Hi Mrs Wright,
The file association for WMP is messed up. The easiest way to fix it is to
reinstall it. Go to the Control Panel/Folder Options/View tab, set it to
"Show hidden files and folders" and uncheck "Hide protected operating system
files [recommended]". Also uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types".
Then, open Windows Explorer from Start/All Programs and go to the
C:\Windows\Inf folder. Locate the wmp.inf file, right-click it and choose
install.
You may need to either insert your WinXP CD or know where your I386 folder
is located on the hard drive. You may also need to know where the
\ServicePackFiles folder is (usually under the Windows directory).
As to System Restore: Once System Restore goes bad, the only thing you can
do is stop it and restart it. Start/run services.msc, locate the SR service
and doubleclick it. Click the stop button, then set the startup type
dropdown to disabled. Click apply/ok, then reboot.
Then, check the "System Volume Information folder" on each drive (you may
need to set folder options/view tab to see hidden and system folders for
this) and delete any contents. Reverse the steps to restart it.
Be forewarned that doing this removes all existing restore points, but it
doesn't really matter as they weren't working anyways.
If this does not help, follow these steps to reinstall System Restore:
Go to the Control Panel/Folder Options/View tab, set it to "Show hidden
files and folders" and uncheck "Hide protected operating system files
[recommended]". Also uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types".
Then, open Windows Explorer from Start/All Programs and go to the
C:\Windows\Inf folder. Locate the sr.inf file, right-click it and choose
install.
You may need to either insert your WinXP CD or know where your I386 folder
is located on the hard drive. You may also need to know where the
\ServicePackFiles folder is (usually under the Windows directory).
--
Best of Luck,
Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Windows
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!
Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone