Programs not starting??

[guygrim]

Good day all;

I just installed a new hard drive, Windows XP Pro and Microsoft Office 2003. Day 1 and everything seemed to work fine. Today however, None of my programs will operate.

example:

I double click on Microsoft Excel - I get the hour glass (like it is ready to start up), but then nothing happens. Same thing with Word, Quickbooks and even my Internet Explorer. I am not sure what happened to cause this problem. Any advice?

Edit: also, if I try to shut down the computer nothing happens. Press Ctrl, Alt, Delete and Nothing happens. I have to turn my computer off manually and back on again in order to get it to reboot.

Thanks!

Grim

[pam123]

Why don't you tell us the steps you took.
Installed XP pro, did all the necessary account set up ( necessary to use Pro but not home), updates, drivers... and so on.
It sounds like you missed out a step or two somewhere.

[guygrim]

Hi Pam;

I am not really sure how to answer the question. The office computer guy completed all the installations. I was there and watched the whole proceedings and it went off without a hitch. I was able to use all my programs without any problems.

Then yesterday my mouse started acting funny. Like: Not moving as commanded, Clicking on something (like a program) but not getting any action. I changed mouse pads some of the movement problems cleared up, but still the programs would not operate.

I know this sounds weird, but I am not techy enough to give you any better detail.

The only thing out of the ordinary was that I had ar Copier Tech Repair guy come and reset my settings so that I can scan papers on my copier/printer/scanner and access them through my computers "My Documents" folder. But all he did was reset the pathing and shared a folder or two.

I wish I could give you a better idea of the problem. But after 20 years of computing, i never saw this problem before.

edit: I wonder if reinstalling Windows XP Pro would fix the problem.

[ktkendall]

Sounds like it could be a virus, since everything did work fine for a time and now it deosn't. Did you notice any signifigant happenings with your PC just before the problem arose?

[guygrim]

Ya know, I did not consider that it could be a virus. I don't have any virus protection on the computer right now, but I also don't remember opening any emails that appeared malicious. This is a work computer, so I don't go to any funky websites.

I do have Norton's. Perhaps I should load that up and see what happens.

[pam123]

ktkendall could be right, unprotected Windows computers have a really short lifespan on the web.