registry error

[mik*2]

I'm running win xpsp2 and had a problem a while back after downloading some updates from the microsoft site. Problem was every time i used adaware or norton antivirus my computer would crash. I've reinstalled norton and it works ok now but adaware will not. I've also tried uninstalling sp2 and reinstalling but still no good.
I've since found that every time i try and open the registry and extend the "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT" part of the resistry, my pc will crash....
Any ideas what can be done?? Where do i start??

cheers
mike

[Catweazle]

Mike, quite frankly I think it sounds like you've already gone well beyond the 'Where do I start?" point and are well into "Is it worth continuing?" territory. Obviously your system has had underlying problems BEFORE those updates were installed, and your troubleshooting efforts since have really only built on them.

Sometimes you really need to sit back and consider if you've reached a point where backing up your data, wiping the drive and installing everything again fresh may not just be the best move to make!

I suspect you may have got there :(

[mik*2]

yep, i was afraid someone would say that. This all stemmed from when my pc started downloading the updates automatically. I'LL make the decision when my pc downloads updates, not microsoft!! I started pressing the escape key as it was downloading and all the rest of it but i couldnt stop it and i think that may have caused all this....Oh well new install this weekend.

cheers
mike

[Catweazle]

I cannot stress enough that the problems will NOT originate from the updates. They will originate from other problems on your system, which may not have even yet manifested before the updates were installed.