XP not opening some apps

[Chenks]

ok here's the deal.

basically when double-clicking on the icon ... it does nothing.. no system process starts

windows XP pro SP1...
yahoo messenger install program won't run
monkey island 3 install program won't run
a few other little programs won't run
system is clean of viruses as of latest norton AV updates
can't find any relevant MS support article

problems just seemed to start with no apparent errors before-hand

anybody got any thoughts ?
might try a regclean if there are any recomendations of one

[Fireblade]

why don't ye just do a 'System Restore' back t' when ye know it woz definitely working without these prob's, then try installing/running the apps/games mentioned again.

If/when it starts having problems again, ye'll know which program is causing the conflict ;)

[Chenks]

that would be a mighty fine idea if regular system restore points were made... i won't continue the rest of this sentence!! :(

[Fireblade]

Originally posted by Chenks

that would be a mighty fine idea if regular system restore points were made.. i won't continue the rest of this sentence!! :(

Huh... WTF???? I woz led t' believe WinXP creates a fresh System Restore point every time you reboot your 'puter?????

But anyway Chenks... yer original post asks "anybody got any thoughts? ", and my reply was my first thought. Sorry it didn't meet wi' your approval!!

[The Pimp]

Originally posted by creepy
Huh... WTF???? I woz led t' believe WinXP creates a fresh System Restore point every time you reboot your 'puter?????

Not if you disable the unreliable, resource hogging piece of rubbish :):):)

[Chenks]

i wasn't trying to say your thought was rubbish or anything creepy... the system restore only makes points when certain things have been installed or a system change has occured

as the fault didn't happened when yahoo etc was installed then it would very hard to find a resotre point, if any, that was safe.

system restore sucks anyway... it doesn't restore everything, just system files etc.. i tend to have it disabled as it isn't that much user really when see what it actually does

[master baits]

stop all other processes that are running and then try , or switch programs or installers prefs to compat mode , failing that format c: and re install

[Mr_Nemesis]

You ran a virus check?

There's some virii out there (Sub7 springs to mind) that stop certain .exe's from running, and the ones they do let run are modified so they can't detect or damage the Sub7 trojan from working. It's a clever chunk of code. Had a devil of a job removing it from a clients computer, since we couldn't get ANY uninfected .exe's to work... hence was a bit tricky to edit the registry or install antivirus...

We got around that by renaming the .exe's to .com's.

But I migth be barking up the wrong tree.

[Detritus]

I've run across this. Try creating a new user and see if you can start the offending programs from there. If you can, then it looks like the same issue I had.

Do you use window blinds? I'm not sure but I think that may be the culprit.