Windows Explorer, System Restore, similar do not work properly anymore

LisasMomLisasMom
edited September 2009 in Science & Tech
My Windows Explorer has been acting up lately and today has totally reconfigured itself. I cannot get to the *tree* frame. Also, when I click on the properties of a folder, it always says the folder contains 0 folders, 0 bytes; it does give correct size info on individual files. When I click on folder options, all I get is the type of file list with what it opens. When I click on the *Search* button, nothing happens. My C drive is currently full. This happened another time and I discovered it was from Dr. Watson dump files. I deleted them and things were fine again. Now I've forgotten where those files were located and can't used the search button to find them!

When I tried to click on Support and Help from the start menu, nothing happens. There are a few other things like this that are happening but I can't remember every error since I've been looking for those dump files all day and keep getting these other type errors and quirks. I cannot get to the System Restore either.

Any ideas?!? Thanks so much in advance for anyone reading this and considering helping me! You are a god-send!

Comments

  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited September 2009
    Alright, before we take troubleshooting and/or repair steps, we need more information:

    What operating system and service pack are you using?
    What antivirus program are you using and is it updated?
    Are you using any anti-malware (other than antivirus) program?
    Do you have a Windows XP CD, other than "restore" CD from the computer maker?
  • LisasMomLisasMom
    edited September 2009
    Hi,

    I have Windows XP v5.1 service pack 3.
    I use AVG free version 8.5.409 updated today.
    AVG is all I use.
    I have no CDs from my purchase of this computer; the restore is on D drive.

    Thank you,
    Vicki aka LisasMom
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited September 2009
    Vicki, thanks for replying so quickly. I can't think of a trick to repair whatever is causing your Windows problems. I had been thinking we could guide you through a Windows re-installation in "repair" mode, but I don't think that's possible without a Windows CD.

    Hello, anyone else here have advice for LisasMom?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited September 2009
    Hello, Vicki. :) I have a few ideas but need to know if a folder called "i386" exists on your C: drive? If so, I have some ideas for you.
  • LisasMomLisasMom
    edited September 2009
    Hi, There is not one directly in the C drive, but there is one in C:\Windows. Thanks!
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited September 2009
    Okay, go to start, hit run, then type this: sfc /scannow -- then hit enter.
    The utility will ask you to locate your Windows XP CD at one time or
    another; point it to i386 when it does. After that's done, see if some of these issues are fixed.
  • LisasMomLisasMom
    edited September 2009
    I did that but when it asked for the CD to be inserted, there was no option of browsing or adding a filename and path.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited September 2009
    Can you move the folder to the root of C: and try again for me? This won't harm anything.
  • LisasMomLisasMom
    edited September 2009
    I did that but it didn't help. I even tried to burn it onto a CD but with the C drive full and explorer messed up, I couldn't do that either. Is there something on the D drive that will help? I think that is why I don't have any CDs; the system restore is supposed to be on the D drive. The CD drive is mapped to E.
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited September 2009
    When you say your C Drive is full, do you mean it's actually full and there is virtually no space left (like less then 100mb) or do you mean just to full to copy that directory around. If the C Drive is really to full that could be part of the problem you are experiencing. It doesn't have enough room to cache data around and is stalling out.

    If that is the case some quick ways to get space back are:
    Make sure you've emptied your recycling bin. Then right click on it go into properties and change the reserved space from the default 10% to 1%.

    Next go into internet explorer, then tools and internet options. First delete all offline files. Then go into your history/offline files settings and you should find a setting for Temporary Internet Files. When you go into the setting windows may even put up a pop up saying that the setting is currently 1024mb and that it should be reduced. Find that setting and change it to 50mb.

    Then reboot your computer. If you are running at default settings that should free up 1 gig of space at least.
  • LisasMomLisasMom
    edited September 2009
    When I said my C drive was full, yes, I meant that it had way less than 100mb! And it seems to be the root of all the problems! I deleted a lot stuff from it and moved a lot to a couple of my EHDs and things got better and better. Finally the search function starting working and I found all those dump files and deleted them. Now my drive is back to less than half full and everything appears to be ok now.

    I also quit using Mozilla Firefox because every time it crashed, which was quite often, a new dump file was created. I am now trying Google Chrome to see how that works for me. Seems to be ok but it will take a little getting used to!

    So thank you to all who helped and offered suggestions on how to solve this problem. I truly appreciate the help of everyone on this site!

    Take care,
    Vicki aka LisasMom
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited September 2009
    When I said my C drive was full, yes, I meant that it had way less than 100mb! And it seems to be the root of all the problems!
    What! We just overhauled the engine...only to discover it was a flat tire. Kryyst wins the Main Dude award.
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited September 2009
    I'll take my bow now :)

    Other things you should consider doing. Open up windows explorer. Right click on your C: Drive and go into properties. On the first tab there, near the bottom you'll see a setting for Drive Indexing. Get rid of the Checkmark if it has one.

    Drive indexing is useless and if the index gets corrupted can cause no end of weird little problems.
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