programs crash

[Guest]

just got a new laptop and when i update it through windows update, loads of
programs crash before they even launch

 

[Rock]

just got a new laptop and when i update it through windows update, loads
of
programs crash before they even launch

You haven't given much information. When you say it's a new laptop does
that mean it's new purchased from the vendor, or it's used but new to you?
What is the computer make/model and setup? Did it run well before you
updated things? What is the malware status of the computer? What updates
were installed? Any driver updates? Did you install IE7? If driver
updates use device manager to roll back the drivers for those updates.
Never get driver / hardware updates from the windows update site unless it's
a microsoft manufactured device. If IE7 remove it through add / remove
programs.

Otherwise you might want to start by removing the updates through add/remove
programs, then do a system restore to right before the the updates were
applied. Does that fix things? If so then go to the windows update site
through internet explorer | tools | windows update, choose the custom scan,
then install the updates just one at a time testing after each one to see
which one caused the problem.

Making Good Newsgroup Posts

 

[Guest]

its a new sony vaio vgn-n11m/w. its running windows media centre 2005.
programs ran fine before i installed all the updates off the microsoft
website. i've done a system restore to when i first turned the machine on and
the programs are still crashing, it seems to be anything that's installed by
me seems to not want to run anything i've installed.
anything esle you need to know?

 

[Rock]

its a new sony vaio vgn-n11m/w. its running windows media centre 2005.
programs ran fine before i installed all the updates off the microsoft
website. i've done a system restore to when i first turned the machine on
and
the programs are still crashing, it seems to be anything that's installed
by
me seems to not want to run anything i've installed.
anything esle you need to know?

I asked some other questions. What updates were installed? Were any of
them driver updates? Was one of them IE7? Did you remove all the updates
first through add/remove programs before doing the system restore? That's
important to do. Just doing a system restore without removing the offending
updates / programs will leave residuals of those updates which aren't
covered by system restore; this can also cause problems as well.

When you say the programs crash what exactly happens? Error messages?

When you state you did a system restore to when you first turned the machine
on do you mean using the system restore function in XP or the vendor
supplied restore capability?

If the former you might want to do a restore to the as received condition
from the vendor using their restore utility. Then follow the procedure I
specified in the first response, go to the windows update site, do a custom
scan and add updates one at a time, ignoring driver updates.

 

[Guest]

one of them was ie7 and one of them was also a driver update, i didn't remove
the updates from add or remove, i assumed the system restore did that. i'll
use the disc that came with the machine to get it back to its original state
and then post back here. and when i say the programs crash, it just says its
encountered a problem and needs to close

 

[Rock]

one of them was ie7 and one of them was also a driver update, i didn't
remove
the updates from add or remove, i assumed the system restore did that.
i'll
use the disc that came with the machine to get it back to its original
state
and then post back here. and when i say the programs crash, it just says
its
encountered a problem and needs to close

Ok. You could try doing a driver rollback through Device Manager for that
driver update before doing the factory restore. At this point you don't
know which of the updates caused the problem. It could have been the driver
update, IE7, any of the others, or the effect of a combination of them.

To repeat past advice, never get driver updates from the windows update
site. Only get those from the computer vendor's site, unless the hardware
it's for is a Microsoft manufactured hardware device. Do the updates one at
a time and test after each one. Don't use automatic updates, go to the
update site a couple of times month, do the custom scan and decide which
updates you want.

Don't update drivers, even from the vendor's site, unless you are having a
problem that the driver update should help, or the new driver has some
feature you must have. In other words, if it's not broken leave it alone.

IE7 has been problematic for some people, though others have had no problem
with it. It does have more security features in it's design.

Before installing it, and I would suggest you do this even if you decide not
to install IE7, image the system. By that I mean use a disk imaging program
to make a compressed image of the drive. Store this on an external USB hard
drive. Make regular images using this as your backup solution. Then if
anything messes with the installation such as an update or a program install
that you can't fix, you can restore the most recent working image and be off
and running, with all your data and any installed software ready to go,
rather than having to go all the way back to the as received from the
factory condition. I consider the use of an imaging program essential. The
favorite program for this, these days, is Acronis True Image. There is also
Norton Ghost and Terabyte Unlimited's Image for Windows.

Good luck and sorry you ran into problems so early with your new computer.
In some ways though, it's good it happened now, since there isn't much to
backtrack. And if you follow through on using drive imaging to an external
USB drive you'll be well served for the life of the laptop. Problems do
happen, hardware dies, software can cause conflicts, so having a backup
solution such as drive imaging is your insurance against the inevitable.