start up trouble

[johnsmom]

I'm such a computer idiot.  I'm proud I got to this forum so be gentle.  I recently downloaded or tied to download norton security and antivirus package.  The first one went fine the second one said the norton goback couldn't load because of my partition.  I went ahead and tried to download it without goback? it would never install.  Then the charter guy came to burry our cable and my husband turned the computer off.  Now when you turn on the computer nothing works on our desk top except the internet.  That seems weird but what do I know.   When i use the start button to try and acces say the control panel, i get a message that says windows cannot create a shortcut here.  Do you want the shortcut to be placed on the desktop instead?!??  I don't know what to do.  Can anyone help me in a slow and easily understood fashion??

[MacPC]

Hi,

I just reply because I didn't see anyone reply to you. To be able to help you, some question needs to be cleared up a bit, when you say you can't get anything working except the internet, do you mean only the Internet Explore is working? When you start up the computer, do you see any error messages or codes? What OS do you use? ie Windows2000, WindowsXP? What computer make is it? Try to be a bit more specific and give more information otherwise people can't help you.

MacPC

[Dusty]

Uninstall Norton everything and never go back to it.  If you've spent your dollars on it book it down to experience.

For anti-virus use AVG (Free) for firewall use Zone-Alarm (Free).

You can tell that all my experiences with Norton have not been good ones.

When you say that nothing "works" on your desktop do you mean the icons have gone or that the shortcuts don't work :-?

[panboy]

I have Experienced this Problem , with a Computer that had Norton.. I'm not sure if it was Norton or not, but i could not do any thing for the Computer as it would not let me Execute any Programs

i had to Reinstall the System

If you still have the Windows Disk, Reinstall the the computer but don't format it if you want to save any Data,

if you don't need to save data Do Format it.

If you need help installing windows Post back

[johnsmom]

I think we have XP.  I can't tell because I can't get to hte control panel.  There are no error messages when I start the computer.  The desktop is there but the icons aren't completed, they are the broken picture thing. If I click on an icon from the desktop nothing happens except I'm able to use netscape.  My computer is an hp pavilion mx70.  I'm still looking to see if I have the disks to reintall Windows.

[patio]

Let us know...

[johnsmom]

I do not have my disks.  What now?  Why is this happening?  Is it because of the norton?

[patio]

Contact HP on how to restore that system or find out if they will sell you an XP CD...

However before you do that you might want to put that HDD into another machine as a slave and backup all info you need. Because when you do restore that machine to Day one you will lose all the data on that machine.

Another option ( if you are legit ) would be to borrow a friends XP CD and do a repair install...

patio.   8-)