XP Ugrade Help!!!

I'm very much a newbie, so please be kind. I wonder if
anybody out there can figure out what's going on with my
newly installed XP Operating System and what I might be
able to do about it?

Here are a few details that may provide some clues to any
Windows maven/detectives out there: A few days ago, I
upgraded to Windows XP Home Edition from Windows Me.
Everything during the upgrade procedure seemed to me to
go smoothly and well, with no glitches that I was aware
of, although I now suspect that perhaps I may have done
something incorrectly at the start--I just have no idea
what that might be.

I had not spent much time on the computer until today,
when I started discovering all sorts of problems. The
reason for that being that immediately after installation
(perhaps this is a clue?), I was forced to spend over 4
hours on the phone trying to resolve a virus problem. I
had never had any experiences with a virus before, and it
appeared that this one (called, I think, Soundblaster
PRC) got in at some point during the upgrade, because it
most definitely was not there before. And not being
familiar with the symptoms of viruses, I initially
assumed that there must be some problem with my DSL
connection, and so the first thing I did was to get on
the phone with my Internet Provider. The immediate
problem then was that I was not able to get online or
maintain a connection for very long. I would click in,
and in a few seconds the computer would quickly sign out
and then automatically shut down. This happened 5 times
before I decided I'd better call tech support. After
about an hour of walking me through various procedures
and trying this and that, the guy on the other end
figured out that this was not a connectivity issue after
all; it was this virus that he was sorry he couldn't help
me with and advised that I get in touch with Microsoft
immediately. I will spare you the details of what
happened for the next three hours (believe me, you don't
want to know), but suffice it to say that Microft
confirmed that it was indeed this dread virus and we
finally were able to take care of it. I was extremely
late for a meeting and ran off as soon as the problem had
been resolved. For one reason or another, it was
impossible for me to get back to the computer until now.

What I discovered was that not all my files and programs
got transfered over into the new system. Or perhaps they
did; I just don't know where to find them? Some of the
icons I had on my Windows Me desktop reappeared on my XP
desktop, but many did not; and of those that did, some
are not opening when I click on them, such as my Netscape
icons, even though Internet Explorer is right there and
functioning perfectly, along with Windows Media Player,
my DVD and several others. But, for example, there
doesn't seem to be any trace of Word or my Word files,
but, strangely enough, WordPad and Notepad were somehow
able to survive the transition. Also missing are other
key programs that I use a lot and had many files in, such
as Paint, Adobe Reader, Outlook Express, several
utilities and others. And of the standard folders that I
expected to see, only My Pictures and My Music arrived
intact. But no My New Briefcase and no My Documents. They
must be hidden somewhere and retrieavable, are they not?
Or is it likely that (please don't tell me!) the virus
gobbled them right up? I've looked everywhere that I
could think to look, but perhaps not in the right places?
Has anyone experienced anything like this, and if so, is
there anything that anyone has done to achieve a happy
outcome? I really would appreciate it if someone could
let me know. Thank you in advance.

I apologize for such a lengthy post; however, I simply
didn't know what might be deemed relevant by the
cognescenti and what might not. And now that I think of
it, here's another weirdness that occured after the
install, and I'm mentioning it on the chance that someone
may perceive a hint in it of what may have gone wrong:
It's a program that I use fairly frequently and in fact
its icon was one of those which reappeared automatically
on the desktop after the upgrade installation. Only now,
suddenly, I'm no longer able to use the program; that is,
it loads up fine and I can open it without any trouble,
but a panel on the right hand side which contains the
buttons that I click on to take me to the various
activities within the program has totally disappeared
(?), leaving just an empty white space where the panel
once used to be. So that for all intents and purposes the
program has been rendered useless. Now I did have the
idea that maybe if I uninstalled the program and then
installed it right back, I'd be able to recover the
program cleanly in its entirety. I've got the original
disk with which to do it; trouble is, when I stick the CD
in, that missing panel is missing on the CD, too--
something which I'm utterly incapable of understanding.
Even so, I tried uninstalling it and installing it again
3 times--to no avail.

