There is little that is the same in XP, including "sfc" and scan options. And it is, unfortunately, becoming standard practice to sell computers without backup software and restore disks. I recently purchased an HP without disks, called HP with my registration information (serial numbers, etc.) and they did overnight ship the restore/recovery disks free of charge. I would try that first and hope that Compaq (now merged with HP??) is willing to do the same for your brother.
There is a way to trigger recovery/return to original condition in an HP. I suspect the same can be done on the Compaq but it may use different hot keys. It is done when turning on the computer after a complete shutdown. A trip to the retail store to talk to the service unit about how it is done on a Compaq may solve problems here. Or you might consider signing on at the Compaq forum where similar questions probably have come up and been answered. http://h71025.www7.hp.com/support/home/index.asp I am relatively new to XP, but it sounds as if he has moved out of administrator/owner status to a different user status. Hopefully, someone here who has used XP longer can help in that regard. In the meantime, take it from someone who quickly found out, most of the commands we used in previous versions of Windows do *not* work and sometimes give very bad results when applied to XP. The other night I had to use a restore point to return to a system checkpoint that was fortunately only a few hours old. That was the result of attempting to perform an sfc /scannow which apparently works in XP-Pro but NOT in XP-Home. It wanted the XP-Pro disk, it took out a few files, and I developed a few gray hairs after CAD wouldn't shut down and I had to do a hard shutdown and then hope that I could get to restore. I consider myself lucky, the move had been suggested by a user of XP-Pro and we never even considered that it would not be available in the Home version. Elaine I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do. That is character! --Theodore Roosevelt Hello Thomas On Sunday, February 2, 2003, you wrote > My brother is having some issues with his operating system, and I was trying > to help him troubleshoot it from a distance. Problem is, I don't run XP and > am not really familiar with the ins and outs, so if anyone else can help, > please let me know. > He told me that he cannot open program files from his desktop, or his start > menu. When he does, nothing happens. He also cannot use his CD/DVD drives. > He thought he had a v*rus, and he cannot even find his AV software (along > with other programs), but I think that he installed some software and it > messed with some of his files, due to his drives not working. (I found an > issue concerning Nero and CD/DVD drives, but he doesn't have the software on > his system, so I ruled that out.) > I tried to get him to run a program to find his XP product key, but the > program wouldn't run. When I tried to get him to see if sfc /scannow would > run, he hit enter, and the window disappeared. So it looks like any time he > tries to run a program, most of them don't respond. He can get to the > internet using IE most of the time, and he can use IM just fine. > Unfortunately, he is sort of new to computers, and didn't know about the > Restore feature (Go Back or whatever it is called in XP), so I don't know if > XP automatically takes snapshots every so often that would help him, even if > he *could* run the feature now. (I tried to get him to run it, but it looks > like it also did not respond.) > I tried to look for some link that would show him how to create a boot > diskette, and from what I could find, it doesn't look like XP has the same > method of creating repair/boot diskettes like all the other versions of > Windows, which seems kind of strange. Every link provided mentioned copying > three files manually, but I'm sure there has got to be a method of doing > this using the RUN command. (I will have him do this on a friends machine > since he cannot use the ones from his own machine obviously) Being that he > bought a Compaq from a electronics chain, he did not get an actual copy of > the XP CD, and apparently did not even get a driver/re-install CD. > <rant>When and why did this start happening with brands when selling > computers? Does it really save that much money to not have the security > around when you really need it? To me, it seems like buying a gun for > security, but not purchasing the ammo to use in it. it looks good, but when > you need to use it, it basically is worthless.</rant> > Anyone a little more XP savvy than myself give me a few pointers or links > that would prove helpful for this? ============= PCWorks Mailing List ================= Don't see your post? Check our posting guidelines & make sure you've followed proper posting procedures, http://pcworkers.com/rules.htm Contact list owner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Unsubscribing and other changes: http://pcworkers.com =====================================================
