Computer help forum: I think I have been hi-jacked

'And clean out your
%Userprofile%\Local Settings\Temp
folder. It's a good idea to do that regularly.'


Marianna, where do I do this? Thanks... I am not clear on where to find it.

P.S. - How about the new forum upgrade? What a delight!!! Do not know how I managed to strugle through the the previous slowness.

Have a great day!

Glenn

Thanks... found it after unhiding the 'local settings' folder.

y'all....


THE WINDOWS TEMPORARY (\TEMP) FOLDER - a hidden folder by default

1. Start Windows Explorer, click the View, Options. Click the View tab, click Show hidden files and folders, and then click OK.

Warning: When a migration is or has been performed which uses the User State Migration Tools, environment variables such as %systemdrive% or %homedrive% are ignored by the commands Loadstate or Scanstate in Windows XP and variables in INF and files are not copied as expected.

2. Since Windows allocates resources according to its settings and manages devices accordingly, users can change performance options that control how programs use memory, including paging file size, or environment variables - a string consisting of environment information, such as a drive, path, or file name, associated with a symbolic name that can be used by Windows. A user may also use the SET command from the command prompt to define environment variables.

3. Verify that the default items contained in the Config.nt and Autoexec.nt files are present and in the proper order, or expand Autoexec.nt_ and Config.nt_ from the Windows CD-ROM to the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder after renaming the older ones:

dos=high, umb
device=%SystemRoot%\system32\himem.sys
files=40

@echo off
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\mscdexnt.exe
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\redir
lh %SystemRoot%\system32\dosx
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 P330 T3

4. Users can add (new), modify, or remove an environment variable (right-click My Computer, Properties, Advanced, Environment variables) which is established during Setup, by some programs, and those by users. Changes are written to the registry (Global Environment Variables) and are usually effective immediately. However, after a change to user environment variables is made, any open software programs should be restarted to force them to read the new registry values.

5. When System is double-clicked in the Control Panel, or when right-clicking My Computer and then clicking Properties, the following error message may be rendered and can occur if either the framedyn.dll file is missing or damaged, or the environment variable is set incorrectly, [Q319114]:

rundll32.exe - Unable To Locate Component

This application has failed to start because framedyn.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem

6. Warning: An invalid "TEMP environment variable" can cause problems.

a. Click Start and then click Control Panel.

Notes:

(1) If using Classic View, double-click the System icon.

(2) If you are using Category View, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click the System icon.

b. When the System Properties (click to see an example screenshot) dialog box appears, click Environment Variables on the Advanced tab. Look under User variables for user name for the columns Variable and Value. The TMP and TEMP where the settings for environmental appears under these columns. Examples of valid settings are as follows:

TEMP = C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
=or=
TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP

c. If these variable are not listed, follow these steps:

(1) Click New and the New User Variable dialog box appears. Type TEMP (same thing for TMP) and press the "TAB" key to move to the Variable Value box, and then type C:\WINDOWS\TEMP (or any other valid path and folder name wanted -- but I do not recommend anything other than my example).

(2) Click Set or OK to add these values to the User variables for user name box.

d. Click OK twice to close everything out, and then close Control Panel.

7. Start Explorer and look for that folder by the location listed in the User variables for user name box. If it is not found, create a new TEMP folder at that location.

Notes:

a. If the step above was required, it may be necessary to repeat the prior steps in the Environment Variables dialog box -- time will tell.

b. These steps are important, because an invalid TEMP setting can have serious effects when running Setup programs.

8. Verify that the drive that contains the TEMP folder has sufficient free disk space. Generally, the amount of available free space on a drive should be at least 50MB. Also verify that you have read/write permission to this folder.

9. Verify that the TEMP folder is empty. If files exist, delete any and all files. However, I recommended using the Disk Cleanup Utility to remove unused temporary files whenever necessary. See How to Automate the Disk Cleanup Tool which outlines command-line options that may be used, and then use the Scheduled Tasks tool to automate cleanup automatically. The articles [Q812248] and [Q812930] states the Disk Cleanup tool may stop responding (hang) and report error messages when trying to compress old files which requires an edit of the system registry to correct.

Note: All Windows programs running should be quit before deleting files from the TEMP folder since active programs may be using something currently there. Periodically, you should make it a point to check this folder and remove orphan files -- else, run that utility.

Warning: When marking shared folders that should be available on a network, or any Web page to be made available offline, contents of these shared folders or pages are generally copied to a temporary folder on the local hard disk. Also note, Microsoft Word may for some strange reason create temporary copies of open files in the TEMP folder, as well as any other program used.

Note: When you start System Tools and then click the Disk Cleanup tab, a System Restore: Obsolete Data Stores entry is available. These are files that were created before reformatting or reinstalling Windows and are obsolete and can safely be deleted. Afterwards, this option disappears.

10. Supplemental reading: Management Console May Fail to Start (Q231757)."

Note: This article does not address WinXP specifically, however...

Bill Gaston

Pardon ma ACKsent, ah'm frum Austin, Tex_As, USA

....its been my policy to view the Internet not as an 'information highway,' but as an electronic asylum filled with babbling loonies.