# Major computer trouble **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 22, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-computer-trouble/230545 "2004-02-22T21:48:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-computer-trouble/230545/1 "2004-02-22T21:48:51Z")
Yesterday I was playing a fairly new game called Gothic 2. I was transferring from one zone to the other when it just hung. That is actually normal - the game deliberately hangs while loading the new area. But it didn’t laod anything. Just hung. After a while I had to reset the power switch. Now I have serious problems. 1. The clipboard doesn’t work. I can’t copy or paste files or text. This is the same in Windows, Word, or IE. 2. The preview program doesn’t function right: it won’t show me any of my picture files unless I open it in paint. 3. My Taskbar is MIA. I’ve got a way to get it back but it seems to hide again whenever I log on again. 4. Internet explorer now won’t open things in new windows if I right-click. 5. various windows in my windows XP now show up on top of the taskbar even when I get it back. I can move them around the screen. 6. Logging on is slower than it used to be. 7. Seems certain HTML and Javascript functions are no longer working. 8. I just noticed that whe I tried to click on the smily-links to the right they don’t work. So far I’ve figured out how to get my taskbar back and tried to re-install IE. The later failed to help. I’ve written to the publisher about getting support but I suspect they can’t. So I turn to you. Is there anything I can do about these? I have a ghost file that I can re-install my PC with but I’m worried that I’ll kill all my data. I can back up a few things, but my 90 megs of picture files will probably not be in them, and that’s what I really want to keep. ☹ Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope. ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2004, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-computer-trouble/230545/2 "2004-02-22T22:10:02Z")
IANAComputer Expert, but two quick things: 1. I assume you completely uninstalled the game. 2. Run both AdAware and Spybot. ---
**Author:** ![kinoons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a698b9/32.png) [@kinoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kinoons)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-computer-trouble/230545/3 "2004-02-22T22:22:37Z")
What OS do you have? How about video card and sound card? ---
**Author:** ![kinoons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a698b9/32.png) [@kinoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kinoons)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2004, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-computer-trouble/230545/4 "2004-02-22T22:24:35Z")
> [@kinoons](#): > > What OS do you have? How about video card and sound card? Duh, there it is…you have XP Try system restore? (start – run – restore. Double click on rstrui, follow directions) ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-computer-trouble/230545/5 "2004-02-22T22:39:14Z")
1. Yes to the first part 2. No to the second part… Sir! I keep my system clean without those programs. I’m quite sure I don’t have anything peeking. I watch my installed programs carefully. 3. WIndows XP, Athlon 1700 mhx, Radeon 9600 se. 4. Tried to run restore. It demands I reboot before it will work. Not sure what’s going on. ---
**Author:** ![kinoons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a698b9/32.png) [@kinoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kinoons)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-computer-trouble/230545/6 "2004-02-23T06:00:03Z")
Just because you are very careful of what you install does not mean there isin’t any spywear type stuff – I would have claimed the same a short 3 months ago. Get spybot, run it. System restore does need to reboot for it to work properly. I couldn’t tell if you did this. ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-computer-trouble/230545/7 "2004-02-23T07:33:40Z")
> [@smiling bandit](#): > > Yesterday I was playing a fairly new game called Gothic 2. I was transferring from one zone to the other when it just hung. That is actually normal - the game deliberately hangs while loading the new area. Uh… If I were you, I wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole. ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-computer-trouble/230545/8 "2004-02-23T07:48:05Z")
> [@Urban Ranger](#): > > Uh… > > If I were you, I wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole. Huh?? Lots of games hang/pause slightly while they are loading new areas from the HD into RAM. Half-Life and Neverwinter Nights, for example. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-computer-trouble/230545/9 "2004-02-23T13:40:32Z")
> [@](#): > > If I were you, I wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole. No. It’s supposed to do this and it works. Normally a splash screen comes up to show the next area is loading, but in the meantime the old area is paused. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-computer-trouble/230545/10 "2004-02-23T14:18:05Z")
> [@](#): > > If I were you, I wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole. No. It’s supposed to do this and it works. Normally a splash screen comes up to show the next area is loading, but in the meantime the old area is paused. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-computer-trouble/230545/11 "2004-02-23T20:24:58Z")
I managed to get my taskbar back permanently. ANyone got some suggestions on getting my clipboard working again? ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-computer-trouble/230545/12 "2004-02-23T20:53:18Z")
You can force WinXP to restore to a previous state (if you’ve been creating restore points) by following the procedure I outlined in [this old post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=4219796&postcount=16). It may require one reboot, but after the reboot everything should be good as gold. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2004, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-computer-trouble/230545/13 "2004-02-23T22:28:15Z")
I can’t follow the link. And the moronic Jowood losers sent me to site that doesn’t offer tech support for my game and I can’t access their sure-to-be-useless knowledgbase!