Posts by TallCool1

Thank you very much for the info RC_Razor. what if my win2k crashes and I want to boot from a floppy? is there a bootdisk that can access an NTFS? if there is, then I'll probably have to repartition my HDD to NTFS since everything you've said sums up everything to the NTFS being way much better than FAT/FAT32.

Your new partitions should be NTFS. It's more reliable and can handle larger files. Contrary to earlier posts, it's FAT32 that has a 2GB-per-file limit, the limit for NTFS is much higher.

I generally reserve about a 10 GB partition for Windows, the rest for data. The data partition should be NTFS, too - but be aware that on a slower machine it's more overhead. There are ways to speed it up, see Disable the NTFS Last Access Time Stamp for an example.

http://www.ntfs.com/boot-disk.htm has a free-download floppy disk image that, when expanded to a floppy, creates a bootable disk that will allow you to copy files from an NTFS partition to a FAT32 partition (or another hard drive) or a network. The site has other utilities as well, both free and for pay. The Knoppix CD will allow you to do the same thing, if you're able to boot from a CD.

Just a quick question if i go into regedit is it safe to delete the links that lead to uninstalled software because there is a list of them that belong to applications that have long gone.

There are several ways to do this. If you are running XP, the easiest is to download the XP PowerToy TweakUI. It has this function built in. If you are running Win 2000 or earlier, use the earlier version of TweakUI. It's a lot easier to do it that way than to edit the Registry.

In any case, Win NT/2000/XP users can do a full backup-and-restore of the Registry with ERUNT -- The Emergency Recovery Utility NT to keep your Registry backed up. It also includes an optimizer, as well. ERUNT backs up and restores parts of the Registry that Windows' built-in tools do not.

Win2000 setup starts up, begins to loads files it needs. after loading files, right before the actual install begins i get a message the 2000 can't find any installed hard drives. it tells me to check connections, etc.

both drives are connected to a pci card, not to the board itself.

It's that old Catch-22 -- in some cases, the drive can't boot Win2K until it "sees" the drive, but it can't see the drive until the card drivers are installed, but it can't install the drivers until it sees the drive. Go to the website of the card's manufacturer and check it out -- someone has already had that problem, I'm sure and, hopefully, solved it. If it's a no-name card, go to the chipset manufacturer's site and find out who else used those chips. You may need a firmware upgrade.

Also, are you sure that your card is bootable? Not all IDE add-in cards have their own BIOS. I assume that it does, since it worked with Win98...

When trying to open multiple forwarded emails using Windows XP and Outlook Express 6, I must click Attach: Fwd: Item for each level of forwarding. When I finally get to the original sender I can read the email but then must separately close all the open emails behind it. Is there a setting that will bring me to the meat of the item, or at least let me save it (like hotmail does)?

As far as I can tell, not in OE. However, Mozilla Mail allows reading attachments in-line, and I think the full version of Outlook may do something similar.

My current theory (just picked this up from some research on the web - need to test at home tomight) is that the router is using the wrong protocol to connect. The DSL uses PPPoE, but this can look like DHCP to the router since both get IP addresses automagically. Check your router settings and make sure it is using PPPoE. Then check the MTU setting. This is the maximum packet size the router can handle (at least that is what I understand it to mean, and I AM a techy). The internet should be able to handle up to 1500. If changing to PPPoE does not solve the problem right away review this setting and make sure it is set at 1500.

The correct MTU (maximum transfer units) setting for PPPoE is 1492. This is because there is an 8-byte "wrapper" to make the PPP packet "look like" an Ethernet packet to the network card. An MTU setting of 1500 will slow transfers substantially due to packet-fragment resends.

I'm wanting to do a clean install of win2000 completely replacing win98. I've backed up everything to my second drive and am all ready to go. My bios is set to boot from CD.

My first question - how many partitions should I set up for win2000? I've heard 1, 2, even 3 from various sources.
Second - do I go with NTFS or FAT32? My second drive is of course FAT32. Will I have any problem accessing the files on this second drive (primarily video and audio files for video editing software and also mp3 collection)?

Your new partitions should be NTFS. It's more reliable and can handle larger files (FAT32 has a 2 GB limit). I generally reserve about a 10 GB partition for Windows, the rest for data. The data partition should be NTFS, too - but be aware that on a slower machine it's more overhead. There are ways to speed it up, like Disable the NTFS Last Access Time Stamp.

