Hello all!

A client's machine (running Windows XP Pro, generic PC with lots of RAM
and HD space) has developed a problem, which I hope someone on the list
might have run into before: Defrag and all the administrative tools from
Control Panel (there might be more than these) do not run anymore
(defrag did somewhere from 6 weeks to 2 months ago). When you click on
the Start menu choice for defrag, nothing happens. Going to the actual
file in windows/system32 shows a command prompt file icon, and clicking
on that brings up a very brief (read it flashes) command prompt window.
The same is true for the .msc files that run the administrative tools.

This machine is on a small peer-to-peer network, with a DSL connection
that is NOT always on. Everything else that they do with the machine
seems to be fine. No new software or hardware has been added during the
period in question. They have Norton's AV and Internet Security, both
are updated weekly. All critical updates have been installed (I did that
as they had not been doing this previously). No odd programs in msconfig
startup tab...

If I can't find a solution, my next thought is to reinstall XP on top of
the old installation, so as to replace the corrupted(?) files but leave
the settings.

Thanks for your time and thought on this one!

Best, Will Stephenson

Will Stephenson
Acadia Technologies Inc.
mailto:[log in to unmask]

There are as many paths to God as there are people to walk them.

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