Re: Can't open Items

Christopher Muto wrote:
"Charles" <cwmickey@xxxxxxx> wrote in message news:7ysAk.14792$Dj1.4744@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
S.Lewis wrote:
"Christopher Muto" <muto@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:W4qdnUcyFd-dXEzVnZ2dnUVZ_jSdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"S.Lewis" <Gossamer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:xkfAk.37333$De7.24529@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Charles" <cwmickey@xxxxxxx> wrote in message news:UGeAk.13490$Dj1.12578@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Christopher Muto wrote:
you said 'when the problem happens'... does this mean that sometimes the icons for the items do appear in the start menu, and sometimes they work, but other times they do not? sounds like some sort of resource problem or a hard drive problem. i suggest a scan of the hard drive using the manufacturers diagnostic tool and/or a system restore to a point in time well prior to when you first started to notice the problem.

"William R. Walsh" <wm_walsh@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:f5d75f3e-e929-4783-baa4-1badac477746@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi!

None of these are running scans when the problem happens which
has now been noted to be just happening randomly.
You might find a clue in the processes list of the Windows Task
Manager. Sometimes a process that's doing a lot of disk churning will
also be using some or a lot of CPU time.

William
Christopher,

The icons are always listed in the start menu but about half the time when I click on them I get the busy hourglass for about 4-5 seconds then nothing. I have run the hard drive diagnostic and both passed.

William,

As stated in the original post the processes list has nothing that stands out. Even when this (drive activity light)is happening, the system idle process is at 99%. I know something is doing something but I just can't seem to find out what it is.

Charles
F8 at the Dell (splash) screen and boot the system in "safe mode with networking". Click on those items in the start menu to verify function.

If they're fine in safe mode, you might try going into start/run/msconfig/ok/startup (items) and temporarily disabling all startup programs.

Reboot in "normal mode" and check function of items in the start menu again. If they're "cured", then a program or combination of programs are likely causing your issue.

You can then go back into msconfig and enable programs individually to find the culprit or see where the breaking point is for the system.

Sounds like a system resources issue due to software or services.


Stew
sounds like a plan... but a shorter approach might be to just uninstall zone alarm pro and see if the problems go away with it.


Agreed. With the list of security SW's he's posted he's running the risk of overkill depending on how all of that is configured.

It's been a long, long time since I've used ZA - but I've noted the threads here regarding issues.
I will try the option of removing Zone Alarm later today and see what happens. Would the option of disabling ZA work to check things out or would I really need to remove it? I have seriously thinking about dumping it when my paid subscription runs out and trying something else. As to the amount of virus and spyware programs I have, only AVG Free is configured to run daily. The others are there for manual use whenever I think about running them which is usually every month or so.

disabling it should probably reveal if it is the culprit. follow that link i provided above to the zone alarms support forums. there you will see many discussions about various issues with zone alarm. they seem to have answers for all of them but it just sounds like more effort than it is worth. easier to just remove it and not look back.


I had a quick look at that last but will give it a better look later today also. On another train of thought, what is the possibility of Micro$oft issuing "fixes" that may mess up certain things on older computer systems in a push towards 'Vista instead of XP for the masses'? I've often wondered whether they would stoop to this level tho.

Charles
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Cant open Items
    ... resource problem or a hard drive problem. ... The icons are always listed in the start menu but about half the time ... I will try the option of removing Zone Alarm later today and see what ... disabling it should probably reveal if it is the culprit. ...
    (alt.sys.pc-clone.dell)
  • Re: Cant open Items
    ... The icons are always listed in the start menu but about half the time when I click on them I get the busy hourglass for about 4-5 seconds then nothing. ... If they're fine in safe mode, you might try going into start/run/msconfig/ok/startup and temporarily disabling all startup programs. ... but a shorter approach might be to just uninstall zone alarm pro and see if the problems go away with it. ... I will try the option of removing Zone Alarm later today and see what happens. ...
    (alt.sys.pc-clone.dell)
  • Re: Cant open Items
    ... The icons are always listed in the start menu but about half the time when I click on them I get the busy hourglass for about 4-5 seconds then nothing. ... If they're fine in safe mode, you might try going into start/run/msconfig/ok/startup and temporarily disabling all startup programs. ... I will try the option of removing Zone Alarm later today and see what happens. ...
    (alt.sys.pc-clone.dell)
  • Re: System Restore in Safe Mode prevents normal reboot
    ... I did run the Zone Alarm Removal Tool you referenced whenever I ... And you'll never have issues with System Restore again. ... in "Safe Mode with Command Prompt" merely brings up the the exact ... I've tried installing n uninstalling minor programs in Safe Mode, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: System Restore in Safe Mode prevents normal reboot
    ... I did run the Zone Alarm Removal Tool you referenced whenever I ... with system restore. ... Restore in Safe Mode. ... I've tried installing n uninstalling minor programs in Safe Mode, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)