There will be no problem accessing a FAT32 partition from Win2k. For example, I dual-boot into Linux and have FAT32 partitions specifically so that both OSes can access the data on that drive.

You should also use ERUNT -- The Emergency Recovery Utility NT to keep your Registry backed up -- it's cheap insurance.

Thank you TallCool1. I downloaded Mozilla Firefox and went to those java chatrooms and badaboom badabing there they are! I went back to explorer 6 and still couldnt open those java chats up. I wonder what that could be?

I don't know what's up with IE either, but I wanted to make sure you could chat -- I'm glad Firefox worked for you.

that Gibson research thing is somewhat confusing...ive noticed that when other people have posted about pop ups someone asks for their hijack this log. would it help if i posted mine?

I don't want to sound condescending or denigrate your computer skills, but I am trying to make it as easy as possible for you here.

In this case. it is as easy as it can be, thanks to Steve Gibson. Here's what you do:

* Go to http://grc.com/default.htm
* Go to the middle of the page. You will see large screen icons for the three programs I mentioned earlier.
* Click on each in turn to run it. You see, because they are the uncompressed executables, they don't even need to be installed -- when the download dialog opens, simply choose Open instead of Save.
* Each program offers tests, so you can check each function before you turn it off.

While a HijackThis log may be useful in general, I don't think it's that kind of problem. Of course, I could be wrong. In any case, the Gibson utilities should be run on all XP installs.

I was finally downloaded the Java J2SE v 1.4.2_03. But I still cant use java chat rooms and still get error as in my first post. In control panel there is a coffee cup java icon and scrolling through all the options everything seems enabled. Whats up with my chat, I know I'm not banned from these sites. Sorry for being persistant but this is driving me nuts.

Try the Firefox browser from . It may be a wierd setting or Registry glitch in Windows causing problems with IE.

You could also try joining a Yahoo! Group -- mine, for example; the link is on my web page -- if you have a Yahoo! membership (they're useful). Group sites have a Java Chat function and you could experiment there as a sandbox.

what kind of popups are they . 2 things in you log that look suspicious

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Lerm] C:\Documents and Settings\Steven\Application Data\cacp.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [WNST] C:\WINDOWS\System32\wnsapisv.exe
can't find any info on them and that makes them suspicious,do you ahve any idea what they are

CACP.EXE is OK, I checked it out earlier. wnsapisv.exe is suspect, however. I have not found anything by searching on it and the filename sounds a bit dangerous.

At the very least, you should download and run the following utilities from Gibson Research: DCOMbob.exe, ShootTheMessenger.exe, and uPNP.exe. The first one shuts off the DCOM/RPC function that Blaster/Nachi/Welchia uses to infect systems, the second shuts off the Messenger service (which is not the same as AIM, MSN Messenger. or Yahoo! Messenger) to prevent spam pop-ups (and is likely giving you your problems), and the third turns off Universal Plug-and-Play, a security risk. All of these procedures are reversible, of course.

i downloaded kazaa and ever since ive been getting popups so i delted it ran lavasoft adware remover and spybot but they keep on popping up...can someone please help me its driving me insane!

You should download and run the following utilities from Gibson Research: DCOMbob.exe, ShootTheMessenger.exe, and uPNP.exe. The first one shuts off the DCOM/RPC function that Blaster/Nachi/Welchia uses to infect systems, the second shuts off the Messenger service (which is not the same as AIM, MSN Messenger. or Yahoo! Messenger) to prevent spam pop-ups (and is likely giving you your problems), and the third turns off Universal Plug-and-Play, a security risk. All of these procedures are reversible, of course.

When I try to print something on my Lexmark 5700, it says the printer is offline!

Which version of the operating system are you running? Are you using a parallel or USB interface? Because XP has to "fake" an interrupt for the parallel port, you should always use the USB port for printing to reduce overhead and the possibility of conflicts.

I have a slight problem with my graphic card. I have a GeForce 3 Ti200 but when I recently had another problem I (in the Device controller) tried to update the drivers. That problem wasn't solved, but more important, when I rebooted it turned out my computer no longer recognised my graphical adapter as the GeForce it is.

