Can't close programs in XP!

My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case of a
DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)

At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on my C:
Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to help.

What else can I try?

Thanks,
Chris

Chris Shearer Cooper wrote:
My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case of a
DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)

At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on my C:
Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to help.

The First Question Of Troubleshooting: what changed between the time
things worked and the time they didn't?

The Second Question of Windows Troubleshooting: what is the
malware/virus status of the machine? If you think it is clean, what
programs (and versions) did you use to determine this?

Be sure the computer is clean:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...moving_Malware

If everything looks good after answering the First Two Questions, check
your hard drive's health with a diagnostic utility downloaded from the
drive mftr. You will make a bootable cd/floppy from this file. Boot with
it and do a thorough test of the hard drive. If it fails any physical
tests, back up your data and replace the drive.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 12:21:57 -0600 from Chris Shearer Cooper
:
My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case of a
DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)

At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on my C:
Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to help.

What else can I try?

Install a good virus scanner and run a full scan.

Or else do a Windows repair install. Something is seriously hosed.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/

You are of course right with the First and Second Questions.

1) Not sure. Since it doesn't happen regularly, I can't pinpoint exactly
when it happened, so I can't correlate with any major changes with the
computer. I installed a new mobo a couple months ago, but the puter worked
fine for 4-6 weeks, so I don't think that's it. No major software installs
around the time when I started seeing this problem.
2) SpySweeper with AntiVirus is run regularly.

I do have a hard drive that from time to time gives me warnings ... I've
physically removed it to see if that helps. If a dying hard drive is
capable of producing the symptoms I've seen, that seems very likely the
culprit.

Thanks!
Chris

"Malke" wrote in message
...
Chris Shearer Cooper wrote:
My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case of
a DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)

At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on my
C: Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to help.

The First Question Of Troubleshooting: what changed between the time
things worked and the time they didn't?

The Second Question of Windows Troubleshooting: what is the malware/virus
status of the machine? If you think it is clean, what programs (and
versions) did you use to determine this?

Be sure the computer is clean:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...moving_Malware

If everything looks good after answering the First Two Questions, check
your hard drive's health with a diagnostic utility downloaded from the
drive mftr. You will make a bootable cd/floppy from this file. Boot with
it and do a thorough test of the hard drive. If it fails any physical
tests, back up your data and replace the drive.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

reboot into safemode,
then check if the symptoms
alleviate or perpetuate...
"Chris Shearer Cooper" wrote in message ...
My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case of a
DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)

At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on my C:
Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to help.

What else can I try?

Thanks,
Chris

What do I lose by doing a Windows repair install? For example, do I have to
re-install all my software?

Thanks,
Chris

"Stan Brown" wrote in message
t...
Sun, 29 Apr 2007 12:21:57 -0600 from Chris Shearer Cooper
:
My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case of
a
DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)

At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on my
C:
Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to help.

What else can I try?

Install a good virus scanner and run a full scan.

Or else do a Windows repair install. Something is seriously hosed.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/

Nope, took out the offending hard drive, and the problem still happened. I
will next try diagnostic utilities for the remaining hard drives.

"Chris Shearer Cooper" wrote in message
...
You are of course right with the First and Second Questions.

1) Not sure. Since it doesn't happen regularly, I can't pinpoint exactly
when it happened, so I can't correlate with any major changes with the
computer. I installed a new mobo a couple months ago, but the puter
worked fine for 4-6 weeks, so I don't think that's it. No major software
installs around the time when I started seeing this problem.
2) SpySweeper with AntiVirus is run regularly.

I do have a hard drive that from time to time gives me warnings ... I've
physically removed it to see if that helps. If a dying hard drive is
capable of producing the symptoms I've seen, that seems very likely the
culprit.

Thanks!
Chris

"Malke" wrote in message
...
Chris Shearer Cooper wrote:
My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case of
a DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)

At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on
my C: Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to
help.

The First Question Of Troubleshooting: what changed between the time
things worked and the time they didn't?

The Second Question of Windows Troubleshooting: what is the malware/virus
status of the machine? If you think it is clean, what programs (and
versions) did you use to determine this?

Be sure the computer is clean:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...moving_Malware

If everything looks good after answering the First Two Questions, check
your hard drive's health with a diagnostic utility downloaded from the
drive mftr. You will make a bootable cd/floppy from this file. Boot with
it and do a thorough test of the hard drive. If it fails any physical
tests, back up your data and replace the drive.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Chris Shearer Cooper wrote:
What do I lose by doing a Windows repair install? For example, do I have to
re-install all my software?

You don't lose anything but Windows Updates when you do a Repair
Install, but I'd always have all data backed up first.
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

Remember to answer the First and Second questions before you do the
Repair Install. Since I can't see your computer, I can't rule out
hardware issues either. Here are some general hardware troubleshooting
steps:

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...ardware_Tshoot


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

Hello,

Sounds like it is running out of memory.

Try closing some programs. Also, did you disable virtual memory?

Start Control Panel System Advanced (tab) Settings (Performance)
Advanced (tab) What does Total Paging file size say?

