XP PRO SP2 double clicking control panel XP asks "to create a shortcut

[urge262]

I am running XP Pro SP2, 450 mhz 512mb.

Issue #1: Bios boots fine but, when i get to windows it takes for ever to load up my startup programs, norton, logitech ifeel drivers etc... Once everything is loaded i try opening programs and it just basically chokes. After a few minutes the programs I clicked on earlier, open up pretty much at the same time then it gets really slow again.

Issue #2: When i try to open my contol panel a message box pops up and says "windows cannot create a shortcut here would you like to place one on the desktop" When i click on My computer on the desktop its opens the windows search in the left panel and displays my drives etc on the right. Also when I try to get to Help and Support to do a system restore it just opens the windows search.

I have booted in safe mode and the computer runs very fast but I am still getting the control panel shortcut message. In safe mode I ran norton and spybot. No viruses found and 1 spyware issue. I keep my pc up to date and clean of spyware and viruses. I have dealt with a lot of spyware and viruses with my friends and family members But i haven't seen anything like this before.

The pc is pretty much un useable under a normal windows boot and can't access control panel in safe mode or normal boot.
Also I just moved recently, and I moved 30 minutes away and transported my pc in my van. So i thought maybe during the move the processor, RAM, IDE cables, and various power cables came loose and didn't find anything loose. The PC worked perfectly before the move and now I have the above issues.

Any ideas? Thank you

 

[bcastner]

Issue #2:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;321186&Product=winxp

 

[urge262]

Does this clear up the control pannel shortcut?

 

[bcastner]

Perhaps, as the Start menu shortcut is tied to My Computer.
Make the folder registry changes discussed in the earlier link. You need to sort the My Computer/Search issue.

Issue #1: Slowness

XP will sort some of this itself. When you install SP2 it cleans out the prefetch folder and begins to repopulate it. It will take about 3 days before the prefetch folder begins to have an effect upon your system. At that time, the system will begin to defrag the system partition in the background (when the system is idle) and place the most commonly used files in an appropriate position for optimal access. This will increase your apparent speed.

As it works fast in Safe Mode, clearly SP2 is not completely to blame for any slowness.

. Defrag the disk after the SP2 install helps a lot;

. Review your startup programs. These are not loaded in Safe Mode and make them the likely culprit for slowness. I use this excellent freeware utility to diagnost startup problems and selectively disable startup programs:

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/autoruns.shtml

 

[urge262]

When I installed SP2 a few weeks ago I didnt have any problems. The day of my move my computer was running perfectly then after the move 2 days later I set everything up and ran into these problems on the first boot up after the move. Thats why I'm wondering why did all of these problems show up all at once?

Also I already had msconfig bootup configured as well as spybot's system startup options months ago.

Do you reccomend fixing the registry first then trying maybe a system restore?

 

[bcastner]

The day of my move my computer was running perfectly then after the move 2 days later I set everything up and ran into these problems on the first boot up after the move."

Hmmmmm. A wrinkle. Unplug the computer, open the case and remove and reseat all RAM, add-in adapter boards, and remove and replug in all cables. Power up and test.

 

[urge262]

Alright, I'll try all of these tonight and get back to you. Thanks for the help!!

 

[urge262]

Ok, last night i took out all my cards, RAM, Processor, IDE cables, Power cords, then put everything back in. It still didnt work right. I got the My Computer and Control Panel issues fixed. But the computer is terribly slow. The mouse moves quickly but when i try to open a program or WE it took about 30 minutes to an hour to open. Also clicking a window to bring to the focus that would take 30 min - 1hr as well. I tried a system restore but i could only got back maybe 2 weeks and windows said that it couldn't restore since there were no system changes. I tried unintalling SP2 in Safe mode and it gave me an error. I booted into normal boot and tried uninstalling SP2 and the next button was enabled about 8 hours after I picked remove from Add Remove programs. So i'm letting it go today to see if it will continue to uninstall.

Also after i reseated all of the components I turned the PC on and it would boot into windows and would sit at the desktop for abour 10-15 seconds and it would just restart automatically. It did that a couple times then I checked all of the components powed on and it rebotted twice the same way then on the 3rd time it booted to windows normally. I have restarted since then and it seems fine.

But my problem still is the horrible speed. I know its not a slight performace issue based defragging or anything like that. This is a major problem when it takes 30 minutes for the start menu to pop up after pressing the start button on the keyboard or clicking a window to take focus.

Anything I can do?

 

[linney]

450 mhz is a bit on the slow side and close to the minimum requirements, perhaps your machine is suffering the consequences of old age (like me).

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