sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Computers & Programming Computers, Software, Accessories Windows 2000

I've run into about 6 computers within the last 3 weeks with a strange problem:
-Links within frames will not work
-The Add/Remove Programs window will not populate
-The control panel is displayed in a frame style window.
A reboot seems to fix this issue most of the time. I haven't been able to find a similar issue anywhere.
Anybody else seen this?

I haven't seen this trouble; but it sure smells like a virus. Open the Task Manager, look under processes and look for something suspicious that is running. If you are not sure what should be running, compare it to a similar PC that is not having the said trouble. If you do find some thing; right click it and "end Process". You may have to do this as soon as you boot to prevent it from doing its dirty deed. If this is the case you will need locate it and delete it so it will not run on your next boot up. And make sure that your virus protection is current.

I've checked all that, plus the registry, and also scanned for spyware.
The problem shows up after the computer has been on a while, but not all the time.

Bull they aren't buy chance using two OS on the pc's are they

No, just Windows 2000...
That does spark something... I believe these were all upgraded from a previous version of Windows, but most of them have had Win 2k for quite a while.

If these machines have 2000 upgrade I would suspect that. The 2K upgrade had "issues" and microsoft knows about it but will not fix it.
Ensure that all service packs are up to date. That may help.

[This message has been edited by jwooten (edited September 04, 2003).]

I have to agree with jwooten. I've not seen any Windows upgrade that runs consistently well over the long term. I've found a clean install on a freshly formatted drive to be the best way to go.

Yeah I never upgrade machines, I alway do a fresh install. I do however end up working on them...
These machines were all up to date for Windows update. The problem is recent on all of them, the upgrade isn't. I thought it might be a known problem.
I heard the repair tool on the Windows 2k disk is very good, I'll give that a try. Now I just need to find a Windows 2k disk

That's interesting.

If you recall, Windows 95 or Windows 98 both used Internet Explorer 4.0 (MS upgraded it from there). That 4.0 release was the intitial trial of that system, using a webpage like frame for the control panel as well as using links for the icons.

Try updating Internet Explorer.

Also make sure they're up to date on Service Packs. May be just something that needs to be reinstalled. My guess is the trigger for starting all of this could have been a windows update patch.

You're probably right. They were upgraded already...
Maybe I'll uninstall IE and reinstall. I'll see about that repair wizard too.