What Happened to My Computer?

kevincook · Apr 18, 2006

Bird,

I had the same problem with my computer over the weekend. I also wasn't able to expand any folders when using Windows Explorer. It was very frustrating to say the least. I restored my computer back a couple of days and everything is working fine. Hopefully Microsoft will figure out the problem and fix it in there next update.

Kevin

jwstewar · Apr 18, 2006

I had something similar happen to my computer this past week. I have auto update turned on. It installed 4 patches. Then all of a sudden I couldn't hit the drop down button for the address bar. Several reboots later didn't help. Could type stuff in and go to any thing in my favorites. So I figured it some how got messed up. I cleared my list. I could then hit the drop down list - for what good, I don't know since I had cleared it. But now I couldn't type an address in and get to it. Could still go to anything in my favorites though. Finally I removed the patches and all is well again. I believe I'll take my chances and see if Microsoft fixes these for next month.

gotrocks · Apr 18, 2006

Hello Bird & Other TBN'ers,
Hope all is well by now with mentioned problems.
I would like to know if anyone has experience with "registry fix" programs.
I downloaded a sample "free" and it indicates I have 140+ problems. But it will not fix any of them unless I purchase the program. Which I would be ready and willing to do if I was confident in the ability of the program to truly FIX my problems WITHOUT creating unwanted changes.

Please let me have any and all replys regarding REGISTRY FIX programs.

I have looked at

http://registry-repair-software-review.toptenreviews.com/?ttreng=1&ttrkey=registry+fix

Thanks to all who give up their time to reply.

Bird · Apr 18, 2006

Being a computer dummy, I know absolutely nothing about the "registry"; don't even know what that is. But I'm running Norton SystemWorks 2005 and it has on occasion shown a number of "errors" in the registry. So I just let it automatically fix them without having any idea what the errors were or what it did to "fix" them. And so far, I'm getting away with it. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

BillG_in_TX · Apr 18, 2006

gotrocks,

Check out CCleaner. I'm using it on several computers, and it appears to be working well - and it's free! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

To use the registry repair function, you go to the Issues feature, but it does lots of other things, too. Take the Quick Tour before (or after) you download.

flwiii · Apr 18, 2006

Registry Cleaners such as CCleaner (free) and Windows Diagnostics (part of Norton Utilities) can be helpful in keeping the registry clean of quirks. Remember this though, the registry is a complex beast and it generally always has some errors in it. Most of these errors will rarely cause any serious problems, but occasional cleaning is not a bad thing.

Every time you install or un-install something there will be registry errors as a result and a registry cleaning would be a good thing. Uninstall programs are notrious for not backing out the install cleanly. Also to be included in the install category are the automatic Windows updates from Microsoft.

TheKid · Apr 19, 2006

One of Microsofts latest patches is causing the problem. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif It seems that it causes problems when there are certain HP software packages on a computer. Particularly the HP scanning software. <font color="blue"> Here </font> is information on it. The fix is to add an entry to the registry. Another way to fix it is to uninstall HP's Share-To-The-Web software if it's on your computer and you don't use it.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday trying to figure out what was happening on one of the systems at the office.

Bird · Apr 19, 2006

Thanks, Keith. I may have to check into that when I have time. I have a HP printer/scanner/copier and that "share to web" is included but never used.

midlf · Apr 22, 2006

I don't have MS auto-update set to perform updates without my permission. When the auto update notifies me of updates to be installed I wait for about a week before I let it do the update. I also only do updates one at a time. That way if there is some problem I know which update was the culprit.