Which version of Windows are you running? Under Win 9x, it is somtimes necessary to run a utility like Detonator Destroyer to clear out the remnants of the earlier versions of the nVidia drivers.

Let us know which Windows you are running, and we will go from there.

i had evidence eliminator on my comp and delted it cause it caused some problems and now alot of my programs on my comp are screwed up...when i try to use my comp it says it cant find the files, and when i try to use worldbook encyclopedia it says my comp cant accept cookies and wont let me use it and this all happened after i ran evidence eliminator...is there a way to undo what it did?

Sure, there's always a way... it's called backup your data and reformat... ;)

Seriously, it sounds like EE damaged the registry. A System Restore is in order.

I have cable concection so I leave my computer on all the time. Sometimes when I come back to use it, it will either say that my memory is low or the screen saver is froze. I've tried to do control, alt, delete, but it won't work, because it's frozen. All I can do is use the power button in back to shut it off and restart it. Anyone have any ideas on why this is?

Yes. Many third-party screen savers have memory leaks -- so, over time, the free memory drops to zero. This is especially true for Win 9x, since GDI, SYS, and User RAM is limited to 512 KB or less. A free utility like TinyResMeter can be useful for monitoring memory.

Also, try a different screensaver, like "Blank screen," and see what happens.

this just came up on my friends computer, any idea as to what it is?

n-Case is an adware bundle. Spyware/aware stompers can usually handle it, or it can be manually removed.

You might also check out and research from my Malware, virus, and startup information and tools page.

Problem is, I'm not able to boot at all.

Then move the drive to another machine and access it from there. If you can't boot from a floppy, you have bigger problems than just data recovery...

When I load Xp everytime a pop come up that says can not locate System32.exe. Please go to Start and search for system32.exe. How can I fix this so it doesnt show up because after I click ok my pc operates normaly without any problems.

You have a partially-installed or partially-removed virus. In a case like this, a user should start by going to Google (example) first, then come here with your question.

More information would be helpful. Which anti-virus are you running? How often do you scan for adware/spyware? Which firewall are you using?

You should also check out my Malware, virus, and startup information and tools page, as well. Help us help you!

jesus i thought i was going to get help from this forum. i make the effort to put up pictures help you help me and everything, but nobodys willing to help me.

Give us a chance. Many of us work and don't get to our computers until after dinner, etc.

Now as to your problem. The Warcraft error may depend on your system configuration. It could be a corrupt file, among other things. Give us more information -- I'll see what I can find in the meantime.

The wrong-icon problem is a bit easier, I think, though it may also be related. Download the XP PowerToy TweakUI, then use the Rebuild Font Cache function to do just that.

This looked kind of weird, and what was in it was weird too.

It's a streaming-video player-config file, probably for WiMP.

On the school system where I work, the computer in my room has been backing up the desktop of this computer (Win 98SE) to the main server (Windows/Novell) into a file specifically for Pegasus Email data only.

Here's a link I found for an online test for this sort of thing: DO YOU HAVE PARASITES?

Thanks... but the warranty is already over... Any tips on repairing it myself?

It's not likely that you can fix it yourself. The problem is probably electronic, rather than mechanical.

I just bought a new Samsung flat screen monitor, SyncMaster 955df, and it gets fuzzy near the border, especialy the text in my web address bar. I have tried everything to get it to focus.

It's the monitor. Edge-focus is notoriously tricky on flat-screen picture tubes. I have not found anything on adjusting the focus for this model. A quick check on the web indicates that you are not alone, though it seems to be more of a sample-defect problem rather than a poor design; a replacement should be OK. As a former monitor repairman, I have no problem recommending Samsung as a brand, in general.

Ok, so i opened my laptop the other day to find that it is totally white.

Have you tried an external monitor? Does the unit boot normally otherwise?

I recently bought a used Celeron 1.7 Hz. The vendor from whom I bought told me that the system had 128MB of RAM. However when I checked the My Computer properties, the system is reporting only 96MB. I am running Windows 2000. The vendor told me that this is normal for Celeron 1.7 systems as the 32MB are set apart by the system for virtual memory and only 96MB appears on the system properties. Is the vendor bluffing?

No, they are not lying. Many Intel-based systems (and low-end systems in general) use an onboard video adapter that uses memory shared with the system, so it does not appear in the available-memory pool. I would highly recommend adding at least 128 MB of additional memory, 256 MB would be even better -- 96 MB is simply not enough for Windows to work efficiently, especially on a Celeron.

