Programs won't run with double-click or from menus until batch file run

My father in law is having a very odd problem with his Windows 98 PC.
When he first logs in, he cannot run programs by double-clicking
desktop icons or by selecting them from the Programs menu. There is a
slight noise from the disk but nothing happens.

Also, in Windows Explorer, double-clicking folders or files similarly
has no effect. However, selecting a folder in the folder tree pane
causes its contents to display in the right pane.

However, programs run if you type the program name in Start-Run (with
the path if necessary).

If you run command.com from Start-Run and then close it, everything is
back to normal and double-clicking works as it should!

I now have created him an empty BAT file and told him to run it using
Start-Run before he does anything on the computer.

Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this problem? If not,
can anyone suggest a more automatic work-around. I've tried executing a
BAT file from AUTOEXEC.BAT and also
HKCU/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run but neither of these
fixes the problem.

Thanks very much for any help you can give.

Julian

That's odd. Just because of what you say cures it...
"START button, Run, SysEdit"
....& post both Config.sys & Autoexec.bat for examination.

Normally, I say to try Badour's association fix, though...

It may be helpful to take these two Badour repair ".reg" files.
Unzip them & click the ".reg" inside. This will merge the fix into your
Registry.
http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/html/reg_files.html

http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/asset...s/ExeAssoc.zip
Repair .Exe Association. Sets the default association for .exe files.

http://home.satx.rr.com/badour/assets/images/LnkW98.zip
Link Association (Shortcut) Repair. W95 with IE4 and W98.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

wrote in message
ups.com...
| My father in law is having a very odd problem with his Windows 98 PC.
| When he first logs in, he cannot run programs by double-clicking
| desktop icons or by selecting them from the Programs menu. There is a
| slight noise from the disk but nothing happens.
|
| Also, in Windows Explorer, double-clicking folders or files similarly
| has no effect. However, selecting a folder in the folder tree pane
| causes its contents to display in the right pane.
|
| However, programs run if you type the program name in Start-Run (with
| the path if necessary).
|
| If you run command.com from Start-Run and then close it, everything
is
| back to normal and double-clicking works as it should!
|
| I now have created him an empty BAT file and told him to run it using
| Start-Run before he does anything on the computer.
|
| Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this problem? If not,
| can anyone suggest a more automatic work-around. I've tried executing
a
| BAT file from AUTOEXEC.BAT and also
| HKCU/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run but neither of
these
| fixes the problem.
|
| Thanks very much for any help you can give.
|
| Julian
|

wrote in message
ups.com...

When he first logs in, he cannot run programs by double-clicking
desktop icons or by selecting them from the Programs menu. There is a
slight noise from the disk but nothing happens.

Also, in Windows Explorer, double-clicking folders or files similarly
has no effect. However, selecting a folder in the folder tree pane
causes its contents to display in the right pane.

However, programs run if you type the program name in Start-Run (with
the path if necessary).

If you run command.com from Start-Run and then close it, everything is
back to normal and double-clicking works as it should!

I now have created him an empty BAT file and told him to run it using
Start-Run before he does anything on the computer.

1. Check hardware i.e. connect a different mouse
that you know to be in working order.
2. Check software e.g.
2a reinstal drivers (for a proven functional mouse)
2b verify mouse settings (function for each button).
3. Clean up the system generally (e.g. SCANDISK
and remove junk files). This may be done fastest
in Safe Mode (which disables double click.)

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Do a virus and spyware scan. It could be the reminents of some old
malware.

Thanks very much for all your suggestions. It seems that using a
different mouse has solved the problem. I don't feel I understand why
as it wasn't just the double-click that was not working, but choosing
Open from the right-click menu.

Julian

You are welcome. Well, the whole thing was odd from the beginning. I am
glad a new mouse cured him. I guess indeed it could be the mouse was
dirty, bad, or it's settings (Control Panel, Mouse, Buttons tab) were
mussed. Sure sounded like he needed those Badour fixes, though, or maybe
something really horrible was inside Config.sys!


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

wrote in message
oups.com...
| Thanks very much for all your suggestions. It seems that using a
| different mouse has solved the problem. I don't feel I understand why
| as it wasn't just the double-click that was not working, but choosing
| Open from the right-click menu.
|
| Julian
|