start menu freezes...help

[Guest]

I just installed xp 2 days ago and it was running great until today. I have
been reading up on unchecking and disabling certain running services and I
don'y know if that caused my problem or what.

One problem is when I click on the start menu the pc freezes. Then I have
to reboot again and it still does the same thing.

Another problem, in my email, when I click on a link it won't open.

Also I'm trying to install the bootvis, I think that's what it's called, and
it says there's something wrong with the windows installer.

Also when I defrag, it finishes but says there is still some folders, why
isn't it defragging all the way?

Thanks

John

 

[peter]

What services did you disable??
Have you tried re-enabling one service at time to see which one caused your
start menu/installer problem??
peter

 

[Guest]

I reinstalled xp again and it's fixed but here is a list of want I have
changed now, can you tell me which other ones I can change? Can you also
tell me any changes that could be made for RAM, like in the registry? I also
read when xp doesn't need the conservative swapfile, but it's listed on my
pc, is it supposed to be there?

In win 98 I was able to get into the system.ini file through sysedit, xp
won't let me do that or is something wrong why I can't access it?

Thanks

 

[peter]

first look at this website for services that you can or cannot disable
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
be sure to follow his advice to the letter!! especially about setting up a
hardware profile so if a setting does create a problem you can still start
XP with the other profile.
What changes to you want to make to RAM..........which by the way are
usually settings in your BIOS and again you need to know what your
doing.....especially on how to reset your BIOS back to default in case you
screw something up.
There are websites that deal in your particular motherboard and its settings
that would be advisable to visit before you play around in the BIOS.
Sysedit is still available on XP use the search option on the start bar to
access Search and type in Sysedit..it will find it.
If you just want to see whats in it click start/run and type in msconfig.You
need to stop thinking in terms of 95 or 98 in regards to XP...it does not I
repeat NOT behave the same way.There is no reason for example to load
Himem.sys or any of those in XP.It does a fairly good job all by
itself.Before you start playing around with a OS get to know it a little
better so that you can recover from mistakes without having to reinstall
each and everytime you make a slight error.

How is the "swapfile" listed on your PC?? on mine its called a
"pagefile.sys" and is listed in the root of the "C" drive...and yes you do
need it ....unless you have an unusally extra large amount of RAM.

peter