From: Singburi Sam on
On Mar 22, 4:04 pm, Singburi Sam <singburi_...(a)yahoo.com> wrote:

No one helped me with this question. Perhaps because I
slipped up during the description. I'll try again.

> I am a novice user of Windows XP (and happy to remain
> novice!)  I learn how to do simple things but sometimes the
> simple things change.
>
> Just now I wanted to look for my most recent additions to
> a certain folder.  I do this in a very simple way:
>   Click on My Computer
>   Click down to the appropriate folder
>   Select appropriate View
>
> But today this didn't work!

Clicking on My Computer works OK, then I click on "Local Disk (C:)"
Now I get a window with a list of programs: which program
would I like to use to open C:?  !!!

> ... And I can't do the simple thing I wanted to.
>
> My kids use the computer; perhaps they've changed some
> setting inadvertantly, but I've no idea what or how to fix.
>
> Any help appreciated.

Experimenting a little I see: clicking on
a flashdrive works normally; clicking on folders
works normally; perhaps only C: is affected: it's
like the software thinks it is a regular file
rather than a disk.

I did discover a simple workaround: Instead
of clicking C: with the left mouse button,
I press the right mouse button and select "Explore:".
This gets me, more or less, to where I wnated to be.
Still I am curious: why the change in behaviour?

Sam
From: Nicholas Geti on
Most likely a virus.


"Singburi Sam" <singburi_sam(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:d59bc817-10dd-4f75-b28d-7e15d194200e(a)n39g2000prj.googlegroups.com...
On Mar 22, 4:04 pm, Singburi Sam <singburi_...(a)yahoo.com> wrote:

No one helped me with this question. Perhaps because I
slipped up during the description. I'll try again.

> I am a novice user of Windows XP (and happy to remain
> novice!) I learn how to do simple things but sometimes the
> simple things change.
>
> Just now I wanted to look for my most recent additions to
> a certain folder. I do this in a very simple way:
> Click on My Computer
> Click down to the appropriate folder
> Select appropriate View
>
> But today this didn't work!

Clicking on My Computer works OK, then I click on "Local Disk (C:)"
Now I get a window with a list of programs: which program
would I like to use to open C:? !!!

> ... And I can't do the simple thing I wanted to.
>
> My kids use the computer; perhaps they've changed some
> setting inadvertantly, but I've no idea what or how to fix.
>
> Any help appreciated.

Experimenting a little I see: clicking on
a flashdrive works normally; clicking on folders
works normally; perhaps only C: is affected: it's
like the software thinks it is a regular file
rather than a disk.

I did discover a simple workaround: Instead
of clicking C: with the left mouse button,
I press the right mouse button and select "Explore:".
This gets me, more or less, to where I wnated to be.
Still I am curious: why the change in behaviour?

Sam


From: Singburi Sam on
On Mar 24, 11:37 pm, "Nicholas Geti" <ng...(a)optonline.net> wrote:
> Most likely a virus.

Thanks, I was wondering about that. I did run AdAware Smart Scan
without problem. I'll try Full Scan, though it takes a long while.

I hope it's not rude to suggest that your brief reply is not
fully convincing. Have you seen this sort of symptom before?
Can you explain why you think it's a virus?

Sam
From: JD on
Singburi Sam wrote:
> On Mar 22, 4:04 pm, Singburi Sam<singburi_...(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> No one helped me with this question. Perhaps because I
> slipped up during the description. I'll try again.
>
>> I am a novice user of Windows XP (and happy to remain
>> novice!) I learn how to do simple things but sometimes the
>> simple things change.
>>
>> Just now I wanted to look for my most recent additions to
>> a certain folder. I do this in a very simple way:
>> Click on My Computer
>> Click down to the appropriate folder
>> Select appropriate View
>>
>> But today this didn't work!
>
> Clicking on My Computer works OK, then I click on "Local Disk (C:)"
> Now I get a window with a list of programs: which program
> would I like to use to open C:? !!!
>
>> ... And I can't do the simple thing I wanted to.
>>
>> My kids use the computer; perhaps they've changed some
>> setting inadvertantly, but I've no idea what or how to fix.
>>
>> Any help appreciated.
>
> Experimenting a little I see: clicking on
> a flashdrive works normally; clicking on folders
> works normally; perhaps only C: is affected: it's
> like the software thinks it is a regular file
> rather than a disk.
>
> I did discover a simple workaround: Instead
> of clicking C: with the left mouse button,
> I press the right mouse button and select "Explore:".
> This gets me, more or less, to where I wnated to be.
> Still I am curious: why the change in behaviour?
>
> Sam

In My Computer, right click on your C drive and select Properties.
Anything look out of place? Under the General tab, what is the Type and
the File System?

Obviously something is wrong, I'm just not sure what it is.

Is one of your choices to open the folder with Windows Explorer?


--
JD..
From: Singburi Sam on
On Mar 25, 10:44 am, JD <J...(a)example.invalid> wrote:
> Singburi Sam wrote:
> > Clicking on My Computer works OK, then I click on "Local Disk (C:)"
> > Now I get a window with a list of programs: which program
> > would I like to use to open C:?  !!!
>
> In My Computer, right click on your C drive and select Properties.
> Anything look out of place? Under the General tab, what is the Type and
> the File System?

Local Disk; NTFS
Nothing seemed odd under the other tabs.

> Obviously something is wrong, I'm just not sure what it is.
>
> Is one of your choices to open the folder with Windows Explorer?

"Internet Explorer" is an option. I clicked there and got
"Application Not Found", which is odd since I'm running IE
as I type this! (Right-clicking on C: gives "Explore" as one
option; it takes me, more or less, to where left-click
used to take me.)

(I also clicked "Notepad" as a harmless looking Program;
it said "Cannot find the "C:\. txt file
Do you want to create a new one?")

Pursuing another suggestion I did run AdAware Full Scan.
The results might be interesting or amusing, though the
Subject-line problem doesn't change.
(I don't expect any response about this beyond the
obvious "Hey dude, read the beginner's page on malware
protection!" Is there an appropriate ng for
reporting these malware details?)

The Full Scan reported
51 Magania Spyware, and
1 Kelvir Worm
The automatic recommended action was "Successful".
I rebooted the machine as instructed; verified that
left-click C: still failed; ran AdAware FullScan again.
It still wasn't clean, finding 4 more Magania's;
reboot, repeat, and finally "0 Objects were found"!
(Though left-click C: still failed.)

I have very slow Internet connection, but am planning to
upgrade soon. I need to decide whether to first due some
massive data backup, followed by Windows reinstall....

Sam