(Fixed!) Anyone around that cna offer computer help?

[Kadana Sorano]

I somehow managed to do a really stupid thing, and can;t figure out how to undo it.  

So I downloaded a couple things to check out, then decided that I didn;t want them after all.  So I went into add/remove programs to uninstall/remove them.  Now, suddenly, all my icons on my desk top etc have changed, and none of them will open.  The file extensions on every single one of them has changed to .lnk and when I try and "open" them iI get a message telling me windows cannot open the file and I need to tell it what program created it.

So the first thign I tried to do to fix this, is to go do a system restore.  But.. I get the same message when I try and run system restore.  Windows cannot open it, and what program created it?

So next I searched online (using IE, because Firefox is one of the things that won;t open..) and I found several places online where others had this problem and were told how to fix it.  The general advice was to go to start>run>regedit and.. do somethign there.  I forget what at this point because I cannot get beyond start>run.  When I enter regedit and click OK, I get that same "windows cannot open this file, what program created it?" message.

So I searched online again for advice what to do if you cannot open your registry.. and they tell you do download such and such a program and then run it, and it will repair the registry.  

The problem is, it's a .exe file.. which I also cannot run..

The built in tools for backing up computer stuff won;t work either.  And well, wiping and reinstalling windows isn;t really an option (if that would even fix it?) because I don;t have a windows instalation discs.

Most of the places I looked said this is caused by some virus.  But.. I;m not sure in my case.  I think I may have "removed" somethign my comp needs when I tried to remove the prgrams I had downloaded.  So maybe it's a virus, but maybe it';s just my own stupidity and carelessness.  Either way, I'm feleing extremely panicy right now and woul appreciate any help.  

[Goddesss]

Wow what a mess.  I asked my husband and he said I dont know.  *hugs*

[Kadana Sorano]

yea  I seem to be quite good at creating computer related messes heh

And all this because I wanted to find a better movie machine then windows media player :S

I downloaded 2 or 3 of them to test out.  And now I can't even remember where I went to get them.  Can't find them in browser history cause I can't use fire fox heh

AND I have classes monday (online) yea.. majorly freaking out.

Anyway, gonna go to bed and try and sleep since there doesnt seem to be anythign I can do atm to fix it.  Who knows, maybe a miracle happens while I sleep and the whole thing fixes itself lol *hugs*

[TheLeet]

Maybe try changing the file extensions to what they were supposed to be and see if that allows you to open the files?
I'm by no means an expert but I think it would be worth a try. 

[Kadana Sorano]

Changing file extensions back wouldn't work because most are .exe files which comp suddenly didn;t know how to open heh

BUT.. after 1.5 + hours on phone with my step father (blah) which we just ound up mucking up more stuff instead of fixing things.. then TRYING to get some sleep while I waited on the bf to wake and call me (and failing miserably) then crawling back out of bed when he finally woke and called, and talking for .. I dunno how long, we managed to fix it enough that I could do a system restore, which finished fixing it.

So, all fixed.  I'm so tired I don;t relaly know WHAT we did to get it fixed though, which maybe isn't a good thing.  But I'll be happy with it being fixed.  And hope I can manage to not be so stupid aagain any time soon -.-

*goes and crawls back in bed with Silky*

[Kadana Sorano]

right so, just in case anyone reading this wants to know how it got fixed..

Ali had me go to this site..  http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Then click on #12 on the list, save to my desk top, run it, reboot.

That fixed it enough so that my computer remembered how to open things a bit, and I could then use system restore.  Restored system back to pre-my stupidity, and alls fixed.  Or seems to be anyway lol

[Keilin Alyr]

Sound like one of the uninstall files for one of your programs may be corrupt, causing it to delete root files or other important system files. I know one of my old PC games was known to delete system files when uninstalled via uninstall program before the game was patched.

If you remember which programs you uninstalled, maybe it couldn't hurt to look them up and see if any of them are problematic?

[Kadana Sorano]

I have no clue at this point.  I know I downloaded 2 or 3 new movie players, to test them out.  I didn't like/couldn't get them to work for me, so went to add/remove programs to uninstall them.  Because that's what I was told to do when uninstalling things.  It usually does a pop up to tell me if I am trying to remove something my comp is using elsewhere/needs.  but this time it didn't.

Incidentally, when that happened, it also somehow "undid" a lot of my updates for windows.  Things I know darn well I already downloaded need re-downloaded now.  (security updates etc).  And.. system restore did NOT fix that.  I have to go and re-download them all over again..  I didn't think anything could remove an security update once you had it heh