Computer problems - can someone please help?

[eeyoreforever]

My computer has gone wacky this morning. I will list several things that I've seen, and please know that I am not real computer literate:

1. My icons on my desktop had weird symbols under them. I tried to go to control panel to see if I could do anything, but it is not loading. I get some junk saying saying "thisdirname" and "thisdirpath" and a link for "windows update" and "technical support"

2. I ran Spybot and deleted a few things it found, but it was all cookies.

3. I tried to open my Norton Antivirus, but it is giving me a message that Internet Explorer needs to be 4.01 or higher. I have always had 6.0 installed.

4. I can't open Outlook Express-I'm getting a message that says "Windows Script Host - Loading your settings failed (The configuration registry database is corrupt)"

Can someone please offer any suggestions? I would really appreciate the help.

 

[JoenAdamnErinnSam]

PM me-I have a suggestion but not sure if I should post.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Have you tried a reboot (always the obvious first choice)? Do you recall any new websites visited or attachments on emails you ran? Links from emails?

Try a scan from Panda http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm

One from Webroot

http://www.webroot.com/wb/products/spysweeper/index.php

Ad-aware

http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html?part=69274&subj=dlpage&tag=button

See what you come up with on those, if you are able to access them.

I have purchased the 'pay for' versions of those threee, always running in the background, virtually never a problem.

 

[eeyoreforever]

JoenAdamnErinnSam - sent you a PM

Dan - Thanks for your reply. I have rebooted twice (for good measure), but that didn't help.

I ran Ad Aware, but all it found was tracking cookies. Deleted those.

I can't get Panda to run. When I click on the link, nothing happens.

I tried downloading Spysweeper and got this message "Error creating registry key. HKey_current_user\software\webroot.
RegCreateKeyEx failed; code 1009. The configuration registry database is corrupt."

Any other ideas from Dan or anyone else?

I also noticed that I can't get My Computer, recycle bin or organize favorites to open correctly.

 

[mmexpress]

How about a system restore to an earlier date?

 

[WebmasterAlex]

be REALLY careful with system restore, only use it as a last resort and back up your data first. I had a customer that used system restore the other day and lost ever piece of personal information on their computer.
We have a thread going here with a lot of suggestions from a number of different people, it might be worth checking out.