Clipboard trouble

[Heather]

I am running Windows XP, and am having trouble with my clipboard (I think).

All was fine until three or four days ago, then all of a sudden, when I hit
Ctrl C then Ctrl V, nothing happened. I have looked at this site, and found
my clipboard viewer, but it is flickering white with black lines when I look
at it. I copy something, and nothing changes on the clipboard viewer.

I have Office 07, and found the clipboard there. When I copy something in
Word, the panel shows the item that I copied, but then there is always
another entry above the first entry that says "preview not available" in
italics. If I click on the entry that I want pasted, it will paste, but not
if I hit Ctrl V.

I am not able to copy or paste anything in any other program.

I am a computer user, but not a programmer, and my knowledge is relatively
limited. I can not think of anything special that I did three or four days
ago (installing new programs and such) to initiate a change. I am not having
trouble that I have noticed with any other issues at this time. I have tried
downloading the latest XP update earlier today, and nothing changed.

This is a terribly annoying issue as I copy and paste all the time. Please
help!

Heather

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

I am running Windows XP, and am having trouble with my clipboard (I think).

All was fine until three or four days ago, then all of a sudden, when I
hit
Ctrl C then Ctrl V, nothing happened. I have looked at this site, and
found
my clipboard viewer, but it is flickering white with black lines when I
look
at it. I copy something, and nothing changes on the clipboard viewer.

I have Office 07, and found the clipboard there. When I copy something in
Word, the panel shows the item that I copied, but then there is always
another entry above the first entry that says "preview not available" in
italics. If I click on the entry that I want pasted, it will paste, but
not
if I hit Ctrl V.

I am not able to copy or paste anything in any other program.

I am a computer user, but not a programmer, and my knowledge is relatively
limited. I can not think of anything special that I did three or four
days
ago (installing new programs and such) to initiate a change. I am not
having
trouble that I have noticed with any other issues at this time. I have
tried
downloading the latest XP update earlier today, and nothing changed.

This is a terribly annoying issue as I copy and paste all the time.
Please
help!

Heather

Could be a virus, malware or some malfunction. I would use System Restore to
go back by one week.

 

[Heather]

Please pardon my ignorance-

If I go back by a week, will it erase everything I've worked on since then?
Is there a resource that you can direct me to that will give me more info on
the System Restore feature?

Thank you,
Heather

 

[BillW50]

In Heather typed on Fri, 3 Apr 2009 12:16:01 -0700:

Please pardon my ignorance-

If I go back by a week, will it erase everything I've worked on since
then? Is there a resource that you can direct me to that will give me
more info on the System Restore feature?

Thank you,
Heather

System Restore only changes the registry, system files, and applications
if I remember right. The data should be perfectly unchanged. Although
the smart thing to do is to create a restore point now. Thus going back
shouldn't hurt a thing, since you can always go back to now. Although if
you have a virus/malware, System Restore could fail at some point. So be
careful.

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

There are two answers to your question:
a) No, System Restore will NOT erase user files.
b) You appear to belong to the group of people waiting to get caught out
because they think that accidents with data files happen to other people
only and that it's only whimps who believe in backing up their important
files regularly. If so then you're sitting on a ticking time bomb.

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

In Heather typed on Fri, 3 Apr 2009 12:16:01 -0700:

System Restore only changes the registry, system files, and applications
if I remember right. The data should be perfectly unchanged. Although the
smart thing to do is to create a restore point now. Thus going back
shouldn't hurt a thing, since you can always go back to now. Although if
you have a virus/malware, System Restore could fail at some point. So be
careful.

Since System Restore is fully reversible, there is no need to create a
Restore Point prior to performing a System Restore.

 

[BillW50]

In Pegasus [MVP] typed on Fri, 3 Apr 2009 21:49:02 +0200:

Since System Restore is fully reversible, there is no need to create a
Restore Point prior to performing a System Restore.

So they say! They also say System Restore creates a new set point
everyday. Although I don't see that happening either. As sometimes it
does and sometimes it doesn't. So when in doubt, do it manually.