--
Singapore Website Design
http://www.bootstrike.com/Webdesign/
Singapore Web Hosting
http://www.bootstrike.com/WinXP/faq.html
Windows XP FAQ

"Chris Shearer Cooper" wrote in message
...
My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case of a
DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)

At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on my
C: Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to help.

What else can I try?

Thanks,
Chris

Total paging file size = 2046M

I have 2G of RAM, and looking at task manager, I never use it all ... so I
could disable virtual memory, but I don't see how that could be causing the
specific problem I'm having. If my virtual memory were somehow hosed,
wouldn't that cause more problems?

Thanks,
Chris


"SingaporeWebDesign" wrote in
message ...
Hello,

Sounds like it is running out of memory.

Try closing some programs. Also, did you disable virtual memory?

Start Control Panel System Advanced (tab) Settings (Performance)
Advanced (tab) What does Total Paging file size say?

--
Singapore Website Design
http://www.bootstrike.com/Webdesign/
Singapore Web Hosting
http://www.bootstrike.com/WinXP/faq.html
Windows XP FAQ

"Chris Shearer Cooper" wrote in message
...
My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case of
a DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)

At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on my
C: Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to help.

What else can I try?

Thanks,
Chris

Hello,

No, don't disable the virtual memory. It was just a hunch.

Check your task manager for heavy memory-taking process. When the problem
occurs, try closing some/all programs - especially if you have IE with many
tabs open or Firefox with many tabs open and see if it resolves the issue.

--
Singapore Website Design
http://www.bootstrike.com/Webdesign/
Singapore Web Hosting
http://www.bootstrike.com/WinXP/faq.html
Windows XP FAQ

"Chris Shearer Cooper" wrote in message
...
Total paging file size = 2046M

I have 2G of RAM, and looking at task manager, I never use it all ... so I
could disable virtual memory, but I don't see how that could be causing
the specific problem I'm having. If my virtual memory were somehow hosed,
wouldn't that cause more problems?

Thanks,
Chris


"SingaporeWebDesign" wrote in
message ...
Hello,

Sounds like it is running out of memory.

Try closing some programs. Also, did you disable virtual memory?

Start Control Panel System Advanced (tab) Settings (Performance)
Advanced (tab) What does Total Paging file size say?

--
Singapore Website Design
http://www.bootstrike.com/Webdesign/
Singapore Web Hosting
http://www.bootstrike.com/WinXP/faq.html
Windows XP FAQ

"Chris Shearer Cooper" wrote in message
...
My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case of
a DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)

At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on
my C: Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to
help.

What else can I try?

Thanks,
Chris

That's the problem ... when the problem occurs, I can't close any programs.
I can sometimes switch between programs (sometimes) but however I tell the
program to close (Alt-F4, File:Exit, close button in top right) the program
just sits there and stares at me. Never goes away.

"SingaporeWebDesign" wrote in
message ...
Hello,

No, don't disable the virtual memory. It was just a hunch.

Check your task manager for heavy memory-taking process. When the problem
occurs, try closing some/all programs - especially if you have IE with
many tabs open or Firefox with many tabs open and see if it resolves the
issue.

--
Singapore Website Design
http://www.bootstrike.com/Webdesign/
Singapore Web Hosting
http://www.bootstrike.com/WinXP/faq.html
Windows XP FAQ

"Chris Shearer Cooper" wrote in message
...
Total paging file size = 2046M

I have 2G of RAM, and looking at task manager, I never use it all ... so
I could disable virtual memory, but I don't see how that could be causing
the specific problem I'm having. If my virtual memory were somehow
hosed, wouldn't that cause more problems?

Thanks,
Chris


"SingaporeWebDesign" wrote in
message ...
Hello,

Sounds like it is running out of memory.

Try closing some programs. Also, did you disable virtual memory?

Start Control Panel System Advanced (tab) Settings (Performance)
Advanced (tab) What does Total Paging file size say?

--
Singapore Website Design
http://www.bootstrike.com/Webdesign/
Singapore Web Hosting
http://www.bootstrike.com/WinXP/faq.html
Windows XP FAQ

"Chris Shearer Cooper" wrote in message
...
My XP Pro has started acting very strange ... it will work properly for
quite a while (hours or days) and then will ...
1) Not let me close programs. I can click on the "X" or (in the case
of a DOS command window) type exit, and the window remains.
2) Ignore Ctrl+Alt+Del
3) Ignore right-clicking on task manager in the task bar
4) Not show program names in the Alt-Tab program list (only icons)

At the suggestion of people on this forum, I tried freeing up space on
my C: Drive and defragging, both of which I did and it doesn't seem to
help.

What else can I try?

Thanks,
Chris

On Mon, 30 Apr 2007 19:10:58 -0600, "Chris Shearer Cooper"
wrote:

That's the problem ... when the problem occurs, I can't close any programs.
I can sometimes switch between programs (sometimes) but however I tell the
program to close (Alt-F4, File:Exit, close button in top right) the program
just sits there and stares at me. Never goes away.


I have that prob from time to time in Win2K when I am working as an
administrator. I find that Ctlr-alt-del will get you to the Task Manager where
you often can close the upper most program. Give it a try.

Borge in sunny Perth, Australia