How to repair help and support

[CWatters]

H&S no longer returns anything from the knowledge base (0 results).

I think this might have happened two weeks ago when I temporarily trialed a
program - unfortunately I didn't notice unti too late to do a system
restore.

Is there a way to re-install or repair the help and support system?

 

[Will Denny]

Hi

Please see the folowing link to Kelly's web site:

"Why doesn't Help and Support work?"
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/top10faqs.htm

 

[CWatters]

Hi

Please see the folowing link to Kelly's web site:

"Why doesn't Help and Support work?"
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/top10faqs.htm

Thanks Will. I've not been able to get Kelly's instructions to work.

I tried this one.. "This edit resets the proper keys to invoke Help and
Support, depending on your issues. Click here." and it appears to make
things worse and I get "can't find helpctr.exe" errors. Did a restore to
get back from that.

I tried re-installing as per "Go to C:\Windows\inf\pchealth.inf. Right
click and choose install. Have your CD handy" but the installation processes
is nightmare. It asks for .dll's that are on the WinXP CD but for some
reason the installer can't copy them (I've tried two CD). I can copy them
manually so I tried that and then pointed the installer at the copies but
that only seems to work for some .dll. Others it claims it still can't copy.

H&S works except for the knowledge base results. It's as if there is a
registry key broken or a hosts file entry blocking access (although I get no
errors messages).

Colin

 

[Les Herrman]

H&S no longer returns anything from the knowledge base (0 results).

I think this might have happened two weeks ago when I temporarily trialed a
program - unfortunately I didn't notice unti too late to do a system
restore.

Is there a way to re-install or repair the help and support system?

Haven't blocked it with your firewall have you?

 

[CWatters]

<Les Herrman> wrote in message

Haven't blocked it with your firewall have you?

Not unless I've picked up some malware I can't find with the usual tools.

I've noticed that the options page for setting up help and support has also
been changed - eg Options -> set search options
....the bottom entry where it should list the knowledge base is blank.....

..
Set search options
Find help and information from different sources. To change the scope of
your search, select one or more providers from the following list.
Return up to 15 results per provider.

Suggested Topics
Displays results of the highest possible relevance. Search matches the terms
you typed against terms that the author of a document defines as keywords
for that document. Selecting this option makes it possible for you to limit
your search to the specific Help category of the current topic.

Full-text Search Matches
Displays documents whose text contains the term(s) you typed.
Search in title only
Match similar words

***nothing here for knowledge base ***

 

[Kelly]

Some users claim the culprits were related to download managers:

1. Get Right (Download manager)
2. Netscape - Smart Download
3. DAP
4. Workaround/Suggestion:

a. Set your folder view to show hidden files and folders.
b. Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\[your profile]\Local
Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\HelpCtr
and delete both the files in this folder.
c. Open Help and Support and try again.

 

[CWatters]

Some users claim the culprits were related to download managers:

Thanks Kelly, that worked great.

Probably one to add to your pages on the H&S system. I tried almost all of
the other suggestions of your site but this is the one that worked for me.
I'm not aware of having installed/used any of the download managers you
listed but perhaps one sneaked in when I installed a few trial programs
recently.

For info there were three files in the folder you mentioned:

028-A543-4767-B4AA-1581D8E1CDB2_1033.xml
Favorites.stream
HelpSessionHistory.dat

Regards

Colin