No Programs will run

[Guest]

I have been running Vista for almost a year. Then the other day it just
stopped running any programs, including explorer, excel, etc. I click on the
icon and nothing happens. I try to access them through the c-drive and still
no luck. I can't even get the task manager to come up. I'm sending this from
a different computer. It is possible this problem occured after I loaded a
program to link to my digital camera.

 

[Rick Rogers]

Hi,

Boot it to Safe mode by hitting F8 at startup, does it work there? If so,
run msconfig from the start/search line and place the system in diagnostic
mode. Restart normally. If all is still ok, then run msconfig again, move to
selective startup and then disable about half the programs on the startup
tab. Reboot. If the problem returns, then the cause is one of those that you
enabled, if not then re-enable about half of those that remain. Repeat to
isolate the cause.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

 

[Malke]

I have been running Vista for almost a year. Then the other day it just
stopped running any programs, including explorer, excel, etc. I click on the
icon and nothing happens. I try to access them through the c-drive and still
no luck. I can't even get the task manager to come up. I'm sending this from
a different computer. It is possible this problem occured after I loaded a
program to link to my digital camera.

You really haven't told us anything about your computer or its recent
history so we can give you focused help. Here are a few possibilities:

1. It is unlikely to be the mystery program (it would have been more
helpful if you'd named it), but you can try either going into Safe Mode
and doing a System Restore to before you installed it or booting with
your Vista DVD and doing System Restore from there.

2. Another possibility is virus infection. What protection do you have
in place? You might be able to do some malware scanning:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

If the programs won't run, you can try pulling the hard drive and
slaving it to another machine (or put it in a USB drive enclosure).

3. A third possibility is that the .exe file association is broken. See
this link from MVP Ramesh (TinyURL'd)

http://tinyurl.com/yrrf3s

4. And finally, a fourth possibility is that your hard drive is failing.
You can test it with a diagnostic utility downloaded from the drive
mftr.'s website. Create a bootable CD with the file, boot with it, do a
thorough test. If the drive fails any physical tests, replace it.

If none of those suggestions work or you can add further pertinent
information, please post back after looking at these posting guides:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Usenet
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375 - How to Ask a Question


Malke

 

[Guest]

Finally forced the computer to shut off restarting in safe mode. Was able to
then properly restart the computer. Things appear to be working now. I'm
going to continue working with it to make sure all is working and there is no
malware/etc. causing problems.

Thanks!