big WinRAR prob, kinda

Well, I'm running XP & i've got WinRAR (unregistered). I've had this problem with WinRAR for a while, but i haven't done nething bout it, but i'd like 2 get it fixed if at all possible. neway, before monday of this week if i tried 2 delete, rename, or move any RAR file it wouldn't work & a soon as I would click "Yes" to confirm deleting the file the computer would immediately reboot (w/no prompt). If i tried 2 move a RAR file it would give some error msg (actually 2 of them i think) which i don't remember, and after i close both of the messages, the computer would reboot immediately.
Also, when I open a RAR file and try to delete or rename a file that's inside it, the computer would again reboot.
Basically, i couldn't move, rename, or delete any RAR files, and i couldn't delete or rename a files inside of the RAR files.
I uninstalled winrar and reinstalled. I can now move, rename, or delete RAR files but I still have the same problem when i try 2 delete files inside the rar file. Before i uninstalled & reinstalled, i even tried end-tasking explorer and deleting a rar file from the command-line, but it still wouldn't delete, and would still restart the computer.

There are a couple things i've considered, but ruled out:
1:WinRAR is bad, corrupted. Not very likely, because I couldn't delete RAR files even if winrar wasn't running, so it couldn't have caused that. If it was a problem with winrar, it should only affect things inside of winrar, not outside.
2:Bad clusters on HD, fragmented data, FAT table problems. Also not likely, because such problems would more than likely affect more than just RAR files.
3:Registry problems, file association problems. I don't think this is it either, because this would probably only stop me from opening a RAR file, which i can do, but shouldn't have nething to do with deleting or moving the files.

The only think i can think of is a virus or trojan horse that affects WinRAR, or spyware. However, i'm also kindof against this, because i uninstalled and reinstalled winrar, so it should have been a fresh copy, not an infected one; but there's still that possibility.

I'm prolly gonna run sfc (system file checker ofcourse) and chkdsk, but don't think they'll help much. i'm also gonna try running Knoppix and Phlak, and try 2 run WinRAR through those OSs & see what happens that way. other than that, i dunno.

well, there's prolly some other simple option or something that i'm forgetting, but if anybody thinks of nething, could you please let me know... thanx

 

I'm a big fan of albinoblacksheep site.

Anyway, I'd remove WinRaR, and winzip (if you have this) and use ZipGenius (free all free):

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4696

But, with your problem of constant rebooting, I'd check (err uncheck), the following:

Click, Start, Run, then type in: sysdm.cpl (press enter)

Now within this new windows that appears, select the ADVANCED tab, under "Startup and Recovery" select "Settings". Now, UNCHECK "Automatically Restart".

Press, Ok, Then Ok.

Okay, try to use the programs that you were trying to use before.

OR.

Post an attachment of the most recent .dmp file within c:\windows\minidump, we'll diagnose your problem with this.

Some info I'd like to know. What service pack level are you running (SP1 SP2)

All windows updates?