WINDOWS7 PROBLEM
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I've provided as much info as I can remember, to save going over everything again with anyone, so please do have a read through the history if you think you may be able to help.
When replying please understand that I have M.E. and am struggling severely with cognitive issues at the moment. In other words please talk to me in baby language, and be patient if you need to repeat yourself
COMPUTER
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ASUS X5DIJ Notebook PC
Display Adapter: Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Disk drives: Hitachi HTS545025B9A300
Processors: Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU T4400 @ 2.20GHz (2 of)
Purchased: April 2011
C drive: 58.2GB ... 34.5GB used
D drive: 160GB ... 25.1GB used
THE PROBLEM
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I found yesterday that I could not save to my libraries.
My libraries point only to folders on my D drive.
These folders have been there since before the first reinstall.
When I tried to save to them the error I was getting was as follows:
"D:\Documents\try again.txt
You don't have permission to save in this location. Contact the administrator to obtain permission.
Would you like to save in the My Documents folder instead?"
The folders have become read only. When I try to change the permissions on them it says "You will need to provide administrator permission to change these attributes. Click continue to complete this operation." It applies the attributes. I click ok and close the properties window. When I look again it has returned to read only.
I can create new folders. They too are automatically read only. I cannot save into them.
I can save to the C drive. And I can save to the D drive, but not into the folders.
We tried changing the permissions (through security in document properties). But it made no difference.
We tried a cold start, taking the battery out and unplugging the mains. It made no difference.
Rather oddly, this morning two things have changed:
- I can save to the libraries, but I cannot save directly into the folders.
- Two more users have appeared in the Permissions thingy.
I have a vague hunch that the problem may be caused by my changing the name of the computer when I reinstalled it the second time?
HISTORY: PART ONE
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1) Issues with sound. It would work when starting the computer, then stop working for no apparent reason.
2) Stalling. Taking ages to respond to clicking. Delays in opening programs to the extent that sometimes a program wouldn't open til you clicked it again, and then it'd open twice. When using IM pausing before the messages get sent.
3) It slowed down a lot. I thought I had a virus or something on the machine. I was using Avast Free Virus Checker, which found nothing. I installed Spybot, which found nothing. I installed Lavasoft Ad-Aware (free), which eventually found something and removed it. I also ran C Cleaner, ran disk cleanup, and defragged the machine. Now it slowed down to almost a stand still.
I had not realised the space on C was limited to start with. I was already saving all my own documents to D. When the computer complained that I had run out of space on C, I uninstalled the programs I had installed myself and installed them on the D drive instead. In February I returned the computer to factory settings. This was the C drive only. It did not affect the D drive at all (or so I thought). It ran A LOT faster, the sound issue was gone, and the issue with programs behaving strangely was gone.
HISTORY: PART TWO
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By May the computer was stalling again. The issue with programs not loading til I click twice started again. More importantly, Windows Update was failing. Every time I closed the computer down it would try to install updates, but fail. When I cancelled those specific updates it would download more, and fail to install those too.
So I started talking to the partner of a friend of mine who thought he could help.
Things he tried to suggest would be causing the problems:
- I had a version of Frontpage on my computer that was not legally licensed.
- Having parts of two different versions of Office installed (ie the trial version that came with the computer, and the version of Frontpage).
- Using shareware/freeware, such as Pidgin, Skype, Mozilla products, etc.
Whilst talking to him I realised that I still had programs installed on my D drive from prior to the reinstall. They were not showing up in the programs menu, or in Control Panel .. presumably because I had not set them up since reinstalling the computer. I tested one or two, and they ran ok.
Rather than try and work out what the problem was, I decided to start from the beginning again. I got rid of all the programs I'd installed on D, and I returned the computer to factory settings again. The plan was to install programs one at a time, to see which one caused a problem.
The problem described at the beginning of this post has happened only since this new reinstall.