I've done what you said.. then reboot... unfortunately the dialer is still there.. so i run Hackthis again.. and this is the new logs...

Logfile of HijackThis v1.97.7...

Here's a link I found for an online test: DO YOU HAVE PARASITES?

I do not see any visible, direct threats -- but there are some startups that should be killed, and one that's suspect:

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TaskMonitor] C:\WINDOWS\taskmon.exe

No longer needed by Windows (it's a "disk optimizer" that never worked right), it's a resource waste and a possible source of MyDoom/Novarg infection. Get rid of it.
--------------
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TkBellExe] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe" -osboot

A not-needed resource hog, but hard to kill. If you delete this key, it will come back unless you change the name realsched.exe to something like realsched.bak.
--------------
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\QTTASK.EXE" -atboottime

Not needed. Delete.
--------------
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [System Backup] msystem.exe

Do you know what this is? I have not found anything on it with a thorough search, which makes it suspect. This could be the culprit.
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O4 - Startup: Microsoft Office.lnk = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\OSA.EXE

Another resource drain. Unless you use it, kill it.
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Disclaimer: I have never had any problems doing the above dozens of times, but I can't be held responsible for problems.

Here's my page of links to the best I've found so far of this type of material. I add stuff as soon as I find it.

quote:
Nobody should ever buy a Celeron, for any reason, no matter what.

That is a bit extreme. I have used celerons for some time and I have not had any problems with them. Remember, most people use their computers to write reports, e-mail, and surf the net. Celerons will do that with no problems.

But streaming video is what we are discussing here, and that's absolutely the worst possible use for the Celeron.

The Celeron processor was developed for one reason only: marketing-by-numbers (clock speed). There is no customer benefit to it whatsoever. Its in-built limitations make it a poor choice for any purpose. You can research the benchmarks yourself -- a slower P4 will outperform a faster Celeron by a wide margin. You can cherry-pick benchmarks to show some advantage, but in balanced real-world use, there's no comparison. Why spend more for less performance?

but where is the ECS board?

Here, for example.

i downloaded motherboard monitor, and when i come to the part to choose my motherboard make mines not there

Will research for you. Full answer later (going out to trade show).

Hey, I cant seem to get any sound on my sys with mandrake 2.0. My motherboard (a7v266-e) has onboard sound, but i recently purchased a soundblaster audigy 2 which i obviously use instead. Manrake recognizes both soundcards in the config, but i think that its running primarily through the onboard. Does anyone know how i can change the default input/output over to the audigy? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Make sure that you have disabled PnP-aware OS (that's how it's usually worded, it may say "Plug and Play" instead) in the BIOS Setup screen. It's usually ON by default.

For some reason while i'm playing an online game my computer will completely shutdown. I've added fans galore to everything to allow it to run cool thinking it was overheating, but to no avail... I've tried all that I know of to troubleshoot and I've read somewhere on here to an almost related problem that it could be the memory. I'll look into that. But if there is anymore suggestions, tips, please feel free to reply.

Try MemTest86, for starters.

I did find a different USB to 25-pin (female) parallel cable at coolgear.
http://www.coolgear.com/productdetails1.cfm?sku=USBG-LPT25&cats=596
DO you think this will work?

This is a common item. It allows a parallel-port printer to be hooked to a PC's USB port, very useful for Win2k and XP since there are no hardware interrupts for the parallel port on those OSes. Other parallel-port devices such as scanners and Zip drives are not likely to work due to driver issues.

Also, this does not, unfortunately, work the other way around; a USB peripheral can't be hooked to a parallel port. Sorry.

What is a fast write? I'm not familiar

It's basically "burst mode" for the AGP bus.

hey guys how do i enable fast writes?

It depends on the video card, the BIOS, and the video card driver. There are tweakers for both nVidia and ATI that will do this if it's supported. Guru3D is a good source for these.

could someone please tell me a link to where i could buy this motherboard? it is very apreciated..

How about the virtually-identical ECS board? It might be easier to find.

Thanks for the info.

I have been looking around and replacing an inverter appears to be something I can do myself.

Any recommendations where I can buy an inverter and guides to installing it?