If this is not enough information to go on, I'll be happy
to elaborate, but for now, I'll let this stand and see if
any responses come in.

Again, thanks,

Ralph Sepulveda
sepulveda1323@sbcglobal.net

"Ralph Sepulveda" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:17dad01c419f9$88e5d010$a501280a@phx.gbl...
> I'm very much a newbie, so please be kind. I wonder if
> anybody out there can figure out what's going on with my
> newly installed XP Operating System and what I might be
> able to do about it?
>
> Here are a few details that may provide some clues to any
> Windows maven/detectives out there: A few days ago, I
> upgraded to Windows XP Home Edition from Windows Me.
> Everything during the upgrade procedure seemed to me to
> go smoothly and well, with no glitches that I was aware
> of, although I now suspect that perhaps I may have done
> something incorrectly at the start--I just have no idea
> what that might be.
>
> I had not spent much time on the computer until today,
> when I started discovering all sorts of problems. The
> reason for that being that immediately after installation
> (perhaps this is a clue?), I was forced to spend over 4
> hours on the phone trying to resolve a virus problem. I
> had never had any experiences with a virus before, and it
> appeared that this one (called, I think, Soundblaster
> PRC) got in at some point during the upgrade, because it
> most definitely was not there before. And not being
> familiar with the symptoms of viruses, I initially
> assumed that there must be some problem with my DSL
> connection, and so the first thing I did was to get on
> the phone with my Internet Provider. The immediate
> problem then was that I was not able to get online or
> maintain a connection for very long. I would click in,
> and in a few seconds the computer would quickly sign out
> and then automatically shut down. This happened 5 times
> before I decided I'd better call tech support. After
> about an hour of walking me through various procedures
> and trying this and that, the guy on the other end
> figured out that this was not a connectivity issue after
> all; it was this virus that he was sorry he couldn't help
> me with and advised that I get in touch with Microsoft
> immediately. I will spare you the details of what
> happened for the next three hours (believe me, you don't
> want to know), but suffice it to say that Microft
> confirmed that it was indeed this dread virus and we
> finally were able to take care of it. I was extremely
> late for a meeting and ran off as soon as the problem had
> been resolved. For one reason or another, it was
> impossible for me to get back to the computer until now.
>
> What I discovered was that not all my files and programs
> got transfered over into the new system. Or perhaps they
> did; I just don't know where to find them? Some of the
> icons I had on my Windows Me desktop reappeared on my XP
> desktop, but many did not; and of those that did, some
> are not opening when I click on them, such as my Netscape
> icons, even though Internet Explorer is right there and
> functioning perfectly, along with Windows Media Player,
> my DVD and several others. But, for example, there
> doesn't seem to be any trace of Word or my Word files,
> but, strangely enough, WordPad and Notepad were somehow
> able to survive the transition. Also missing are other
> key programs that I use a lot and had many files in, such
> as Paint, Adobe Reader, Outlook Express, several
> utilities and others. And of the standard folders that I
> expected to see, only My Pictures and My Music arrived
> intact. But no My New Briefcase and no My Documents. They
> must be hidden somewhere and retrieavable, are they not?
> Or is it likely that (please don't tell me!) the virus
> gobbled them right up? I've looked everywhere that I
> could think to look, but perhaps not in the right places?
> Has anyone experienced anything like this, and if so, is
> there anything that anyone has done to achieve a happy
> outcome? I really would appreciate it if someone could
> let me know. Thank you in advance.
>
> I apologize for such a lengthy post; however, I simply
> didn't know what might be deemed relevant by the
> cognescenti and what might not. And now that I think of
> it, here's another weirdness that occured after the
> install, and I'm mentioning it on the chance that someone
> may perceive a hint in it of what may have gone wrong:
> It's a program that I use fairly frequently and in fact
> its icon was one of those which reappeared automatically
> on the desktop after the upgrade installation. Only now,
> suddenly, I'm no longer able to use the program; that is,
> it loads up fine and I can open it without any trouble,
> but a panel on the right hand side which contains the
> buttons that I click on to take me to the various
> activities within the program has totally disappeared
> (?), leaving just an empty white space where the panel
> once used to be. So that for all intents and purposes the
> program has been rendered useless. Now I did have the
> idea that maybe if I uninstalled the program and then
> installed it right back, I'd be able to recover the
> program cleanly in its entirety. I've got the original
> disk with which to do it; trouble is, when I stick the CD
> in, that missing panel is missing on the CD, too--
> something which I'm utterly incapable of understanding.
> Even so, I tried uninstalling it and installing it again
> 3 times--to no avail.
>
> If this is not enough information to go on, I'll be happy
> to elaborate, but for now, I'll let this stand and see if
> any responses come in.
>
> Again, thanks,
>
> Ralph Sepulveda
> sepulveda1323@sbcglobal.net

