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You have a purchase to make Wednesday, May 16, 2007 at 11:45 am Posted by Kiwi (2117 messages posted) If it's worth keeping, it's worth having a legal copy of the OS on it. An old computer should have Win98se, not WinME, and unused copies do exist. Check on eBay. If she insists on doing it on a shoestring, and running illegal software, one of you needs a book on fixing the OS, and this is the best that there is: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/102-5593710-5436132?url=index%3Dblended&search-option=search-amazon&field-keywords=PCs+for+dummies&Go.x=9&Go.y=7&Go=Go . Kiwi ** On Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 11:43 am, stephanie wrote: >My mom was given a used computer and well, it's been a pain to even get running. >(I'm typing this using a WinXP laptop. ) Quite honestly, i have no idea what the >specs of the computer is other than this: >A.) It's a Dell Dimension L600cx computer >B.) It runs Windows ME > >Okay, so on to the bad stuff. >1. the Start Menu doesnt work. The button doesnt work. >2. Whenever I try to get to the My Computer, My Network Places icon, it gives me >error that says "Your current security settings prohibit running ActiveX controls >on this page. As a result, the page may not display correctly." So, no icons appear. >3. Whenever I rebooted in Safe Mode and tried to repair IE, it gave me an error about >"thumbvw.dll" > >I have no idea how to go about fixing the computer, so any ideas about how to access >the RUN command by not using the Start Menu or to go about fixing anything would >be greatly appreciated! [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: You have a purchase to make Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 3:13 pm Posted by Ed (603 messages posted) This is in effect a new computer, with no data of yours on it yet, so why not simply reinstall Windows? If the computer came with a Windows installation CD, or a Restore CD, you could use it to create a working copy of Windows on the machine. The trick is to boot to DOS first, using a bootable floppy disk (from www.bootdisk.com), and delete the folder C:\WINDOWS so that none of the old, broken settings survive into your new, clean Windows installation. You can, at a pinch, buy a copy of Win ME second hand on e bay quite cheaply. Make sure you only buy a full install version, not the upgrade version. Ed On Wednesday, May 16, 2007 at 11:45 am, Kiwi wrote: >If it's worth keeping, it's worth having a legal copy of the OS on it. An old computer >should have Win98se, not WinME, and unused copies do exist. Check on e B a y. >If she insists on doing it on a shoestring, and running illegal software, one of >you needs a book on fixing the OS, and this is the best that there is: >http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/102-5593710-5436132?url=index%3Dblended&search-option=search-amazon&field-keywords=PCs+for+dummies&Go.x=9&Go.y=7&Go=Go [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Cannot access Start Menu and other problems Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 3:52 pm Posted by Heather (1 messages posted) Ok but if you do have files you need to retrieve off of it then how do you go about accessing the security settings to allow activex to display icons and let you see the contents of folders when it's not letting you? I just need to get my photos off of it and then I can format On Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 11:43 am, stephanie wrote: >My mom was given a used computer and well, it's been a pain to even get running. >(I'm typing this using a WinXP laptop. ) Quite honestly, i have no idea what the >specs of the computer is other than this: >A.) It's a Dell Dimension L600cx computer >B.) It runs Windows ME > >Okay, so on to the bad stuff. >1. the Start Menu doesnt work. The button doesnt work. >2. Whenever I try to get to the My Computer, My Network Places icon, it gives me >error that says "Your current security settings prohibit running ActiveX controls >on this page. As a result, the page may not display correctly." So, no icons appear. >3. Whenever I rebooted in Safe Mode and tried to repair IE, it gave me an error about >"thumbvw.dll" > >I have no idea how to go about fixing the computer, so any ideas about how to access >the RUN command by not using the Start Menu or to go about fixing anything would >be greatly appreciated! [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Cannot access Start Menu and other problems Monday, May 28, 2007 at 8:15 pm Posted by Ed (603 messages posted) You can access all of your files in DOS mode, by booting the computer using a bootable floppy disk for Windows ME, downloadable from www.bootdisk.com. The DOS command DIR will display a directory listing for the current folder. You can use the DOS command COPY to copy your files to another disk (e.g. to a floppy disk in A:). The following command will do your copying. Let's assume your photos are in "C:\My Documents\Photos" and are all .JPG files, and you want to copy them to a hard disk at D: - COPY C:\MYDOCU~1\*.JPG D: /V Adjust the source if the files are elsewhere than in "C:\My Documents". If you wish to copy them to a floppy disk in drive A: then replace the destintion thus - COPY C:\MYDOCU~1\*.JPG A: /V If you have more files than there is space for on a floppy, you should be prompted by the program to put a new floppy disk in A: when each one is full. Ed On Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 3:52 pm, Heather wrote: >Ok but if you do have files you need to retrieve off of it then how do you go about >accessing the security settings to allow activex to display icons and let you see >the contents of folders when it's not letting you? I just need to get my photos off >of it and then I can format [Reply or follow-up to this message] Tip: Use one of the [Reply or follow-up to this message] links above to add a message to this thread Search this forum Start a new thread on a different subject Report abuse of the forum Return to the Windows Me Discussion Forum