Laptop / OEM software

My CEO's laptop from Dell has WindowsME installed. It is
rife with bugs and trackware. I want to just wipe clean
and reinstall, but.......She lost the startup OEM discs.
Dell doesn't have replacements, Microsoft doesn't have
replacements, the CEO doesn't want to buy a new OS and
Office suite when she already bought and paid for the
existing ones. I generally agree with her. Why should she
have to pay for new software?

I don't have any restore points??? Don't know why.

I can't get Spybot to load without fatal error.

I can't even get IE to open.

I can edit the registry but the damn trackware is very
elusive.

Any ideas?

Why should she
have to pay for new software?

Because she is the person who seemingly lost the disks that came with her
laptop. Incidentally Microsoft would be unable to help as they don't produce
OEM startup disks, these are produced by the OEM concerned and tailored to the
system with which they are supplied.

Any ideas?

Details of error messages seen and the circumstances in which they are seen
would help those who might be in a position to help you.

I don't have any restore points??? Don't know why.

Because system restore is broken? When was it last used and checked? When
was the system last working correctly? What if any patches have been
installed? What version of Internet Explorer is it using? IMO leaving
matters until everything is broken is rarely the best way of getting problems
resolved, much better to try and fix any problems as and when they arise.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



instauratio wrote:

My CEO's laptop from Dell has WindowsME installed. It is
rife with bugs and trackware. I want to just wipe clean
and reinstall, but.......She lost the startup OEM discs.
Dell doesn't have replacements, Microsoft doesn't have
replacements, the CEO doesn't want to buy a new OS and
Office suite when she already bought and paid for the
existing ones. I generally agree with her. Why should she
have to pay for new software?

I don't have any restore points??? Don't know why.

I can't get Spybot to load without fatal error.

I can't even get IE to open.

I can edit the registry but the damn trackware is very
elusive.

Any ideas?

My apologies for leaving the details out. I guess, I
didn't really expect to be able to remedy this. Before I
write the details, I also want to add, I haven't been
given the laptop until it was too late - the neglect you
mention is very true and I'm trying hard not to criticize
her. The kicker is that she is balking at paying for the
new software and meanwhile, I bill out at $65 and hour.
She doesn't seem to understand it will cost her less and
I'm not about to remind her.

There were 20 critical updates listed as needed when I
briefly accessed the Microsoft update site. I doubt
updates have ever been applied.

The first thing that happened after a successful boot and
start, I connected to the internet - I was immediately
innundated with trackware crap.

This crap appears to have taken up most of the resources,
and a part, if not all of my problems are related to the
lack of resources. When I start in safe mode I can operate
successfully for unlimited amounts of time. But in normal
mode, opening any program brings a Kernell32 error and a
reference to the resource crisis. Also user.exe problem.

I believe, that if I can get the trackware off, I could
possibly recover the use enough to tune and tweak the
system.

I have though, on a few startups come to a Blue Screen and
this makes me doubt a little.

I just tried to bring the errors about so I could include
the error code and address, but the spybot is working so I
might have some progress. Please help if you can based on
what i've told so far. Meanwhile I will try to make
headway and will post more details. Thanks all for being
patient.

-----Original Message-----
Why should she
have to pay for new software?

Because she is the person who seemingly lost the disks
that came with her
laptop. Incidentally Microsoft would be unable to help
as they don't produce
OEM startup disks, these are produced by the OEM
concerned and tailored to the
system with which they are supplied.

Any ideas?

Details of error messages seen and the circumstances in
which they are seen
would help those who might be in a position to help you.

I don't have any restore points??? Don't know why.

Because system restore is broken? When was it last used
and checked? When
was the system last working correctly? What if any
patches have been
installed? What version of Internet Explorer is it
using? IMO leaving
matters until everything is broken is rarely the best way
of getting problems
resolved, much better to try and fix any problems as and
when they arise.
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



instauratio wrote:

My CEO's laptop from Dell has WindowsME installed. It is
rife with bugs and trackware. I want to just wipe clean
and reinstall, but.......She lost the startup OEM discs.
Dell doesn't have replacements, Microsoft doesn't have
replacements, the CEO doesn't want to buy a new OS and
Office suite when she already bought and paid for the
existing ones. I generally agree with her. Why should
she
have to pay for new software?

I don't have any restore points??? Don't know why.

I can't get Spybot to load without fatal error.

I can't even get IE to open.

I can edit the registry but the damn trackware is very
elusive.

Any ideas?

.

There were 20 critical updates listed as needed when I
briefly accessed the Microsoft update site. I doubt
updates have ever been applied.

Oh dear. In which case I doubt that system restore would have helped as
unless the 290700 patch is installed on the machine (updates the file
smgr.dll) no checkpoint created since 8 Sept 2001 is usable.

The first thing that happened after a successful boot and
start, I connected to the internet - I was immediately
innundated with trackware crap.

Best of luck in cleaning the PC. Useful free tools to use include:
Ad-Aware 6.0 from Lavasoft (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/)
SpyBot Search & Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org/)
BHODemon (http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm that checks for
unwanted Browser Help Objects
SpywareBlaster (http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareblaster.html) which can
help prevent some parasites getting a grip on your PC.
Then there is CWShredder
(http://www.zerosrealm.com/downloads/CWShredder.zip or
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/cwshredder.zip) which is the best way
of getting rid of the many forms of the CoolWebSearch hijacker details of
which can be found at http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html
and also http://www.pestpatrol.com/pestinfo/c/cws.asp.

Finally if you still continue to experience problems download a copy of
HijackThis from (http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html). Create a
folder called hijackthis on C: and copy the file you downloaded to that
folder. Close as many applications as you can including all instances of
Internet Explorer and then run hijackthis.exe and post back the log, provided
that it isn't too long, to this thread, otherwise to the HijackThis Forum at
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/ and hopefully this will enable someone to
identify the cause of your problem.
--?
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



instauratio wrote:

My apologies for leaving the details out. I guess, I
didn't really expect to be able to remedy this. Before I
write the details, I also want to add, I haven't been
given the laptop until it was too late - the neglect you
mention is very true and I'm trying hard not to criticize
her. The kicker is that she is balking at paying for the
new software and meanwhile, I bill out at $65 and hour.
She doesn't seem to understand it will cost her less and
I'm not about to remind her.

There were 20 critical updates listed as needed when I
briefly accessed the Microsoft update site. I doubt
updates have ever been applied.

The first thing that happened after a successful boot and
start, I connected to the internet - I was immediately
innundated with trackware crap.

This crap appears to have taken up most of the resources,
and a part, if not all of my problems are related to the
lack of resources. When I start in safe mode I can operate
successfully for unlimited amounts of time. But in normal
mode, opening any program brings a Kernell32 error and a
reference to the resource crisis. Also user.exe problem.

I believe, that if I can get the trackware off, I could
possibly recover the use enough to tune and tweak the
system.

I have though, on a few startups come to a Blue Screen and
this makes me doubt a little.

I just tried to bring the errors about so I could include
the error code and address, but the spybot is working so I
might have some progress. Please help if you can based on
what i've told so far. Meanwhile I will try to make
headway and will post more details. Thanks all for being
patient.