Okay - first I'll give you the problem then I'll give you the story: Whenever I launch my Winamp player, as soon as it comes up on screen I get the following error message: * * * * Winamp has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience. If you were in the middle of something, the information you were working on might be lost. Please Tell Microsoft about this problem. We have created an error report that you can send to us. We will treat this report as confidential and anonymous. To see what data this error report contains, click here. * * * * When I click on that link I get this Error signature: * * * * AppName: winamp.exe AppVer: 5.5.2.1800 ModName: ntdll.dll ModVer: 5.1.2600.2180 Offset: 000106c3 * * * * And if I click the link at the bottom of THAT window to view the technical information the following file is listed to be sent along with the error report: C:\DOCUME~1\Daniel\LOCALS~1\Temp\abb3_appcompat.txt After closing the error message the program then closes and, basically, I can't use Winamp at all. Now for the background story. There's some details that led up to this error that might be relevant. Just a few days ago - I was reading somewhere on the net about encrypting computer files to make them "more secure". I figured what the heck - couldn't hurt any - so I encrypted some important project files I had been slaving over. No problem there. Then just yesterday I had the bright idea that if a few folders encrypted here and there is more secure then why not encrypt ALL files and folders? It made sense to me at the time... So I went into my C drive and basically encrypted everything. When I turned on my computer this morning strange things were happening like: My user login icon had reset to default and then I went online and noticed a significant portion of my bookmarks had vanished and the browser skin had reset to it's default. I tried opening a spyware scanner and it froze as it opened. I tried doing a System Restore to roll back to a point before everything went wrong and the System Restore failed and did not complete. I then tried decrypting all the files and folders and that seems to have at least fixed the login icon and the spyware scanner issue. But then after that I tried opening Winamp and that's when I noticed it wasn't working. I've tried scanning for viruses, spyware and registry invalids and none of that has helped. I also tried reinstalling Winamp to no avail - same error. Also, I get the error even when in safe mode. On a side note: If I try launching Windows Defrag tool - it instead launches Winamp (which then crashes). So now I'm stuck. If you need anymore info - let me know. As always, your time is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Do all these problems exactly coincide with the installation of Winamp? If so,where did you get the Winamp files from? Are you running IE7? If so you could try a repair of IE7 from Add/ remove programs. If that isn't the case then maybe you could perform a system restore.

No, actually the problems I listed above all occurred a few days before I noticed anything wrong with Winamp. Winamp is just the program I'm currently trying to get to work. The start of all of this occurred exactly the next day after I had encrypted my C drive. I double checked and I do have IE7. How would I do a repair? Just remove and then reinstall it? What connection exactly does IE7 have with the problems I've been experiencing? In regards to the System Restore idea - I have tried that but... each time it says that the system restore had failed and could not complete at the very end of the process. My main concern right now is just getting Winamp up and running. Any help would be much appreciated with this. Thanks again!

I am not sure if IE7 is involved or not but it seems as though it may be. If you select IE7 in Control panel> add/ remove programs you should get an option to remove or repair. Try the repair. I suggest you solve the other issues and the Winamp on may disappear. Do you have system restore available? Go start> help and support> system restore. Not sure if it is available on your DEll system.

Well I tried reinstalling IE7. Everything went smoothly, but I don't see any changes with Winamp's behavior. I also tried doing a system restore again, but it still just says that it could not complete and that no changes have been made to the system. Hmm. Any other ideas? Thanks, Kenson

When using System restore you should undo the restore if it didn't solve your problem. You evidently have used it multiple times without doing that. Just screws the system up more. If you have removed items that were present when a restore point is created you will have problems with the restore. You need to perform a system repair.

It seems like a System Restore hasn't actually been performed yet. Every time I tried - it said that no changes had been made and suggested to try selecting a different Restore Point (which I did with identical results). Also if I try going to the System Restore window it does not offer any option to roll back any System Restore performed so I assume it's okay. How do I perform a system repair? Can anyone provide instructions on how to properly do this? Thanks, Kenson