What the @#&* does this mean?

Lol...I seem to have a bit of an odd problem here...not really a huge one, but I don't know what is causing it.

I am running WinME (no smart a#$ comments please...lol) and every now and then when I boot up, none of my Desktop icons work. None of my taskbar icons work. Nothing. I can click them til I'm blue in the face, and nothing happens. My start button works, and I can navigate that way, or I can reboot, and they generally work fine.

Does anyone have any ideas? :killcompu

Thanks,
Deb

heh soz deb i don't know the answer to ur ques but i remember doing something like that to a friend of mine - i took a screenshot of his desktop - put it in a html doc and set it to open full screen before placing it in his startup folder - he was clicking for ages before i leaned over and hit ctrl-W :D

v_Ln

Okay, just to satisfy myself...I tried ctrl-w....didn't help...but thanks for the idea...lol. It's the weirdest thing my computer has ever done....oh well, at least it isn't fatal! :D

lol, he was taking the piss.
Try disabling active desktop dont worry u can get it though
start>settings>control panel
then double click on display, click on the WEB tab and untik the box.

hope this helps, im out of ideas

preep

Okay, well here's an interesting twist....I can't click on any of the icons in any of my freakin windows, folders, nothing...went to control panel, and again, I can click on Display til I'm blue in the face, and it doesn't do anything.... :wow:

Sounds like an active desktop problem. Go to the web tab in the display properties make sure active desktop is turned off. Next go to the effects tab in the display properties and make sure that hide icons when active desktop is on is unchecked.

Three ways to get to display properties
-right click on desktop click display properties
-go to control panel click on desktop
-go to help and type display properties. There should be a link to the display properties.

If not here’s some other things you can try
-virus scan (you never know what wacky things viruses will do)
-Boot into safe mode see if the problem persist (if not it’s probably caused by something that’s running in the back ground).
-go startmenu->run->type msconfig->start up tab see if there’s any thing you don't recognize aka spyware or joke programs.

I just have to say this. (ME is a flaming pile of dog crap and the bastard child of M$).

I know I'm stating the obvious....but, have you ran a virus scan?





When Explorer.exe starts to crash the first things to disappear are your Task Bar icons....Do you get any illegal operation errors?




Sorry cwk9. I didn't see that you also recommended a virus scan....I should read peoples replies before I respond...

Yeah, I ran a virus scan and I updated it this morning, so it shouldn't be that, it didn't find anything. I will try what you suggested cwk9...we'll see what happens.

Thanks everyone for all the help, and if anyone has anymore suggestions...I'm listening! :D

Deb

get a ur start up disk (floppy) boot into dos. check win.ini, io.sys, autoexec.
run a dir /s on the files (/s is to search using a sting wich is the same as start>search, look at whats loaded up go into C:\windows\desktop\startup and look at what it loads up also try dektop.ini.
dont delete anything important!
sry man never caught the first part of ur first post, i thought u got the start menu

preep

I'd go to http://www.lavasoftusa.com install and run it and remove all the little ad-tracking and spyware. Could be if you use a modem spyware has a glitch and is attempting to phone home but cannot find the modem.

I already ran ad-aware, and it didn't come up with anything either...I just gave up and re-booted into Win2K instead...and it works fine...I'm too sleepy to deal with this tonight, and none of the stuff you guys have suggested has worked. I think I'm going to go to M$ and see if there is a patch for it...maybe it's just an ME glitch...I don't know what else it would be at this point. I really appreciate ALL of the help...they were good ideas, I think maybe my computer just gets po'ed because I use it too much, and decides not to work...lol.

Thanks again! :D

Deb

sounds like it could be a corrupted setup file loading, run systen file checker. im not all that familiar with ME. but if its still alot like 98 just open the run command and enter SFC.
If its more like win2k pro open the run command amd type 'sfc /scannow'

i hope this helps

have you tried to reinstall windows ME?

reinstalling windows usually solves a lot of problems.

but then, so does giving up windows altogether and converting to linux, but then that is my solution to every windows problem. *wink wink*.

regards,
mark.