Where Has My Help And Support Gone

[tezestwing]

I am on out dated windows XP home I have also lost my system restore
not sure where to go ??

[SlackAlice]

Typing 'help' into the search box should give you a link to 'Help & Support'

[Buenchico]

Double-click on the icon for your hard drive
Double-click on 'Windows'
Double-click on 'System32'
Double-click on 'rstrui'
That should start System Restore.
Use it to take your computer's registry back to a date before the problem occurred.

[tezestwing]

Sorry no reply been away.
When I double click through to Rstui as you instructed Buenchico it only goes to a blank Window and not able to go any further, recently changed from avast A/V to AVG and maybe unwittingly Zipped away all items with avast in program name could this be my fault, windows at the time never cautioned me about this so I put them away into a new zipped file, my PC still works but I wonder if I may have done it wrong,I would be grateful for any help. Thanks

[pinkyboyid]

You could try running a windows system file check / repair utility:

- click 'Windows Start' icon
- Select 'All Programs'
- Select 'Accessories'
- Right-click (as opposed to the usual left-click) 'Command Prompt'
- Select 'Run as Administrator' and in response to the Windows security response click 'Yes'
- A blank 'Command Prompt' window will open up
- Within the 'Command Prompt' window using the keyboard type the command text:-
"SFC /SCANNOW"
and then Press the keyboard 'enter' key

Assuming the SFC program is not itself missing / corrupt, a system scan will commence to check and replace / repair any system files. The operation will most likely take some time to complete.

When completed, hopefully, 'fingers crossed', that will 'fix' your problems!

[tezestwing]

Thanks, I went into command prompt but I am not allowed to go any further due to me not being the administrator, not sure why but years ago I reg as my first name only, how can I deal with that issue.
Still no help and support program, thanks for any info .

[pinkyboyid]

Hmm, if your account is not configured as 'Administrator' then I'm surprised it let you select the 'command prompt' to 'Run as Administrator' option without requesting you to enter an Administrator account name and password.

When you 'RIGHT-clicked' on 'Command Prompt' and selected the option 'Run as Administrator', does the command prompt window open and display the text "Administrator: Command Prompt" at the top of the command prompt window?

Also, if you goto the 'Windows start>Control Panel' and select the 'User accounts' icon, it will display the list of User accounts on your computer. Next to each account name will be the type of account that it is configured as e.g. 'Computer Administrator' or 'Computer User'. What does your account name show?

[tezestwing]

Thanks when I go into user accounts all I get is a blank window with home top left, nothing happens when I try to activate any of these symbols,if I try to change to administrator and also try a password I get a refusal to that action, not sure now, maybe try to put windows XP install disc in and try a BIO install ??????, noticed now my calculator not responding on keyboard, hope any one can help me Thanks

[pinkyboyid]

Without Administrator rights it is going to be difficult to sort, but not impossible!

Since you have an XP Installation CD it may be worth attempting an XP Repair installation process. To do this you may need to change your computer BIOS startup configuration to enable Bootup from CD.

If you have not done this before the BIOS configuration menu is normally accessed via pressing a single keyboard key which will be indicated at the initial power-on screen, usually F1 or F2 for example. Then look for a Boot setting within the menus and set the CD as top of boot list.

Alternatively, some BIOS's are pre-configured to pop-up a BOOT selection menu by pressing F11 or F12 which may display very briefly just before Windows starts. If so, you can then select the CD from that menu which is a bit easier to do than configuring the BIOS settings.

When the CD boots successfully you will need to access and perform the correct repair options which will effectively replace all XP System files only and leave you other files intact.

A useful guide on how to go about this process is available here:
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Now assuming this all works for you and you get your system back looking ok, check your account status as per my previous post to see if it has Administrator status. If it is not Administrator then you are going to need to perform some more configuration actions involving creating a Password Reset / Administrator Account activation CD, something for a later date if necessary but as an example see: http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/

Hope you can at least get the XP repair to work.

Let us know how it goes!

[tezestwing]

Thanks Pinkyboyid will try the bio part tomorrow Thurs when I first start up I get a Window with a Del instruction to go into repairs etc if I put the disc in then and go into set-up in the bio hope that does it anyway I will try it.thanks