PC meltdown - help

[Littlepeahead]

A cry for help to the PC experts out there. I switched on my trusty PC this morning, I can get the desktop up and then it just won't open anything.

I ran a virus scan in safe mode and it didn't detect anything.

I cannot get into documents, Picasa, Photoshop etc, open Windows Explorer or Firefox. Even when I try to open My Computer it just waved the little torch at me in a mocking manor and then freezes.

I know this is a bit vague - but any advice appreciated.

Hello. So starting with basics...

Your mouse is working? i.e. the mouse pointer is moving?
Can you click on anything at all? Does the right mouse button bring up any menus?

Ctrl-alt-del bringing up task manager?

[Littlepeahead]

Yes, the mouse works, and if I ctrl-alt-del before trying anything else then it opens up the task manager and shows no tasks running.

Weird. Uploaded any new software recently?

Does the start menu open up? If so...
start > run > then type "msconfig"
go to startup programs and disable anything that looks odd. i.e. program names that are gibberish or their location shows in your temp folder.

[Littlepeahead]

I just got it to open up the my pictures folder - then it froze again. Don't think I've downloaded any software lately - then again, Mr LPH does that sort of thing without having any idea what he's doing. I think I shall lock it in future!

Oh and the other thing to check is that your harddrive has free space? I had a similar thing once and I found out I'd filled it up.

[Littlepeahead]

Just checked the hard drive and it has very little free space. Then had a closer look at the My Music folder - I don't save music onto my PC - over a hundred albums that replicate Mr LPH's 180gb ipod I bought him for Christmas and a folder called Iron Maiden 666 Movie which alone is 4.7gb! I think I know who the culprit is now. Going to try to delete all that lot and see if it starts working again. Then the next thing that will need fixing is my husband's head.

Apple, breaks another PC, thats their big plan

Anyway, hope it is a simple as a full HDD, other wise it might be pretty terminal.

Yuo can safely delete the contents of all these folders:

c:\windows\prefetch\
c:\windows\temp\
c:\Documents and settings\yourusername\local settings\temp\
c:\Documents and settings\yourusername\local settings\temporary internet files\

or get a nice little program called CCleaner, its amazing how much garbage is on your Windows PC!

Also disable windows system restore, save, then re-enable it again, you may have a stack of old restore points taking up a lot of space.

Steve

Originally Posted by Littlepeahead

Just checked the hard drive and it has very little free space. Then had a closer look at the My Music folder - I don't save music onto my PC - over a hundred albums that replicate Mr LPH's 180gb ipod I bought him for Christmas and a folder called Iron Maiden 666 Movie which alone is 4.7gb! I think I know who the culprit is now. Going to try to delete all that lot and see if it starts working again. Then the next thing that will need fixing is my husband's head.

What? no Pron?