Documents problem

[shannie2010]

My operating sytem is XP Home edition version 2002 servicepack 2, 3.00 GHz 3.25 GB RAM and have automatic updates turned off and have done so since I have had my computer about 18 months ago.. Up untill a couple of months ago I used to be able to open up my documents and open up a file. Since then when I go to my documents and double click or right click on a file I just get the hour glass and it's not responding. I then have to open up my task manager and have to end my the file. Then when I go straight back and to the same tasks it opens up the file. As long as I keep my computer on I can go to as many files as I want in my documents and opens them everytime untill I shut down my computer. I am a bit baffled ...hope someone can help.

[Bob_180_Bob]

Hi,
It may or may not be related to your problem but not updating your windows leaves yo open to all the vulnerabilities Windows has detected and written hotfixes and updates for. SP3 is full of them and since then there have been many many more. I have seen a machine with a fresh install of windows with SP2 and an up-to-date antivirus program, pick up drive-by viruses just by opening a site, not even clicking on anything in that site. The attackers scan your machine for holes as you visit a site and if there is one that is not closed by a non-updated OS it will attack and do as much as possible. My advise, update now and turn on automatic updates or at least check updates once a week.
Also I would suggest that you go the UBCD and download the program (see my signature) , make a CD and boot your machine. Scan for viruses with one of the antivirus programs in the UBCD then check your hard drive for problems, reboot and try again.

[shannie2010]

Hi,
It may or may not be related to your problem but not updating your windows leaves yo open to all the vulnerabilities Windows has detected and written hotfixes and updates for. SP3 is full of them and since then there have been many many more. I have seen a machine with a fresh install of windows with SP2 and an up-to-date antivirus program, pick up drive-by viruses just by opening a site, not even clicking on anything in that site. The attackers scan your machine for holes as you visit a site and if there is one that is not closed by a non-updated OS it will attack and do as much as possible. My advise, update now and turn on automatic updates or at least check updates once a week.
Also I would suggest that you go the UBCD and download the program (see my signature) , make a CD and boot your machine. Scan for viruses with one of the antivirus programs in the UBCD then check your hard drive for problems, reboot and try again.

Thank you for taking the time to reply Bob but that doesn't really fix my problem.The reason I don't do updates is I have seen too much in the past when you do the updates microsoft puts crap on your computer as long as you have servicepack 2 it's fine.Also I have a very good antivirus program and it hasn't picked anything up and I am very careful where I go as I am a web designer and have about 30 websites that I have online so I must be careful not to put my computer at risk.

[Bob_180_Bob]

Hi,
With the situation you have spoke about, I would recommend that you use a paid for program like Acronis to take an image of your hard drive so if anything should ever happen you can restore everything as it was at the time of the image.
http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/

I would still strongly recommend that you do a boot scan of your machine for malware as some viruses can hide in loading Windows programs.
In regard to another possibility to fix your problem, (assuming you are using Microsoft Office Word, start an installation of Office and it will ask you if you want to uninstall, modify or repair your installation. Select repair, let it run and see if that helps. Another option is to uninstall the program and reinstall it. you will not lose any data other than any saved details in your normal.dat. Name, special spellings, and other personal settings.

[shannie2010]

Hi,
With the situation you have spoke about, I would recommend that you use a paid for program like Acronis to take an image of your hard drive so if anything should ever happen you can restore everything as it was at the time of the image.
http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/

I would still strongly recommend that you do a boot scan of your machine for malware as some viruses can hide in loading Windows programs.
In regard to another possibility to fix your problem, (assuming you are using Microsoft Office Word, start an installation of Office and it will ask you if you want to uninstall, modify or repair your installation. Select repair, let it run and see if that helps. Another option is to uninstall the program and reinstall it. you will not lose any data other than any saved details in your normal.dat. Name, special spellings, and other personal settings.

Hi Bob I have Acronis and do an image of my computer once a month so have all my files and programs saved thanks. My problem isn't with Microsoft Word not sure where that came from?
The problem is with My Documents when I first start my computer up and go to my documents and try and open a file in my documents it doesn't respond and have to go to my task manager to end it.
Then when I go back to tyhe same file I can open it....just not the first time.
I also did as you suggested and started to install security updates from Microsoft and my computer crashed twice so not going there again.

[Bob_180_Bob]

Hi,
OK, sorry about that, I just assumed, MY Documents = Word. No worries. As I said in my post, "Assuming you are using Word". 90% of my , "My Documents" file is Word documents.
Crashing twice while trying to update would indicate to me that you have a serious problem with your windows installation.
As you use Acronis, I suggest that you take an up-to-date image and then do a repair/install of Windows, with a slipstreamed CD. then try to fully update that copy and see how you go. If you do run into any problems, you can restore the machine to its present state without any problems from your image.
This is only my opinion and you are under no obligation to follow anything I suggest. If you want, just wait and see if one of our resident experts, we have a few (I am not one), may offer you another suggestion to assist you.
I hope you find a solution to your problem.

[shannie2010]

Hi,
OK, sorry about that, I just assumed, MY Documents = Word. No worries. As I said in my post, "Assuming you are using Word". 90% of my , "My Documents" file is Word documents.
Crashing twice while trying to update would indicate to me that you have a serious problem with your windows installation.
As you use Acronis, I suggest that you take an up-to-date image and then do a repair/install of Windows, with a slipstreamed CD. then try to fully update that copy and see how you go. If you do run into any problems, you can restore the machine to its present state without any problems from your image.
This is only my opinion and you are under no obligation to follow anything I suggest. If you want, just wait and see if one of our resident experts, we have a few (I am not one), may offer you another suggestion to assist you.
I hope you find a solution to your problem.

Thank you Bob for your suggestions and it's much appreciated you taking the time to answer.I would say the updating problem is due to no updates for over 12months I imagine. My documents consist of mostly images due to my webdesigning but I will do what you suggested. thank you once again.