computer question

[Catison]

yesterday everything started working again.... how it started, it's hard to explain.....

i logged onto my mom's name and it was the same, no desktop. But, using the task manager i went to the "Recent" folders section and double clicked on a random folder. It was one of the folders for the mystery scores- it was .ink extension, i have no idea what that it is. But every time i'd open it, the task bar at the bottom would flash for half a second and disappear. I kept expermenting with this until eventually the desktop loaded up again by itself, along with some error message that i couldn't understand at all. Everything started working again. The internet wasn't (i had trouble going online, too, even though i was getting a signal) but when i logged off of my mom's name and went on my name, the internet is working just fine, like nothing ever happened. So it was all just completely random, or so complex that i could never understand what was really going on.

You've got a virus.  It is keeping explorer.exe from running.  If I were you, I would backup everything you have on that computer and keep it safe because you might have to reinstall windows soon.

[Mark]

.ink just means it was a link to a file or application somewhere on your PC. The icons in your Start\Programs menu, for example, are basically .ink extensions - the actual programs to which they refer are located elsewhere on your HDD.

[greg]

You've got a virus.  It is keeping explorer.exe from running.  If I were you, I would backup everything you have on that computer and keep it safe because you might have to reinstall windows soon.

actually IE works now....
i did virus scans and it didn't find anything so it's probably undetected

.ink just means it was a link to a file or application somewhere on your PC. The icons in your Start\Programs menu, for example, are basically .ink extensions - the actual programs to which they refer are located elsewhere on your HDD.

ah, i see

[Catison]

actually IE works now....
i did virus scans and it didn't find anything so it's probably undetected

Once again, explorer.exe has nothing to do with Internet Explorer.  If I remember right, IE's executable is iexplore.exe.  explorer.exe is the program that displays your icons, taskbar, start menu, etc.  It doesn't browse the internet.  If you couldn't see your icons or taskbar, its because explorer.exe wasn't working.

[JoshLilly]

It's .lnk, not .ink. It's short for "link"; Windows Shortcuts (like on the desktop) have this extension. The only fix is to get rid of Windoze and try an actual operating system. 

[johnQpublic]

Open the PC the way you have to now then go to:

START/ALL PROGRAMS/ACCESSORIES/SYSTEM TOOLS/SYSTEM RESTORE/ click "restore my computer to a previous time"

I have used this method successfully over the years when each of the PCs that my wife has/had is/was misbehaving and hours of experimenting and researching went in vain.

I never have had a problem with any of the Macs I've owned. GET A MAC!! 

[greg]

I never have had a problem with any of the Macs I've owned. GET A MAC!! 

my mom has one, the only bad thing about them is they're gaming-deficient. But, since i don't normally play computer games, they probably aren't that bad

[johnQpublic]

they probably aren't that bad

They're way more than "aren't bad"; they're damn fine!! 

[JoshLilly]

Since they started basing their stuff off BSD it became good.

[Catison]

Or, if you really want to dive into computerland try installing ubuntu, a linux OS that is definitely an alternative to Windows.  I installed it on my Mom's computer and she can't tell the difference.

[Mark]

It's .lnk, not .ink. It's short for "link"; Windows Shortcuts (like on the desktop) have this extension. The only fix is to get rid of Windoze and try an actual operating system. 

Yes, you're right. My bad.

[DavidW]

Or, if you really want to dive into computerland try installing ubuntu, a linux OS that is definitely an alternative to Windows.  I installed it on my Mom's computer and she can't tell the difference.

I gave a copy of Ubuntu to a friend, time will tell if he uses it or not.  I told him that even if he doesn't want to use it he can still use it as a recue cd (to retrieve data).

[Mozart]

Can someone help me out...I have had this problem before and I don't remember how to fix it. I have jacks in the front of my computer for a microphone speakers ext...but now when I plug anything into them the computer doesn't read them, only the back part. How do I fix this?

[Mozart]

So anyone know how to fix it?

[DavidW]

Can someone help me out...I have had this problem before and I don't remember how to fix it. I have jacks in the front of my computer for a microphone speakers ext...but now when I plug anything into them the computer doesn't read them, only the back part. How do I fix this?

Front jacks are for onboard audio, if you installed a sound card and disabled onboard audio in the bios then you have no choice but to use the backjacks which you would want to anyway.

So you have to explain more about your pc.

Does the headphone jack in the front work?

Assuming you had not disabled the onboard audio then you still have the options of
(a) the hardware works but is not configured properly, i.e. the appropriate driver is not installed,
(b) the jack does not work.

[Mozart]

Hmm, I have always used the front jack for headphones and the back jack for my regular speakers. Like the headphones would cancel out the speakers and noise would only come out of the headphones. It has happened before...and really pissed me off but then it either fixed itself or I messed with the settings. Come to think of it, they stop working the exact day I installed my webcam...could this have anything to do with it? I will try unplugging it in a bit and see if thats the reason. I'm pretty sure the drivers worked because it worked fine a week ago. Would all of the front jacks just suddenly break?


Damn, I think it was the webcam....it is working now.

[orbital]

A new computer question, although I more or less know the answer 

In short, it is possible at all to rescue files overwritten by a new Windows installation   

The long version is: My desktop harddrive failed and I had to replace it. Not a big deal since I only keep programs in the main drive. All user files are in a secondary (slave)harddrive. I got the new harddrive, installed it as the master. Popped in the Windows Recovery DVDs and after 6 hours my new system was ready to go... only that Windows was installed onto the slave drive for some reason  This basically wiped out the  harddrive with the user files on it since Windows formatted and overwrote the whole thing. I took the slave HD out and redid the whole recovery to the new hard drive. But I guess now my user files are lost forever, or are they 

[Gustav]

gee, i dunno, this has never happened to me. But, i did from time to time, delete useful files and later regret that i deleted them. In this case, to retrieve "lost" files, I believe there are programs available, where you can retrieve deleted items (to some extend, it's never 100%), but if you google it, you can probably find some of those programs that can do that.

[Great Gable]

A new computer question, although I more or less know the answer 

In short, it is possible at all to rescue files overwritten by a new Windows installation   

The long version is: My desktop harddrive failed and I had to replace it. Not a big deal since I only keep programs in the main drive. All user files are in a secondary (slave)harddrive. I got the new harddrive, installed it as the master. Popped in the Windows Recovery DVDs and after 6 hours my new system was ready to go... only that Windows was installed onto the slave drive for some reason  This basically wiped out the  harddrive with the user files on it since Windows formatted and overwrote the whole thing. I took the slave HD out and redid the whole recovery to the new hard drive. But I guess now my user files are lost forever, or are they 

I'm pretty sure they are gone - when windows goes back on it wipes the disc. For future reference look at GHOST. This can do a copy of your old hard drive and whack it all back on without having to re-install software.

[orbital]

Thank you both. I already did google it. Could not find much info, all the links are generally data recovery specialist companies. I searched download.com for a software, there are a few (although they donot mention my case), Iwill give them a try.