If this was my machine then I would base my course of
action on these considerations:

- The amount of time spent on trying to solve the problem (heaps!).
- The virus infection.
- The quality of the upgrade. (While an upgrade from WinME to
WinXP is possible, I would never attempt it. The two operating
systems are radically different, and any upgrade entails lots of
compromises. A clean installation of WinXP would give me a far
more stable and robust operating system.)

In view of the above I would do this:
1. Buy a 40 GByte hard disk. They are cheap!
2. Install it as the Master Disk.
3. Make the existing disk the Slave Disk.
4. Disconnect the machine from the Internet.
5. Install WinXP onto the Master Disk.
6. Install a good virus scanner & firewall.
7. Reconnect the machine to the Internet.
8. Re-install all applications.
9. Locate my data files on the Slave Disk, then
copy them across to the Master Disk.
10. Remove the Slave Disk.

There are several variations on this theme. They
depend on your level of experience with PCs, and
the types of tools you have available.

Post again if you need more details.

"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> wrote in message
news:efu0BQjGEHA.704@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
>
> "Ralph Sepulveda" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:17dad01c419f9$88e5d010$a501280a@phx.gbl...
> > I'm very much a newbie, so please be kind. I wonder if
> > anybody out there can figure out what's going on with my
> > newly installed XP Operating System and what I might be
> > able to do about it?
> >
> > Here are a few details that may provide some clues to any
> > Windows maven/detectives out there: A few days ago, I
> > upgraded to Windows XP Home Edition from Windows Me.
> > Everything during the upgrade procedure seemed to me to
> > go smoothly and well, with no glitches that I was aware
> > of, although I now suspect that perhaps I may have done
> > something incorrectly at the start--I just have no idea
> > what that might be.
> >
> > I had not spent much time on the computer until today,
> > when I started discovering all sorts of problems. The
> > reason for that being that immediately after installation
> > (perhaps this is a clue?), I was forced to spend over 4
> > hours on the phone trying to resolve a virus problem. I
> > had never had any experiences with a virus before, and it
> > appeared that this one (called, I think, Soundblaster
> > PRC) got in at some point during the upgrade, because it
> > most definitely was not there before. And not being
> > familiar with the symptoms of viruses, I initially
> > assumed that there must be some problem with my DSL
> > connection, and so the first thing I did was to get on
> > the phone with my Internet Provider. The immediate
> > problem then was that I was not able to get online or
> > maintain a connection for very long. I would click in,
> > and in a few seconds the computer would quickly sign out
> > and then automatically shut down. This happened 5 times
> > before I decided I'd better call tech support. After
> > about an hour of walking me through various procedures
> > and trying this and that, the guy on the other end
> > figured out that this was not a connectivity issue after
> > all; it was this virus that he was sorry he couldn't help
> > me with and advised that I get in touch with Microsoft
> > immediately. I will spare you the details of what
> > happened for the next three hours (believe me, you don't
> > want to know), but suffice it to say that Microft
> > confirmed that it was indeed this dread virus and we
> > finally were able to take care of it. I was extremely
> > late for a meeting and ran off as soon as the problem had
> > been resolved. For one reason or another, it was
> > impossible for me to get back to the computer until now.
> >
> > What I discovered was that not all my files and programs
> > got transfered over into the new system. Or perhaps they
> > did; I just don't know where to find them? Some of the
> > icons I had on my Windows Me desktop reappeared on my XP
> > desktop, but many did not; and of those that did, some
