my little sister erased some things on her com. it is an hp vectra VL2 4/33s message is that folling file is missing or corrupted c:\windows\himem.sys and c:\windows\ifshlp. sys and the third line says type the name of the command interpreter (e.g., c:\windows\command.com. i have a copy of windows 95 & microsoft plus i also have the driver for the teac cd rom that is in it. i want to know is there a way for me to maybe erasing everything and starting over or is there any way for me to get this thing working again. i would appreciate any help thanks

You'll erase your hard disk for 3 missing files? Okay but there's an easier way. Startup disk -> floppy drive -> reboot or copy the missing files off the startup disk to where they should go.

q,
It's nice that you're helping your sister.
For what it's worth (I'm a novice myself), I think you should try to fix what she's got before reinstalling Windows.
If there aren't more problems than the machine has already told you about, it doesn't sound too bad.
I hope you have a StartUp Disk for her computer. If so, see if it will start the computer and give you an a: prompt. If so, type this and press Enter...
sys c:

Then when you get the a: prompt again, type this and press Enter...
Copy himem.sys C:\windows

Then remove the StartUp Disk and restart the computer. Tell us what error messages you get.

I see q is a little confused about how this site works... There are q posts everywhere, so I'm dropping off this thread.
q, if you come back here, for best results just keep going back to one post, don't make new ones.
Good luck, don't get discouraged.