Wierd-morning boot up followed by message that said "some" registry bad but it had fixed itself automatically. OK, I think. Now, all desktop icons are bad links and ALL go the same program! Gets wierder. All the original programs that are on computer ARE still there but you have to dig into the c drive program files to find them. Tried deleting and creating new links to the programs, still ALL go to one program. I ended up deleting ALL the desktop icons for programs and tried to make new ones, Nothing. THe only icons that work are explorer(go figure) trash, and any FILE folders that I created. Any ideas? Also, even the system restore comes up and says "unable to open, doesn't recognize file, what should it use to open".

Lots of help at the link below. Look under the I heading for Icons. First perform a virus scan and check for malware. http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_...

#12 on the left at the site recommended by Othehill is probably worth trying.

Just an update on something else. I dug into the system files, found the system restore ini and tried to restore to a previous day that worked(2 days ago AND yesterday) and the sys restore went through the whole thing and when it re-booted itslef it said (unable to restore to that point) even after it said it was done. I am unable to open .reg files without opening them in notepad. No MERGE option. HELP!

jbltwin1, Go to the link below and download the "REG File Association Fix" which is a zip file. http://www.dougknox.com/xp/file_ass... Unzip or extract it then do the following: Press CTRL-ALT-DEL and open Task Manager. Once there, click File, then hold down the CTRL key and click New Task (Run). This will open a Command Prompt window. Enter REGEDIT.exe and press Enter. Once regedit is open click File>Import and locate that reg file fix, hilite it and click Open. Tufenuf

You're a lifesaver. THAT worked. HAd to go in and make new links to some of my programs that I had erased but NOW that works where it didn't before. Have to re-register my MS OFFICE suite for some reason or other but I still have original discs so that's no big deal. MAny thanks. Mike.