know that should mean something...?

I also tried the defrag from My Computer but it gave me the same message.

So that's my update. Thanks for sticking with me on this one! And you're right - I really am learning a lot! Thanks to you, of course!!

If you have any tips for me to try when I get home, I will do so and get back to you!

Have a great day!

[vicks]

If you can get into the control panel >add/remove programs, the version should be listed as windows internet *(number).
It is possible for you to d/l SP3 (I think IE8 also) and put them onto a flash drive or cd from the computer you can use then install them on the other one.
Did you check there to remove the firefox before you tried to reload it?
I understand you wanting to get this done. When I get stymied with our computer or working on a friends computer, I hate to quit until I beat it.
I will do some more checking to see what we can do.
Vicks

[vicks]

I was reading our previous conversations and see where you mentioned your son removing something he had been doing when this started. I think that might be a good idea, to remove what ever application he was installing when the problem started.
Sometimes, kids (no matter their age) will d/l programs that are not safe....That is why I always d/l from only 2 or 3 sites that I know check everything for bugs before they put the links to them.
I will check back later today.
Vicks

[Newhavenmama]

Thanks Vicks, I will tell him to do that when he gets home. He had downloaded an application and the problem hit whenever he tried to open the application.

I have downloaded IE8 and Service Pack 3 here at work so I will have it on a disk to take home. Is there anything else you can think of that I might need to download - if there is, I can do it easily at work...usually much easier then at home with 4 kiddies!!

Thanks!
Donna