XP/ IE6 problem

Backbiter

This driving me nuts.

When I try to save a file, my PC only lets me save it to My Documents. If I try and save it to a different folder within My Documents, the dialogue box freezes and I can't complete the save - the programme I'm using crashes. This happens whether I'm using Word, Excel, PowerPoint or any image or music file that I want to save or move to a specific location. Until I need to save, everything works fine. I can copy and paste files into different folders, but I can't use the normal save/ save as dialogue boxes at all. Trying to save to a specific location causes my USB drive to freeze - CTRL-ALT-DELETE brings up a 'not responding' message for that drive or whatever drive/ programme I'm using.

At the same time, a fault has developed with the drop down address list in IE6. If I click on it, IE freezes and crashes and has to be restarted. And yet I can surf easily using my favourites and following any other links.

I've got up-to-date virus protection and have even used an online free Virus scan (McAfee) which found nothing at all.

Both faults developed at the same time in the last week. The PC is 16 months old and has never misbehaved before.

This is seriously hampering the way I work, so any help/ suggestions very gratefully received.

albertross_2

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/systemrestore.mspx

start, run, chkdsk c: /F , then reboot

have you got an external usb hard disk or flash drive? If so, does it do this when it is unplugged..? If the answer is yes, and no, try running chkdsk on that drive..

smcaul

It is not a Virus, I hazard a guess you have a HP printer installed? If so , you have no doubt either manually or automatically downloaded the latest security patch from Microsoft. I had the same problem last week. Click here to find out how to reslove the isuue. You will need to do a registery edit - but the guide tells you how.

Backbiter

Many thanks, especially to smcaul. I have an HP scanner, so that article exactly describes the problem. I've done a system restore a couple of times, but that only resolves the issue temporarily. It's OK at the moment but will no doubt start to play up shortly.
I'll have to have a go at editing the registry - something you should never, ever do, of course, so I hope those instructions prove foolproof.

smcaul

My tip is to "Cut and Paste" the code into the "Name" field of the "Dword", as it is quite long and I made a couple of typo's the first time so it did not work. It is quite easy if you follow the instructions though.

Flexible_Friend

I have the problem whereby I have an external hard drive which is a copy of my entire C: drive. I can see and access "My documents" on the C: drive but I can't see it through Windows Explorer on my external F: drive. All of the other treeview structure is complete and visible. The "My documents" directory is physically there because I can see it in DOS or through my FTP browser and if I try to manually copy it from my C: drive, Windows warns me that a file of that name already exists so I just "cancel" the copy.

I have since done the Registry fix as detailed on the Windows Support site but that has had no effect on my F: drive. The directory is still not visible. I presume the Registry controls all the drives on the computer.

My F: drive was fine when I looked on Sunday but it has only misbehaved since yesterday. In fact I only added my external drive at the weekend because I was getting occasional "Run Time" errors in Internet Explorer and thought my hard drive was playing up and thought it would be a wise idea to back the whole thing up on a new external drive.

Any suggestions on how I can fix my F: drive? The data is physically there, it's just that the directory is not visible.

Why do Microsoft release these security updates without testing them? I'm not sure when the update was applied because I have "automatic updates" set on.

I might have to look on Google to see if anyone else has had this problem with an external drive.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Flexible_Friend

One more piece of information. I do have an HP Laserjet II printer but I couldn't find the fiel that was mentioned on the Windows Support site.

Flexible_Friend

UPDATE: Looks like Mr Gates and his team might be releasing an update to their update on April 25th (today!) if this article is correct.

http://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/394

Flexible_Friend

This sums up the problem.

http://news.com.com/5208-1002-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=16073&messageID=137060&start=-1

And no, Mr Gates hasn’t fixed it yet.

Flexible_Friend

Latest update news ... QUOTE : -

Microsoft will re-release Windows patch MS06-015 on Tuesday, April 25th

From the MSRC Blog: We've been continually examining the best way to assist the customers who may have been impacted by the interaction of MS06-015 with the software Mike mentioned before. We wanted to check in and let you know the current plan. Up until now there have been several solutions: Upgrade to the newest version of the affected software, a manual registry key fix, uninstall the third party software (NVIDIA Drivers versions 61.94 and prior or the Hewlett Packard Share-to-web software) or uninstall the update. All of these require the user to take some sort of action.

So what we have done is re-engineered the MS06-015 update to avoid the conflict altogether with the older Hewlett Packard and NVIDIA software. We're going to run a test pass on it and we will release this new update on Tuesday, April 25th. What the new update essentially does is simply add the affected third party software to an "exception list" so that the problem does not occur. The revised update automates the manual registry key fix.

So what should you do?

Well if you are experiencing the problem right now, you can use the currently available reg key fix documented in 918165, go to the newest versions of the affected software, or uninstall the third party software. On Tuesday April 25th, if you have not taken those actions but are having the problem, the update MS06-015 will be delivered to the machine through AU if configured, or through Microsoft Update or the Download Center if you want to install it manually.

I want to be real clear about that. When the update is re-released, it's going to be very much targeted to people who are having the problem, or people who have not installed MS06-015 yet. That means if you have already installed MS06-015 and are not having the problem, there's no action here for you.

Windows Update, Microsoft Update, and Automatic Update will have detection logic built into them to only offer the revised update (which essentially includes the reg key fix) to those customers who either don't have MS06-015 or are having the problem.

We've updated the bulletin to reflect this information as well.

http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archiv...21/425838.aspx

Backbiter

Just read that after doing the manual registry fix. Seems to be OK at the moment - I can save stuff to where I want without the programme freezing - but I'm annoyed I didn't read the above before editing the registry.

Thanks again for all the help for my original post.