HELP: Windows ME not starting up

My son-in-laws computer is using Windows ME and for some reason it has
started displaying an error dialogue "error loading Explorer.EXE; You must
reinstall Windows"

Is there a way that the Explorer EXE file can be downloaded from somewhere
and copied on to his PC.

The only disks he has are the recovery disks that came with PC and we all
no, that they will wipe the PC clean. My grandchildren have school work they
have done on the PC and I would like to help recover it. Even safe mode
will not function.

Help!

Oh yeah, one more thing; please don't talk to me like I am a computer whiz.
Computer idiot here; so speak to me like and idiot!

Thanks

Joe

Joe,

There are a number of possible causes for this problem and the KB articles
that follow might help you resolve this problem.

KB299313 - ""Error Loading Explorer.exe" Error Message When You Attempt to
Start Windows" (http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=299313) which explains
how to replace explorer.exe from the Win Me cab files which should
hopefully be located in either the C:\Windows\Options\Cabs or
C:\Windows\Options\Install folder on your hard disk.

KB299296 - "Error Message: Error Loading Explorer.exe You Must Reinstall
Windows" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=299296) which explains how to
replace the file msvcrt.dll

See also KB306599 - "Error Message: Error Loading Explorer.exe You Must
Reinstall Windows" (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=306599) which
explains how a similar error message can be generated when a trojan
program had added itself so as to be launched each time you booted to Win
me but has now been removed by for example an anti-virus application.

One final suggestion would be to try using system restore to roll the
system back to a checkpoint created before this problem started although I
would only recommend this if that was not more than a few days ago,
perhaps a week at most. For more details see KB 279736 "How to Start the
System Restore Tool from a Command Prompt"
(http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=279736) which explains what you need to
do since you can't boot to Win Me.

Best of luck,
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Joseph Ferraro wrote:

My son-in-laws computer is using Windows ME and for some reason it has
started displaying an error dialogue "error loading Explorer.EXE; You
must reinstall Windows"

Is there a way that the Explorer EXE file can be downloaded from
somewhere and copied on to his PC.

The only disks he has are the recovery disks that came with PC and we
all no, that they will wipe the PC clean. My grandchildren have
school work they have done on the PC and I would like to help recover
it. Even safe mode will not function.

Help!

Oh yeah, one more thing; please don't talk to me like I am a computer
whiz. Computer idiot here; so speak to me like and idiot!