I am running XP pro on a 6 month old Sony TR Laptop.

Ok so I can't run exploer, IE, or control panel from windows unless I boot in safe mode. In safe mode they work perfectly. I have run anti-virus and anti-spyware programs to no avail. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling IE but it says that a newer version of IE is allready on the computer and it decideds to abort the install. Without IE I can't run windows update.

Any suggestions?


Thanks

 

u may want to try to click start then go to run and type msconfig and click on selective start up and deselect load start up items and see if that works.

 

Im a CS major. What kind of errors are you getting. When you click on the icons does anything happen? Would you be able to just reinstall windows and fomat the hdd?

A little more detail would help. Let me know what you can.

 

What happens when you try to run Windows Explorer or open Control Panel? Is there an error message?

 

I would start there. I had the same problem a while back and I had to format and reinstall windows, I forgot about msconfig My home computer is still having problems so I'm thinking it's virus related since I haven't updated in a while

 

Have you tried doing a system restore?

 

First of all, I want to thank you all for your help.

I tried the selective startup, there was no effect.

Ill try to better describe what happens. When trying to open explorer, IE, search, control panel, etc. an hourglass comes up for a split second and then the window seems to open but closes automatically before any icons appear. Then everything on the desktop disapears for about 1 second before things return to normal.

I am trying to hold off doing a system restore if possible because I will have to restore to XP home and then go through the process of putting Pro on again. But it seems like I will have to give in soon.

 

Just curious...

Try to start Internet Explorer and let it do it's thing and go through the strange symptoms. Then, afterwards, hit Ctrl-Alt-Del, select Task List..., and click the Processes tab. Is iexplore.exe in the list of running processes?

 

why dont you just run windows update in safemode?

 

I thought that safe mode wouldn't allow net access If you select "safe mode with networking" will it allow net access?


Azf, do what cyberx said and then check out the processes for anything unusual. If you think that something isn't right just google the name of it and investigate whether it is supposed to be running but make sure that you are 100% certain that you delete the right files because bugs often take on names that are very similar to legitimate files

If you're not confident checking through it yourself d/l hijackthis and run it then post a log so that we can see what processes are killing your computer.