Help! I can't "end task" if "end task" list won't come up!

Factual Questions
1

Good morning, everyone. I’ve got retard Windows 95 installed on a retard 1996 Acer 486 computer, with retard free Juno 4.0 Internet and retard IE5. My non-retard teenage daughter installed retard AOL instant messenger last night, and not only does everything now lock up every time the little yellow guy and the news ticker appear, now also the “end task” list won’t pop up, so that I can end task.

It used to pop up anytime and tell me all sorts of things like Forget Me Not and Systray and Watchdog, but now, nada.

Even uninstalling retard AOL IM and aim95.exe still doesn’t bring back the task list. I’ve already redone the hard drive twice since Thanksgiving (don’t ask) (it involved AOL one of those times, too :mad: ).

Shall I shoot myself, or my daughter, or the computer?

Please tell me it’s something idiotically simple and obvious, like the dog has been playing with the computer and reset all its defaults or something.

gonzo computers. :mad: i want my 512k atari back…

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen

2

Shoot the computer, get a Macintosh.

3

You could try hitting F8 as Windows starts (hit it repeatedly any time after the BIOS splash screen), and choosing ‘Safe Mode’ to get it started so you can try the uninstall from there.

If that doesn’t work, there are quite a few free uninstallers and cleanup utilities out there. Try these sites:
www.moochers.com
www.nonags.com
www.zdnet.com
And despite Arnold’s advice, it might be best to shoot Bill.

Bob the Random Expert
“If we don’t have the answer, we’ll make one up.”

4

Well, I’m going to assume that you press <ctrl>+<alt>+<delete> at the same time in order to bring up the task list.

That said, sometimes when you do that, the task list does not come up right away. It might come up 5 to 10 seconds later. And if you open up a program or perform any kind of task within those 5 to 10 seconds, that may stop the task list from coming up.

Two solutions I can think of.

  1. Check to see if AOL IM is still in your startup folder. If it’s there, remove it.
  2. AOL IM may still be in your registry. You can check by typing ‘regedit’ from the run menu, then opening these folders :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Run

Then if you look into the right pane, you’ll see a list of programs that start when windows starts. You might see AOL IM there; once again, if it’s there, remove it.

After this, you can close the registry editor window, then restart your computer.

5

Well you can reinstall W95 over the old one successfully.

6

Shoot Bill? Fuck that. Shoot that dickwad Steve Case. Fucking bastard. FUCK YOU!

–Tim

You can’t accidently create a handicapped baby whilst smoking pot. - Coldfire

7

Hell, a 486 was a piece of crap even in 1996. I think it might be about time to get a new computer.

8

First of all, I’d like to thank all the helpful people who offered suggestions. If you can’t depend on the Teeming Millions, who CAN you depend on? For the record, I did check Regedit and no, AOL isn’t still there. And I tried all the other suggestions, too (although I stopped short of shooting Bill or buying a Mac. If I had $1500 burning a hole in my pocket, yeah, I’d probably buy a new computer.)

Next, I’d like to apologize to my non-retard daughter for blaming her need to talk to her boyfriend via AOL Instant Messenger for the fact that my computer was being stupid. (However, this apology does not include AOL or Steve Case; if it wasn’t me, it would have been somebody else. Jerk.)

Finally, I’d like to throw a few miscellaneous curses towards Chinese keyboard manufacturers everywhere. “Offspring of diseased goat-felchers, may your wives divorce you, may your laughable imitations of capitalist factories be awarded to them as part of the divorce settlement, and may you then be employed in them as assistant managers, while your ex-wives take money out of the till to support their greasy-haired gigolos.”

Yes, folks, my subconscious mind pulled off the old “middle of the night” trick once again. I got up at the crack of dawn (well, OK, 7:30 IS the crack of dawn for me), raced downstairs to the computer, and almost immediately ascertained that while Duke Nukem would shoot, he adamantly refused to jump. Also, I see while I’m writing this, that [control] + c, v, and x are acting squirrelly, too. Sometimes it will cut and copy, but it refuses to paste no matter which control key I use. Also, it’s leaving a “c” or “x” behind–it didn’t used to do that.

Control+A for “select all” doesn’t work either. Ditto Control+S for Save.

Why would Cut and Copy work but not Paste? Something to do with involving the highlighting by the mouse? Why would it leave a “c” or “x” behind?

So, unless someone tells me that there’s some way for Bill Gates or AOL to put a hex on my keyboard disabling the Control key, I’m gonna assume it’s the verdammt $10 keyboard.

Pardon me while I go eat a raw lizard as punishment for my stupidity…

(HAS anyone ever heard that AOL Instant Messenger sometimes changes the Windows 95 keyboard defaults? What a ghastly thought. Has anybody ever heard that keyboard defaults change by themselves? Perhaps due to sunspot activity? Maybe I should reinstall Win95 like Handy said…)

I’m not real clear on how keyboards, mice, and motherboards interact to begin with. Who’s in charge of deciding when Control works and when it doesn’t?

Anyway, thank you all, and good night.

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen

9

‘Who’s in charge of deciding when Control works and when it doesn’t?’

The operating system. W98 has a SFC, system file checker that corrects things like this. I don’t think W95 does. RUN:SFC

“‘How do you know I’m mad’ said Alice.
'You must be, ’ said the Cat, ‘or you wouldn’t have come here.’”