Suddenly lots of random problems with Explorer?

This is really weird, and I don't often ask questions here, but I haven't
been able to find an answer to this anywhere.

I have a 2 year old Vista laptop, running with all the latest updates. 2GB
of RAM, 120GB hard drive, Core 2 Duo CPU. It ran fine up until about 2 weeks
ago.

Suddenly I started noticing random weird things happening. First thing was
that all my thumbnails disappeared, and I've never been able to get them
back. Odd thing is Windows will show them for a split second, then hide
them. So I don't think it's the cache, which I've rebuilt several times.
I've checked all my settings, run through various solutions I've found on the
net, nothing's worked.

Second thing I noticed was that my folders now all open in new windows, even
though I've got them set to open in the same window.

So I went to do a system restore, thinking maybe there was some wayward
update or something that screwed things up. So the third thing I noticed was
that all of my restore points were gone, and System Restore was turned off
(even though it was actually turned on).

Now I thought I might have a virus, so I went to run a full scan using MS's
Security Essentials, which I have installed, and the virus scanner gave me an
error as soon as I tried to open it. I tried downloading it again, and got
an error on install.

Really freaking out now, I downloaded AVG Free and ran that. It ran fine
(and is running fine) and found no problems even on a full system check.

As I go on I keep finding new things that are oddly broken. For example, I
just discovered that I can no longer drag and drop files within the same
folder window. (In other words, I can't put a file into a folder in the same
window, I need to have two separate windows open.)

I have defragged and run chkdsk several times. The last two times chkdsk
did find errors and "fixed them all", but I don't know where the cause and
effect lies, if these problems began because of disk errors or if some sort
of Windows weirdness is now messing up my file structure.

I've been wondering if it's possible to reinstall Explorer somehow. Most of
my problems seem Explorer-related. But I have no idea how to go about this.

Has anyone else seen anything like this on their machines? I do believe it
started either just before or after a round of updates that downloaded and
installed automatically on my machine - even though I have that feature
turned off. (So again, not sure which is cause and which is effect.)

Thanks for any help...

"Jeff" <> wrote in message
news:30DB943C-B310-47C6-8427-...
> This is really weird, and I don't often ask questions here, but I haven't
> been able to find an answer to this anywhere.
>
> I have a 2 year old Vista laptop, running with all the latest updates.
> 2GB
> of RAM, 120GB hard drive, Core 2 Duo CPU. It ran fine up until about 2
> weeks
> ago.
>
> Suddenly I started noticing random weird things happening. First thing
> was
> that all my thumbnails disappeared, and I've never been able to get them
> back. Odd thing is Windows will show them for a split second, then hide
> them. So I don't think it's the cache, which I've rebuilt several times.
> I've checked all my settings, run through various solutions I've found on
> the
> net, nothing's worked.
>
> Second thing I noticed was that my folders now all open in new windows,
> even
> though I've got them set to open in the same window.
>
> So I went to do a system restore, thinking maybe there was some wayward
> update or something that screwed things up. So the third thing I noticed
> was
> that all of my restore points were gone, and System Restore was turned off
> (even though it was actually turned on).
>
> Now I thought I might have a virus, so I went to run a full scan using
> MS's
> Security Essentials, which I have installed, and the virus scanner gave me
> an
> error as soon as I tried to open it. I tried downloading it again, and
> got
> an error on install.
>
> Really freaking out now, I downloaded AVG Free and ran that. It ran fine
> (and is running fine) and found no problems even on a full system check.
>
> As I go on I keep finding new things that are oddly broken. For example,
> I
> just discovered that I can no longer drag and drop files within the same
> folder window. (In other words, I can't put a file into a folder in the
> same
> window, I need to have two separate windows open.)
>
> I have defragged and run chkdsk several times. The last two times chkdsk
> did find errors and "fixed them all", but I don't know where the cause and
> effect lies, if these problems began because of disk errors or if some
> sort
> of Windows weirdness is now messing up my file structure.
>
> I've been wondering if it's possible to reinstall Explorer somehow. Most
> of
> my problems seem Explorer-related. But I have no idea how to go about
> this.
>
> Has anyone else seen anything like this on their machines? I do believe
> it
> started either just before or after a round of updates that downloaded and
> installed automatically on my machine - even though I have that feature
> turned off. (So again, not sure which is cause and which is effect.)
>
> Thanks for any help...

Start backing up your important files now.
Download and run malwarebytes and superantispyware.
You either have a bug or your HDD is about to go.
--


"Don't pick a fight with an old man.
If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you."