[Radarr]

So I have my girlfriend's friend's laptop at my house right now. I'm trying to fix it. I normally have no problem fixing computers, but this one really has stumped me.

Every time I go to open up IE, or any explorer window (windows explorer, even My Computer), nothing happens. I can't access the control panel, either. I've tried start -> run then typing in stuff, but I can't get anything other than regedit to come up. Safe mode does nothing to remedy this problem. Windows restore (or rollback, whatever it is) doesn't seem to be responding.

I'd really like to avoid a format. If I can get basic control of the computer back for her, she'll be happy.

Any advice?

 

[binary visions]

At a guess, I'd say you have some corrupted and/or missing system files.

If it's Windows XP, you can do a "repair" install, which essentially just reinstalls all of the system files while maintaining your registry and user settings. That may be the best option, but I haven't had the best luck with repair installs - sometimes they hang. Just pop in the Windows XP disc and proceed with a normal install, it will give you an option to repair the current install or do a fresh one.

Do you have any idea what might have caused this? Has she installed anything recently? Does she have virus scanning software?