asked on

Applications that just wont close

It seems that every time I shut down or restart, explorer and the connections tray display a dialog box that I need to shut down manually.
Part of my brain - okay, all of my brain - tells me that these are just old 16 bit apps from 3.1 days that don't respond properly in an XP environment.

It's not the end of the world, but I just wanted some comfort that this is not a sign of impending doom and that one day the color of my monitor screen is going to blend in perfectly with the blue walls in my office.

Bonus Question:
Is there any difference (with respect to the life of my PC) between leaving it on 24/7 and letting it hibernate when not in use, or turning it off all together every night?
I was led to believe ( by this sweet young thing I met in a cafe in Saint Tropez) that turning it off and on is actually more stressful to the PC.

Thanks in advance :-)
seanpowell

sirbounty

Look at it this way - if you turn your system on, everything gets hot. Thus the needs for fans and cooling technology.
Now you shut your system down, everything cools off again. Back on, and it starts heating up again. Yes, that puts some stress on the components inside.
I think you'll find most admins here are of the mindset to leave the system on (all mine are 24x7).

As for the apps that won't close - what are they?
It may be somethings not being released from memory properly.

seanpowell

ASKER

Thanks for confirming question 2 :-) That makes me feel better (I'd hate it if she'd lied to me)

The two apps are explorer.exe and the conntection tray...

sirbounty

1) First of all try the System File Checker:
Click Start
Click Run
In the Open box that appears, type->
SFC /PurgeCache <ENTER>
SFC /ScanNow <ENTER>
You may need your installation source (CD) as this process will replace corrupted drivers on your system.

2) Try removing items from Startup:
Click Start
Click Run
In the Open box that appears, type->
MSCONFIG <ENTER>
In the Startup tab, start out by disabling everything you're unfamiliar with (or everything if you're
unsure).
Optionally, you can also disable non-Microsoft services from the Services tab.
If the problem no longer exists after a reboot, then you can narrow it down as one of the items in your
startup. To permanently remove these item(s), proceed as follows...

Click Start
Click Run
In the Open box that appears, type->
REGEDIT <ENTER>
*Be careful when editing the registry as an accidental deletion can render your system inoperable.
First navigate to the following key in the registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Once found, click File, Export to save a copy of the key before you delete any items (if necessary).
After the file has been saved, delete items as needed from the right pane.
Now find the next startup key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Follow the previous procedures to export a copy before deleting items from the right pane.

3) Always remove temp files from your system on a periodic basis:
Click Start
Click Run
In the Open box that appears, type->
%TEMP% <ENTER>
This is your profile's temporary folder location. All files can be deleted here, but not the containing
folder. Some files may be in use, so an error may be generated but can be ignored.

4) Check for Spyware:
Ad-Aware --> http://www.netsecurity.about.com/library/blfreespyware.htm
HijackThis -->http://www.spychecker.com/program/hijackthis.html
Spybot-S&D -->http://www.safer-networking.org/
Web Shredder -->http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html#cwshredder
All inclusive Spyware Protection and Removal --> http://www.firewallguide.com/spyware.htm
Spyware defined --> http://www.spychecker.com/spyware.html

5) Check for Viruses with online scanners:
Symantec --> http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/default.asp?productid=symhome&langid=ie&venid=sym
Trend Micro --> http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_corp.asp
Panda ActiveScan --> http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/
McAfee Security --> http://us.mcafee.com/root/mfs/default.asp
Individual File Scanner --> http://www.kaspersky.com/remoteviruschk.html

sirbounty

Oh, and explorer.exe and systray.exe are part of XP - not a 16-bit OS...
But that leads me to believe that you've upgraded to XP, rather than a clean install??

seanpowell

ASKER

>>But that leads me to believe that you've upgraded to XP, rather than a clean install??

Correct, 2 years ago from NT

Zaheer Iqbal

Upgrading tends to be a nightmare !
I would do a clean install of windows xp.
Please check your event viewer for errors, This is can be found under control panel and administrative tools. Post errors.

seanpowell

ASKER

Nothing in the event log about explorer.exe or the connections tray...

Clean install ? No way am I going to attempt that, because, for the most part, the computer still works :-)

sunray_2003

Sean,

Thanks for making me attempt a 4+3=7 pointer question.

I would guess try sirbounty's suggestions should solve the issue.. Have you tried all that ?

seanpowell

ASKER

Also - I didn't think you can do a clean install with an upgrade product...

seanpowell

ASKER

1) First of all try the System File Checker:
...replace corrupted drivers on your system.

Does this mean that explorer.exe / connections tray use drivers that are corrupted, or are dependent on other drivers that are cprrupted?

2) Try removing items from Startup:
So its possible that certain services that start are causing problems with explorer.exe / connections tray not stopping?

sirbounty

1) possibly (r u using Home or Pro edition?)
2) possibly again. Explorer and systray should shut down normally. If not, something is certainly amiss.

Try msconfig and remove the startup items, or even try booting into safe mode and see if the same results are found.

Has it always behaved this way (I hope not - you didn't wait 2 years to ask about it, did you? ;)

If not, a repair may get you where you need to be...

Check these links for info on repairing XP:

http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm (Last Known Good/Safe Mode/Recovery Console/Repair)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
http://www.windowsreinstall.com/ (Choose Pro or Home from the side-bar)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;306084 (Restore to previous state)

seanpowell

ASKER

>>you didn't wait 2 years to ask about it, did you?
Ummm. I uhhh. Hmm, let me think now....

I'll go through all your recommendations - thanks :-)

sirbounty

Haha.
Keep us posted...

seanpowell

ASKER

XP Pro...

Interesting - if I click Start > Turn Off Computer, and then wait about 10 seconds befor clicking restart or shutdown, I don't get those two dialog boxes. So perhaps they are just taking longer to be released?

(Love that... having to go to Start in order to Stop. Why didn't they label the button "Stop", and then "Turn on Computer"...)

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

sirbounty

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Zaheer Iqbal

Have a look here http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/tips/security/spot16bit.asp

SOLUTION

Zaheer Iqbal

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seanpowell

ASKER

Apart from all those Iomega utilities which I'm sure I don't need, the rest (apart from one) look reasonable?

http://www3.sympatico.ca/spowell/msconfig.html

sirbounty

Good suggestion - although I've never used the super tweak..http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

sirbounty

Thanx.

seanpowell

ASKER

A lot of good info there on viper's site - just said goodbye to themes. Thanks to you both :-)

Zaheer Iqbal

Not a problem thats were here for!