I have seen them on eBay. They may come with instructions; ask to be sure. You can also Google on the model number and the word "inverter" like this, for example.

i downloaded motherboard manager...

Do you mean Motherboard Monitor?

I have a Dell Inspiron 7500 laptop. In the last few months, I noticed that the screen was getting darker. In the last few weeks I noticed the screen was getting a red tint. Yesterday, the screen had a slight flicker. Today, the screen is not working... How can I find out if it is the LCD, LCD inverter, or CCFL tube?

It's probably a faulty inverter (thermal shutdown). If it was a bad FL tube, it would probably flicker or restart instead.

I have a AK32V motherboard with a AMD Athelon 2400 processor I just installed. I have a graphics card I salvaged from my old AMD Athelon 800 MH system that had a K7 PRO motherboard.
My question is can I use the Trident 3DImage 9750 graphics card in the new AK32V motherboard? The part of the card that goes into the slot is split into two parts. The slot on the motherboard is not split but rather one whole part.

It looks good-to-go to me. The top-end speed on this board is AGP-4x, so it's backwards-compatible.

I was thinking Celeron as You can go 800 FSB as opposed to 333 max with the AMD line so I can make to most of the 400Mhz DDR and keep everything in sync. I may check my price list for an AMD solution yet. I have an 850 Duron system now, but I don't think I can do full MPEG 2 capture with it.

As I pointed out in another thread, the 800 MHz and 533 MHz front-side bus speeds that Intel advertises are more than a bit misleading. These are quad-pumped busses -- two interleaved DDRAM channels. With the AMD family, the nForce chipsets do this.

Don't be fooled -- even a 800-MHz-bus Celeron is no match for ANY AMD processor. That's like saying a go-kart motor can spin 10,000 RPM -- so what? The Celeron's limited cache, when combined with the long pipeline of the P4 architecture, is deadly to performance. Nobody should ever buy a Celeron, for any reason, no matter what.

The differences between the Mac and PC platforms when used with graphics and video applications is narrowing fast, especially with the new AMD-64 systems and the Linux 2.6 kernel.

The Norton AV subscription just got expired and my dad hasn't got around to renewing it. So I don't know what to do if it's a virus.

You can download the free version of Grisoft AVG -- it's better than Norton, anyway (much less of a resource hog).

Note the common thread to all the devices you recently installed: tablet, IPod, digicam -- they are all I/O oriented devices. This is one of the most likely classes of hardware to cause this kind of problem at shutdown. It is important to make sure that you have the most up-to-date drivers possible for all these items.

My computer will not display red. I run Windows 98, I have a Dell D1728D-LS 15" monitor (I've tested another monitor, same problem) and a NVidia GEForce2 MX400 graphics card (I've tested another graphics card, same problem). I'm using the default "Plug and Play Monitor" driver, as my best attempts (repeatedly searching multiple websites, including Dell's) have failed to produce a driver for this specific monitor. I've tried turning off hardware acceleration and booting in safe mode, but neither fixed the problem. I've just about arrived at the conclusion that my motherboard is damaged or flawed, and I just want to be sure I haven't missed anything. Any suggestions (short of a new motherboard)?

That Sony-built monitor works fine with Plug-and-Play, which is why no separate driver is available. If you have tried 2 separate video cards, what brand was the second card? If it's another nVidia card, it might have inherited the driver settings from the first card. Have you checked the nVidia-specific settings in the Desktop Properties menu?

While I find it doubtful in the extreme that it's the motherboard (everything color-related is on the video card), anything is possible...

Internet Explorer, Mozilla both display gifs incorrectly. The weird thing is they aren't just displaying them incorrectly, they aren't receiving or saving them properly. I can view the normal gifs just fine if I transfer a gif from another computer to this one with a floppy or whatever.

Wow, that's a wierd one. For some reason, the GIF palette is being reduced to 15 colors (in this example) from the 31 colors of the original. I have no idea why this is so. How many colors is your desktop set to render in? If it's only 256 colors, it's possible that that may be the cause -- only the colors common to both palettes will render in a browser. Try 16-bit (65,536 colors), 24-bit, or 32-bit color depth, either from the Desktop menu Properties -> Settings tab or with a free utility such as MultiRes. That's the only thing that jumps out at me...

