Ralph Bryce
ralph at inweb.co.uk
Wed Feb 2 16:40:17 CST 2005
John Had exactly these symptoms last week. In the end, I reinstalled Windows 2000 from the original disks (thankfully, I didn't have to reformat, etc). Problem disappeared but then had to download SP4 and other updates from the Microsoft website as the versions I had on disk just would not install. Then Word and Excel wouldn't open files (Access worked OK) so had to also reinstall Office 2000 and service packs. HTH Ralph Bryce At 20:41 02/02/2005 +0000, you wrote: >I have an old PC running Win2000 (fully up-to-date) and looking after my >ADSL connection, running firewall, centralised anti-virus updates, etc. >Occasionally something else, but mostly just these essentials. PC is on all >the time, typically two weeks between reboots. > >It's suddenly become unhelpful - >1. trying to run programs via Start gives "Windows Explorer Unable to >run this command" >2. Winkey+E (shortcut to run Explorer): "Access to the specified >device, path, or file is denied." (I'm running as Administrator.) >3. Double-clicking on a file to invoke the associated program: no >effect at all. (eg .txt to run notepad) >4. Very few system things in the Control Panel work: most give symptom >2 or 3 above. > >It's not just shortcuts, either. Locate notepad.exe itself and double >click: nothing. > >BUT Winkey+R (to Run something) works fine! Explorer and all the rest - IF >you know what to type in the Run window, eg compmgmt.msc /s Everything >works OK in itself: I just can't run anything the normal way. > >Same after rebooting. And the services are all running fine: ADSL, ZA, >Sophos, ... And nothing interesting in the Event Viewer. Did a full virus >and spyware scan, to be on the safe side - nothing. > >Can't find anything useful on MSKB (and it's not Q172223). Just had a quick >Google, but nothing useful so far. And no, I don't have a folder call >"Program" on my C drive, nor am I trying to play an audio CD, ... > >Has anyone come across a problem like this? Or have any bright ideas? I >strongly prefer to tackle and solve problems than give up and reformat, >reinstall, etc. > >John >_______________________________________________ >dba-Tech mailing list >dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com >http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech >Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com