file problems - this is a toughie...

[Christopher]

I have several years worth of digital photos stored on
my computer. Over the last couple of days, I have
noticed that some of the photos cannot be opened with any
program - including picture and fax viewer, paint,
PhotoStudio, etc. What is weird is that some photo
directories are just fine. Others have some photos that
open fine and others that do not. The computer still
recognizes all of them as image files. Further, I have
my CD collection stored as MP3 files on my computer, and
somehow the paths have been mixed up or something. For
instance, if I go to the Stevie Ray Vaughn folder and
open "Texas Flood", I get a beatles song. Also, when I
try to play a saved video clip, sometimes a song will
play instead. Another problem is that my windows
explorer often crashes when I am organizing file
folders. This may or may not be related. I have not
installed any new programs recently. I run Norton
Utilities regularly. I downloaded today's (8/6/04) virus
definitions and ran a deep scan, and found nothing. I
have also tried creating a new user profile and still had
the same problems.
Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance!

..

 

[Guest]

Are crashes common for you? If so, then something is
wrong (hardware problem or maybe its time to reinstall
windows).

I assume you've run a scan against your disk to look for
errors (Norton has a UI, but I think it'll have you use
the Windows one anyway)...enabling "fix errors
automatically".

And finally I'd also run a spyware/adware removal tool or
three. These are the ones I'd suggest...
Spybot - http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?
lang=en&page=download
SpywareBlaster -
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
AdAware - http://lavasoft.element5.com/software/adaware/

 

[Lindsay]

Rather than re-install Windows, if you have an origial MS copy (not OEM) you
could do a repair. This should not upset any programs or data you have.
Works for me.