Application not Responding - usually Outlook 2010 but can be anything

disk layout - I've tried to attach it and still can't see whether I was successful or not, but after I post this I'll know and if not, I'll do it again.

Madeline

trying again - must be tired

they said i had to enter more words - i'm persevering

Looks correct but why the ugly Win2000 theme? WIn7 Aero is really nice. I'd rightclick desktop to Personalize, choose an Aero theme, even set up a background slideshow if you want.
120 Original Windows 7 High Resolution Scenery Regional Wallpapers Free Download » My Digital Life

Sorry for the interruption. Carry on.

Santa Claus perhaps :)? I'm a product of DOS with green and black screens and 5 1/4 floppies. Being a photographer, I guess I don't want to be distracted by artwork. But I get your point and may look at some of the links you suggested.

My whole situation got a lot worse yesterday. Wouldn't boot beyond the bios, put out a 3 paragraph blue screen which couldn't be read in half a second, and then rebooted. Blue screen did not respond to pause key. As far as I know, there were some Windows updates and the installation (now uninstalled) of a Razer Naga gaming mouse - I use the precision for photography.

Using the original Win 7 disk, it wouldn't boot in safe mode with or without networking, wouldn't boot to the command prompt - wouldn't boot, just show blue screen I could read and reboot! Using the repair function resulted in "can't repair" and the restore function went through the motions but the restores "failed".

Finally, after many ranting hours, I realized I couldn't use my backups because they are on external usb 3 ports and the drivers (Marvel I believe), weren't loading. I plugged the drives into usb 2 ports and they were seen by my two backup software programs (Norton Ghost 15 and Macrium Pro). I use Norton for full images every few weeks and Macrium for daily incrementals. I also use Crash Plan for cloud backup but forgot to turn it off!

Norton did a beautiful job of bringing drive C back but it was almost a month old. I then went through Macrium and hopefully found most of what was missing and added some stuff from my cloud backup.

Two Questions - I hope you don't mind -

First Question:
I restored this Plextor 256 SSD C drive without ever wiping or formatting it - just did a total restore from Norton. Is that ok? Would there have been a better way to do it? And if so, is it safe to leave? Plextools can't read it because of the 8 mb unallocated partition at the front so they can't evaluate it for me. What would have been the best way to clean the disk first, or did I not need to?

Second Question: The problem was either caused by a faulty windows update or the overly complex drivers and cloud software on the Razer Naga. Assuming it was the Razer Naga, do you know of a good gaming mouse for someone with small hands, that plays nicely with win 7? I will return the Naga either way and probably stay away from Razer products.

Thank you so much for all your help and I'd appreciate any advice you can offer about what happened yesterday re refusal to boot etc. And, if there's more I should do now beyond checking the event log, which I know is not happy yet.

Best wishes for a really good holiday and once again, thanks so much. It means a lot to have someone knowledgeable and responsible to go to when your trusted computer/companion fails.

Madeline

Resize C into the 8 mb at start using How to Move/Resize Partition with partition manager? Partition Wizard Move/Resize Partition Video Help. so Plextools can diagnose your HD. If there are no performance or boot problems then it's not necessary to wipe the HD first. Your imaging program handled any necessary formatting.

I gave you a list of things to try yesterday but never heard back you'd tried any so don't know what to advise.