Help does not work for Windows or any installed software.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lars
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L

Lars

Hi,

I have a brand new Dell computer with Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP1
+ all current patches and updates installed. My problem is that the "help"
doesn't work for Windows _or_any_other_software_installed. My guess is that
one of the softwares installed during initial setup of the pc may have
corrupted Windows Help. I tried a procedure found by searching Google that
explained step by step how to recompile the help files, however this did not
help. I also tried doing a repair of Windows which also did not change the
situation.

Shy of reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling everything from scratch,
does anyone have a suggestion for correcting this? It affects all software
installed - there is no "help" available in any of the programs.

(I purchased 2 identical PC's from Dell. One is fine, the other is as
mentioned above.)

Thank you.

~Lars
 
Greetings,

Helpctr.exe is Help and Support Center, and the file is located in:
\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries.

If still doesn't go well:

1) Start > Run
2) Type in "sfc /scannow" without the quotes

You'll need the Windows CD for that ^


Thanks and best of luck!
 
Jose,

Thank you for your reply. The Helpctr.exe file is in the directory you
mention, but does nothing. I also tried the 'sfc /scannow' and that did not
resolve the problem.

~Lars
 
Greetings,

Are you sure that didn't work - 'sfc /scannow'. It checks your system for
anything that was missed out in the installtion or corrupt data. You'll need
the XP CD ofcourse! :)

Thanks and best of luck!
 
Yes. (Unfortunately) I am certain that it did not change the situation.
However, I do think I have managed to isolate the culprit software by
testing on another Windows XP pc. I tried the Help & Support as well as
Help for a few other softwares on the pc, then installed the vendor software
(engineering utility) in question, and immediately Help stopped working for
everywhere. Fortunately, I have a few extra pc's to test with. So I can
attempt a few strategies without harming the new PC.

~Lars
 
I have confirmed what caused the problem. I am posting my findings for the
sake of an archive record to assist someone else with this problem in the
future.

A vendor (Swagelok www.swagelok.com) provided software for our engineer to
use. I tested on an idle (test pc with similar configuration) Prior to
installing the software, everything worked fine. After installation, the
software immediately disabled 'Help' for _any_ program installed on the PC.
Uninstalling, the software was the only remedy and cure for the problem
which resolved immediately after uninstall.

Culprit Software: Swagelok IGC II Configurator ver. 2 (stated
compatibility for Windows 98, 2000, ME, NT 4.0 SP6 and XP)
 
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