O.S Win 98. Just downloaded Internet Explorer 6 a couple weeks ago and cant enable java chat rooms now. When I try to log on to most chat rooms I get no error message except a colored square,circle,triangle inside a bigger square. I checked internet options -advanced section and java VM is enabled. security settings at medium. Everything seems on........why cant I chat?

Java support from Microsoft is poor -- in fact, since MS lost the court case with Sun, there soon will be no official support. It sounds like your Java Virtual Machine is broken. Go to the Sun Java Download page. Go to Download J2SE v 1.4.2_03 and click on the download link under JRE. After saying "accept" to the license agreement, Click on the "continue" button. I recommend the Windows Offline Installation version. I think installing the Sun Java JRE will fix things.

would it hurt anything if i left the side of my computer case off? it gets really hot in there and it helps cool it down? any reasons why i shouldn't?

Computer cases are designed with a specific airflow in mind -- that's why the power supply (with its exhaust fan) is at the top-rear of the case and the intake fan (if any) is at the bottom-front or bottom. Leaving the side off sometimes cools it, but more often creates hot-spots that get little or no airflow.

If your case has no intake fan in front, consider installing one. A good Panasonic fan (like the P9738-ND from Digi-Key) is always a good bet. NMB and Sunon are not quite as good, but acceptable.

Some cases have a place for another intake fan on the back, near the CPU. Sometimes this helps, sometimes not.

A good way to tell what's working (or not) is to use a system monitor like Motherboard Monitor (MBM) to monitor temperatures in real time.

ok i have 512MB of ram in my i have 3 of my DIMM modules in use, #1 and #2 have 128MB sticks in them, and in #3 i have a 256MB stick i read my manual for the computer and it says to not pair two different kinds of ram together or you wont get the maximum performance. so is it ok to have a 256 stick in module#3? or should i have a 128MB stick in module 3 and 4? OR can i get another 256 stick and put into #4?

What kind of motherboard (brand/model) do you have? Some quad-pumped RAM setups (AMD/nForce boards and the Intel so-called "533 MHz" and "800 MHz" chipsets, for example) require RAM in pairs for maximum performance, so you would need another 256 MB DIMM for 2 pairs in that setup.

Drivivng me nuts!! Trying to go into my banking details, renew a domain name, renew my anti-virus and other similar areas I was getting diverted to a spy-ware search-page, so I ran AdAware and Spybot which removed this but now when I try to access banking info I get the message 'Page cannot be displayed'. Have tried jiggling the security settings to no good end. Also alarmingly I cannot activate Norton AV.

Two things:

* Were your Spybot-S&D/Adaware files up-to-date? You may still have a hijacker or Trojan on your system that's newer than your datafiles could deal with.

* Did you note which malware was removed by the 2 programs? At least one piece of scumware (New.net comes to mind -- there may be others) trashes your network settings and often requires a repair after removal.

You might also try to download and run HijackThis. Note: read the instructions on the linked page very carefully (the main download link is broken -- use one of the mirrors). Do not actually remove anything from your startup or Registry until you have posted the log that it generates and are given explicit instructions on what to remove. You should also check out my Malware, virus, and startup information and tools page for more details.

Norton, resource hog that it is, is not much of a loss -- the free Grisoft AVG is better, anyway...

What's up with this? I don't know, but recently this box has been appearing whenever i try to reboot. It gives me a box that tells me this dialog is ending and it gives me the option to end task, so even if i dont end task the result is the box says "not responding" so i end the task anyways.

Some program is hanging up on close. It's hard to tell which one from your description. There are a variety of things that can cause this. Have you installed any new hardware or software recently? have you installed any new drivers lately? You may be hijacked or virus-infected. If you can give us more information...

Help us help you. Try pressing [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Del] to bring up the Task Manager and see if something is coming up as Not Responding. Try downloading and running HijackThis.

..the entire contents of My Documents (and my wallpaper folder, and C:\Programs\Terragen, would be nice too...) HAVE to be recovered...it is absolutely critical that the files in my Documents be recovered in some way

http://www.ntfs.com/boot-disk.htm has a free-download floppy disk image that, when expanded to a floppy, creates a bootable disk that will allow you to copy files from an NTFS partition to a FAT32 partition (or another hard drive) or a network. The Knoppix CD will allow you to do the same thing, if you're able to boot from a CD.