the following error prevented the display of certain items: unspecified error

[q20]

hello there

while using computer management to control my user accounts on my pc (xp
pro), i've noticed something odd happening...

if i view the properties of any account and look at the "member of" tab, i
see the normal group icon, but no text telling me what group that is.

if i then want to add this account to another group, clicking "add",
"advanced", "find now", i would normally be presented with a list of all the
groups available on my machine. but now i receive a terribly informative
error:

"the following error prevented the display of certain items:
unspecified error"

helpful isn't it?

i've had a look through the ms knowledge base, but didn't get one hit from
their search. any ideas as to why this is happening?

a system restore is not going to help, as i don't know when exactly this
became a problem, though i assume a while ago as i haven't fiddled with
anything for a some time (i fiddle a lot). i think at some point i've broken
it. and i'd like to fix it in a nice and simple way, rather than installing
and repatching my xp, which is just so boring.

help would be great. thanks.
q20