Hey everybody, I am having a slight problem with my computer. A few minutes ago, I just turned on my computer and everything was normal (all the start-up programs loaded) but for some reason I couldn't open Firefox or any other programs. So I closed a usual culprit, "explorer.exe." Before anybody jumps on me for closing explorer, let me explain. My computer is not very good. For some reason, explorer sometimes will lag horribly or freeze up my computer and the only way I can make it function normally again is to close explorer. However, when trying to run it from the Task Manager, Windows gave me an error, saying it could not recognize "explorer.exe." It gave me that "select program from list/use web service to find out!" box. I was very confused. So after sitting there with no way to open Explorer, I just restarted. Same thing happens again, only this time, none of the usual start-up programs even load. I get some errors like "Cannot open *.ink Use webservice to identify filetype," etc. And the icons for exe programs don't even show up. They have those little data ones.
Me, being the genius that I am, tried to open a exe program, and it said "Use webservice/use list." I was all like I clicked "use the webservice" thinking that it would just say "Cannot open Firefox.exe," but for some reason FireFox opened.
But it still doesn't run when I click on it in the start menu or anything..
HELP.
MP3 files no longer work because I recieve an error saying "this file type is not associated with a program..."
But Windows Picture and Fax viewer still works.
I am able to open programs by
1) Double-clicking a random file
2) Choosing to open the file with a program from the list
3) Selecting the program that I want to open on the list
I am using Windows XP on a Toshiba Satellite Laptop. I am pretty sure this is running SP1 (definitely not SP2). 512 mb ram, 2.4 ghz pentium 4 processor. This has never happened before!
Please help me. This is a very strange problem. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.
Note: Sorry if I put this in the wrong forum. I thought about it, and thought that this was the best to put it in! Thanks again!