 

[Heather]

Good point, thank you. I do back up monthly, but as I don't know what the
problem is I wasn't sure if backing up again would just save the problem,
also (like a setting I messed up somewhere). I am assuming not, and I really
appreciate your feedback. I will be sure to back up more regularly, and will
system restore as you suggest.

Thank you
Heather

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

In Pegasus [MVP] typed on Fri, 3 Apr 2009 21:49:02 +0200:

So they say!

Nope. I never trust things at sight. It does happen - I've tried it myself.

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

Good point, thank you. I do back up monthly, but as I don't know what the
problem is I wasn't sure if backing up again would just save the problem,
also (like a setting I messed up somewhere). I am assuming not, and I
really
appreciate your feedback. I will be sure to back up more regularly, and
will
system restore as you suggest.

Thank you
Heather

The interval between backups is a business decision. Can you afford to lose
one month's worth of files? If yes then the monthly routine is fine. Can a
bank afford to lose one month's worth of data? Obviously not, hence it backs
up all transactions continuously.

Before you do something as intrusive as a System Restore you MUST back up
all your important files. Accidents do happen.

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Friday, April 03, 2009 12:38:21 PM, and on a whim,
BillW50 pounded out on the keyboard:

In Heather typed on Fri, 3 Apr 2009 12:16:01 -0700:

System Restore only changes the registry, system files, and applications
if I remember right. The data should be perfectly unchanged. Although
the smart thing to do is to create a restore point now. Thus going back
shouldn't hurt a thing, since you can always go back to now. Although if
you have a virus/malware, System Restore could fail at some point. So be
careful.

SR is not SUPPOSED to revert data, but I've seen it happen in a couple
instances. Having a good backup is the best insurance.


Terry R.

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was Friday, April 03, 2009 12:40:59 PM, and on a whim,
Pegasus [MVP] pounded out on the keyboard:

There are two answers to your question:
a) No, System Restore will NOT erase user files.

That cannot be said with 100% assurance. I have personally seen
instances where a data file has been removed by SR.

I would only go so far as say that SR shouldn't touch data files, but a
current complete backup should be on hand regardless.

b) You appear to belong to the group of people waiting to get caught out
because they think that accidents with data files happen to other people
only and that it's only whimps who believe in backing up their important
files regularly. If so then you're sitting on a ticking time bomb.

Agreed.

Terry R.

 

[HeyBub]

Good point, thank you. I do back up monthly, but as I don't know
what the problem is I wasn't sure if backing up again would just save
the problem, also (like a setting I messed up somewhere). I am
assuming not, and I really appreciate your feedback. I will be sure
to back up more regularly, and will system restore as you suggest.

Thank you
Heather

You raise a good point - if you backup, you may be destroying your last good
backup by replacing it with the problem situation.

The fix for that unhappy situation is to have multiple backups! Multiple
backups can be accomplished in two principle ways: Multiple media (or
multiple backup locations) or incremental backups.

 

[HeyBub]

I am running Windows XP, and am having trouble with my clipboard (I
think).

All was fine until three or four days ago, then all of a sudden, when
I hit Ctrl C then Ctrl V, nothing happened. I have looked at this
site, and found my clipboard viewer, but it is flickering white with
black lines when I look at it. I copy something, and nothing changes
on the clipboard viewer.

I have Office 07, and found the clipboard there. When I copy
something in Word, the panel shows the item that I copied, but then
there is always another entry above the first entry that says
"preview not available" in italics. If I click on the entry that I
want pasted, it will paste, but not if I hit Ctrl V.

I am not able to copy or paste anything in any other program.

I am a computer user, but not a programmer, and my knowledge is
relatively limited. I can not think of anything special that I did
three or four days ago (installing new programs and such) to initiate
a change. I am not having trouble that I have noticed with any other
issues at this time. I have tried downloading the latest XP update
earlier today, and nothing changed.

This is a terribly annoying issue as I copy and paste all the time.
Please help!

Heather

As a last resort, you can install any of several free clipboard enhancers. I
use ClipX which keeps many clips available. That is, I can Ctrl-C ten times
then go to a target and Ctrl-V each one of the previously-saved clips.