Who says you need explorer.exe to post on 2+2?
 

...but it sure would be nice!

This Tuesday, my A/C adapter for my laptop was stolen. I replaced it with a Targus charger. That adapter worked once. The next time I restarted my computer, it froze as soon as it got to the desktop. Task Manager revealed that quickset (a power management utility) was using something like 98% of CPU power. I killed it, no help. On restart, quickset was fine, but explorer.exe appeared to be frozen. No response from icons on the desktop, and an hourglass cursor whenever I moved the mouse over the taskbar. Couldn't open the start menu. I returned the Targus adapter and got one from the manufacturer. Same problem with explorer.

I finally came up with a partial workaround. On startup, I kill explorer.exe, then run it again from Task Manager. It still freezes up, but it gets far enough to configure my internet. Then, I kill it again, and start anything I need from Task Manager. I've installed a bunch of spyware detectors and AV software, but I haven't turned up any problems that would explain this. I really really really don't want to reformat. Any ideas?

I'm running a Dell Latitude D600, Pentium M 1.6, 512 MB RAM, WinXP Pro.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Who says you need explorer.exe to post on 2+2?
 

I am never amazed what problems people get on and on with windows XP and they still continue to use it.

Re: Who says you need explorer.exe to post on 2+2?
 

I use WinXP without too many problems. A big part of stability is prevention. I run AV software, firewall, and run Ad-Aware and Spybot at least once a week. I defrag regularly. I clean the registry. And, most important of all, I have a 300gb external hdd with full backups of both my computers.

Sure, it is a good amount of work. Maybe I'd be better off using linux, but as a law student I don't really have the time to make the switch. Anyway, sometimes I miss ms-dos and WordPerfect 5.1.

Re: Who says you need explorer.exe to post on 2+2?
 

What would you recommend instead of XP?

Re: Who says you need explorer.exe to post on 2+2?
 

Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 Server.

Re: Who says you need explorer.exe to post on 2+2?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I use WinXP without too many problems. A big part of stability is prevention. I run AV software, firewall, and run Ad-Aware and Spybot at least once a week. I defrag regularly. I clean the registry. And, most important of all, I have a 300gb external hdd with full backups of both my computers.

Sure, it is a good amount of work. Maybe I'd be better off using linux, but as a law student I don't really have the time to make the switch. Anyway, sometimes I miss ms-dos and WordPerfect 5.1.

[/ QUOTE ]

I loved WordPerfect 5.1.

Shift-F7 baby!

scrub

Re: Who says you need explorer.exe to post on 2+2?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I am never amazed what problems people get on and on with windows XP and they still continue to use it

[/ QUOTE ]

99.99% of these are user/infection issues

Re: Who says you need explorer.exe to post on 2+2?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 Server.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you have any idea how much W2k3 Server costs? Wtf man.

Re: Who says you need explorer.exe to post on 2+2?
 

You can get a free beta from MS. FREE! And yes windows 2003 R2 beta is way better than XP.

Re: Who says you need explorer.exe to post on 2+2?
 

[ QUOTE ]
You can get a free beta from MS. FREE! And yes windows 2003 R2 beta is way better than XP.

[/ QUOTE ]

It is not better than XP for the home user. And ooh a free beta, what do you suggest these users you are telling to get it will do when it expires?