> > are not opening when I click on them, such as my Netscape
> > icons, even though Internet Explorer is right there and
> > functioning perfectly, along with Windows Media Player,
> > my DVD and several others. But, for example, there
> > doesn't seem to be any trace of Word or my Word files,
> > but, strangely enough, WordPad and Notepad were somehow
> > able to survive the transition. Also missing are other
> > key programs that I use a lot and had many files in, such
> > as Paint, Adobe Reader, Outlook Express, several
> > utilities and others. And of the standard folders that I
> > expected to see, only My Pictures and My Music arrived
> > intact. But no My New Briefcase and no My Documents. They
> > must be hidden somewhere and retrieavable, are they not?
> > Or is it likely that (please don't tell me!) the virus
> > gobbled them right up? I've looked everywhere that I
> > could think to look, but perhaps not in the right places?
> > Has anyone experienced anything like this, and if so, is
> > there anything that anyone has done to achieve a happy
> > outcome? I really would appreciate it if someone could
> > let me know. Thank you in advance.
> >
> > I apologize for such a lengthy post; however, I simply
> > didn't know what might be deemed relevant by the
> > cognescenti and what might not. And now that I think of
> > it, here's another weirdness that occured after the
> > install, and I'm mentioning it on the chance that someone
> > may perceive a hint in it of what may have gone wrong:
> > It's a program that I use fairly frequently and in fact
> > its icon was one of those which reappeared automatically
> > on the desktop after the upgrade installation. Only now,
> > suddenly, I'm no longer able to use the program; that is,
> > it loads up fine and I can open it without any trouble,
> > but a panel on the right hand side which contains the
> > buttons that I click on to take me to the various
> > activities within the program has totally disappeared
> > (?), leaving just an empty white space where the panel
> > once used to be. So that for all intents and purposes the
> > program has been rendered useless. Now I did have the
> > idea that maybe if I uninstalled the program and then
> > installed it right back, I'd be able to recover the
> > program cleanly in its entirety. I've got the original
> > disk with which to do it; trouble is, when I stick the CD
> > in, that missing panel is missing on the CD, too--
> > something which I'm utterly incapable of understanding.
> > Even so, I tried uninstalling it and installing it again
> > 3 times--to no avail.
> >
> > If this is not enough information to go on, I'll be happy
> > to elaborate, but for now, I'll let this stand and see if
> > any responses come in.
> >
> > Again, thanks,
> >
> > Ralph Sepulveda
> > sepulveda1323@sbcglobal.net
>
> If this was my machine then I would base my course of
> action on these considerations:
>
> - The amount of time spent on trying to solve the problem (heaps!).
> - The virus infection.
> - The quality of the upgrade. (While an upgrade from WinME to
> WinXP is possible, I would never attempt it. The two operating
> systems are radically different, and any upgrade entails lots of
> compromises. A clean installation of WinXP would give me a far
> more stable and robust operating system.)
>
> In view of the above I would do this:
> 1. Buy a 40 GByte hard disk. They are cheap!
> 2. Install it as the Master Disk.
> 3. Make the existing disk the Slave Disk.
> 4. Disconnect the machine from the Internet.
> 5. Install WinXP onto the Master Disk.
> 6. Install a good virus scanner & firewall.
> 7. Reconnect the machine to the Internet.
> 8. Re-install all applications.
> 9. Locate my data files on the Slave Disk, then
> copy them across to the Master Disk.
> 10. Remove the Slave Disk.
>
> There are several variations on this theme. They
> depend on your level of experience with PCs, and
> the types of tools you have available.
>
> Post again if you need more details.
>

Why remove the slave disk?.. that would be a good place to save important
files..