problem with nieghbors pc please help

got this problem. any program i try to open, or control panel or system restore i get this message.

"This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association in the folder Options in control panel."

I have no idea what they did, any ideas on correcting this error i would aprec. it. Thanks in advance.

 

Sounds like they've destroyed the .pif association.

I've done it before when I was about 7 for .exes.

AT the time it needed a full reinstall (win95) but you may be able to get round it by system restoring to a previous point.

 

even when i go to system restore i get this message so i cant do a system restore. Any other ideas. I really dont want to wipe there hd and start over.

 

If you have the original disc you should be able todo a repair install, other then that open a My computer windows and goto tools->folder options and see whats not right in there.

I can't see any .pif or .exe associations in there though on mine.

If you can't get my computer up, use ctrl+alt+del and file...run IEXPLORE

 

finally got dr watson to run i found 2 application errors
C:windows\explorer.exe c0000005 ntdll!Rt AllocateHeap(7C9106C3)
Crogram Files\Internet Explorer\iexplorer.exe c0000005 ,<nosymbols>(62EF4D70)

 

If this is still a problem, I would follow the advice above and reinstall Windows.

If you ignore the recovery console, when booting from the XP CD, you will then get the option to repair a previous installation.

This will keep all the existing software installations and not overwrite any data, but will fix things like file association and corrupt programs (eg explorer.exe).

If you are at all unsure, take a backup of the drive first (you might have to run it as a slave drive in your own system).

 

I would recomend doing a system repair, that should fix it.

Mark.

 

You can do the following and it should sort you out:

To install Microsoft Unbind, follow these steps:
1. Insert the Office XP installation CD-ROM.
2. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
3. Double-click Add/Remove Programs.
4. In the Add/Remove Program Properties dialog box, select your Office XP installation, and then click Add/Remove.
5. In the Maintenance Mode Options dialog box, click Add or Remove Features, and then click Next.
6. In the Features to install box, click the plus sign next to Office Tools.
7. Click the arrow next to Microsoft Office Binder Support.

NOTE: If the icon next to Microsoft Office Binder Support is gray, Unbind is not installed. If the icon is white, Unbind is already installed, and you can click Cancel to quit the installation program.
8. Click Run from My Computer, and then click Update.
9. Follow the instructions of the installation wizard to finish installing Microsoft Unbind.
To use Microsoft Unbind, follow these steps:
1. Using Windows Explorer, browse to find the binder file that you want to open.
2. Double-click the file.

Unbind automatically starts.
3. In the Unbind dialog box, select a location to save the contents of the Binder file to, and then click OK.

The Binder contents will be saved to the location in their native format.
If you attempt to run Unbind by double-clicking Unbind.exe, nothing happens.

You can also download a number of batch files from Doug Knox which should help.

Good Luck