Ok, so this might be funny to some people - I actually hope somebody gets amused by this:
My problems started the other day while going online. I have Win ME from 2001. I had just closed out of Firefox and was attempting to open up IE (I don't know which version.) My computer froze up. No big deal, it does it all the time. I hit ctlr+alt+del and nothing happened. Again, no big deal. I turn it off via the start button. Everything loads normally.
I try to open IE right away. Again, it freezes. Turn it off via the power button. Turn it back on. My desktop picture is gone. Almost all of my icons are gone. When I open My Computer is says, "Your current security settings prohibit running ActiveX controls on this page. As a result this page may not display properly." How true. I can't see anything inside of folders. I can see the folders themselves, but not the files.
Now for the odd part. I can get online with Firefox but not with IE. In fact when I right click on the IE icon and go to properties, it is as if IE has been stripped of all pertinent information. When I go to security settings, I can move the little bar up and down so that normally it would change the security setting. However, when I do that, there are no pictures or text that change - very bizarre.
Also, I can't save anything from websites because it either says "specified path is invalid" or some other crap. I can't even download a virus scanner. Obviously I need a new computer but I can't get one at this point. Additionally, I want to salvage a bunch of files. Any clues on how to get my machine back to not totally jacked up?
Thanks in advance.