I think I may have damaged my Explorer.exe somehow. Y'see, my System Tray is acting weird. It refuses to show my Bandwidth Monitor and Volume Control icons in it (yes, I've turned off "Hide Inactive Icons"), but my Firewall icon shows up fine. My Bandwidth Monitor is still active, it just won't show up in the System Tray like it used to. I have to turn the Volume Control tickbox off, then on again from Control Panel to make it appear. Of course, the complete way to restore my System Tray icons is to End Process EXPLORER.EXE, then run it again from the Task Manager. Like magic, all my System Tray icons are there, working happily... until next I restart. Also, I often get that horrible END NOW window for Explorer.exe when I restart sometimes. Can I do a reinstall of Windows XP without wiping all my programs out? I was about to do that (I booted off the WinXP CD) when it warned me that installing XP over my existing WINDOWS folder will wipe out everything. Settings, *APPLICATIONS*, etc. I didn't even choose Format. Just install. Can I reinstall Windows XP without losing everything? Kisses XXOOXX Jen

Me again. Y'know, I've reinstalled Win98 on so many machines time after time after time. It's almost the fix-all solution. Surely you can do the same with WinXP without wiping your programs clean, right? Reinstalling Win98 without limit never did my programs no harm. Kisses XXOOXX Jen

Yes, u can perform a 'Repair' re-install of XP. Your settings and data are not compromised !! Basically, a Repair saves ur registry/settings etc, a re-install 'over the top' replaces them. When u booted from the disk to install XP, u should have seen that option (ignore 'Recovery Console' btw) Another way is to insert the XP disk (when XP up and running), and select 'Upgrade' when the disk loads. Hope this helps xxx

http://sft-cyber.com/Re%20Win.htm Sometimes a program, bad driver or conflicts that destroy or corrupt files will necessitate a reinstallation. WinXP will replace damaged or corrupted files without disturbing your data or registry settings so that these will still be available to you. 1. Boot from the WinXP CD 2. Select set up WinXP(ENTER) 3. Windows will find an existing copy of itself and give you the option to repair the highlighted installation 4. WinXP will copy the necessary files to your HD and install ============================== http://rogier.xszone.nl/windows/wintricks.html http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/proddocs/winnt32.asp http://www.labmice.net/articles/winntcmd.htm • Reinstall XP and keep all your current installed applications and settings . Go to the location of your source files {could be a copy of the I386 folder on your hard disk or the Windows XP CD} .

Before you do a reinstallation. I would run System File Checker first. It may fix your problem. Put your XP CD into your CDROM and if it auto launches, close it out. Then click on Start/Run and type: sfc /scannow. click o.k. It will then search for any altered or missing system files and repair them. If that doesn't work, then I would attempt the reinstall. Good Luck.

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=318378 How to Reinstall or Repair Internet Explorer and Outlook Express in Windows XP To repair or reinstall Internet Explorer and Outlook Express in Windows XP, complete the following procedure while you are logged on as an administrator: 1. Use the System File Checker tool to scan all of the protected files on your computer: 1. Click Start, and then click Run. 2. In the Open box, type sfc /scannow, and then click OK.