Step 4:"READ ME". No msconfig. Afraid. what now?

First-time forum user. XP Home Ed. 2002, SP3. 512 RAM 80g with 18g free. Got to Step 4 of "Read Me...First". When typed in msconfig, dialog box popped up & said 'could not find'. When I manually did a search for the file, search results found eight (listed below). Don't know what to do next. Have been searching & reading forums constantly for 2 days. Found problems/questions close but not exactly and a variety of answers for fixing the problem. Didn't want to make problem worse so finally decided to become member here and officially ask for help.

Not sure of relevance, but what started my quest before my msconfig problem was 100% CPUsage for several days on PC yet nothing open/running except for normal 'background' processes which are listed in Task Manager. Will give more details of what lead up to doing "READ ME FIRST" if requested. Otherwise, search results for msconfig were:
MSCONFIG.CH_ C:\I386
MSCONFIG.EX_ C:\I386
msconfig.chm C:\WINDOWS\Help
MSCONFIG.CH_ C:\WINDOWS\I386
MSCONFIG.EX_ C:\WINDOWS\I386
msconfig.exe C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386
MSCONFIG.CH_ D:\I386
MSCONFIG.EX_ D:\I386

I think I did this correctly according to the rules. I've marked 'email notify' so I'll know when there is a response. Thank you in advance for your knowledge and time.

 

G'day. Welcome to the Forum (unofficial - I think Mods and Admins usually say that).
You seem to have a problem (DUH! Do tell, he says.)
The MSCONFIG application files you listed are all from the I386 file, which is a sort of just-in-case repository of the Windows OS, as I understand it. You can use it to repair your OS, which may turn out to be a good thing here.

Your MSCONFIG application should be in C:\WINDOWS\pchealth\helpctr\binaries\MSCONFIG.EXE

The file is 155 KB in size.

If you paste the line below after a command prompt (Start>Run>cmd ENTER), you should get it back (if you have to type it in (don't know why you would), check where the spaces are with your arrow keys):

expand -r C:\i386\msconfig.ex_ C:\windows\pchealth\helpctr\binaries

(and press [ENTER])

It's disappearance may signal the presence of a virus, so you are doing well to go through Read and Run Me First..
Can you run REGEDIT, or is that missing too? There is a virus that removes this and MSCONFIG and other things.

 

Hi,
IF you can do this the continue on with the rest of the Read me first, then the cleaning process, but put this in your post.

There may be a virus/ malware causing this to not be accessed.

 

By the way, you'll need to do this from an administrator account.

 

Dear Sgt. Wesq:

I posted a question 1-13. You responded but death in my family & didn’t read your response until after funeral. Just got back to Chicago and computer is much worse. This response is long as I don’t know what’s important so giving all details.

My normal use of computer consists of: using internet to watch TV, read news articles, send e-mail; editing photos with Photosuite for powerpoint slideshow; downloading MP3s from Amazon for use with slideshow. Use computer approx.15-18 hrs daily. I use Firefox as browser, Netgear wireless (Apt. complex provides the signal). I keep Task Manager on at all times to watch CPU usage & processes.

The two main problems I was having before I joined Major Geeks was 100% usage of CPU at all times and Google search results being redirected when I clicked on the link. PC worked but very slow, i.e., when I click on Firefox icon, it is 3-4 minutes before firefox window opens (same for Ad-ware, AVG, spybot). Media player, Word, PowerPoint, etc. are 1-2 min. Solitaire opens in 5-10 sec. so I usually play that while waiting for stuff to open.

Anyway, then death in family. Left for KY. PC is turned off. Returned on Wednesday. Brother from MI with me. I downloaded Skype on his new HP laptop and my PC so all siblings can discuss estate. Skype worked fine on both machines. Played with video, chat, added other siblings as contacts. My PC slow as usual but working. However, did notice PC no longer at a constant 100% usage. Signed out of Skype. Continued using computer 8-10 hours that day sending and receiving e-mails.

Thursday, brother wondered if Android phone could be used with Skype. I spent an hour checking Skype website and Google searches, then we tried it. When I signed into Skype, PC froze. Did restart. Tried to sign in again to Skype, PC froze. Did shut down. When PC powered back up I got message “Generic Host Process Win 32 services has encountered a problem and needs to close”. And things went downhill from there.

Brother left for Michigan and I have spent the rest of my time trying to get PC to work. Noticed in Task Manager, CPU usage very minimal but Page File usage was almost maxed out. Was able to sign into MajorGeeks. Read your response. Opened Explorer to see if I had subfolders you mentioned. Got flashlight icon looking for folders. Still searching after 5 minutes. Tried to restart. No response. Tried to shut down. No response. Had to do manual shutdown (on my HP, if you hold the on/off button in for 3-4 seconds, it will shut off). When I manually shutdown I always wait at least 15 minutes before turning back on.

I can only do a few clicks before I get “Generic Host” error before the computer quits responding, although it seems no matter what else is going wrong, I can still play solitaire.

Then to quickly finish what has happened since. Finally able to do your Command>Run thingy. Saw MISCONFIG in proper folder. Mine is 166 kb. Date modified is 4/13/2008. Did Command>Run to see if I could run REGEDIT—per your request. Saw 5-6 folders named HKEY. Tried to continue Step four but still tells me MSCONFIG is not there. Have to always do manual shutdown. Task manager now doesnt open, neither does AVG, Spybot. Can open Word to type this email but eventally it freezes, too, but I still can play Solitaire and play new games but once I try to close Solitaire, PC freezes AGAIN. I finally gave up on Word and went to friend’s house today to use his computer to e-mail you.

Also, got response from Captain Drift. Don’t understand what “this” means in his comment “…but put this in your post”. And last, my problems are on my home PC and I live alone, aren’t I automatically the administrator?

Is my situation hopeless?

 

Sorry to hear about your loss,
On the PC have you tried to boot up in to Safe Mode? (to enter keep tapping F8 when the PC is booting)
Does the pc still run slowly in Safe mode?
If you can get in to safe mode try running through READ Me First and XP cleaning. Although you wont be able to install any new programs you can run any programs you have got installed, i.e Ad-aware, AVG, Spybot and you can remove and detected items in safe mode.
After running them then try and restart the pcin normal mode and then re-run the READ ME FIRST and XP cleaning in normal mode. If the PC is still slow, install all the programs recommend then reboot into safe mode and run everything again, then reboot in to normal mode and re-run again.

I know it sounds like a long task but i had a simular issue with a friends laptop and ran the READ Me first and XP Cleaning in safe mode then was able to reboot in to normal mode and run the XP cleaning and got the laptop working.

 

Thank you Captain Drift for replying so quickly since I am at someone else's house. Actually if I hadn't stayed to eat I would have missed your message. I just assumed I won't hear from anyone for a day or two as there are few of you and 1000's of us in trouble.
Anyway, I will go home and see if I can perform your instructions. I then need to do a magic show at a birthday party. I will try to stop by my friend's house after the party to use his computer to post a response (between 8-9:00 central time). If not able to post at that time, I'll respond using the computer at church on sunday morning.

Thank you ever so much.

 

Also sorry to hear about your loss.

You may be able to post from your OWN PC if Capt Drift's advice works! It does sound like you have some gremlins in your computer, but on the other hand, it looks like you're running a lot of anti-malware. Do you scan regularly?

Sounds like you need more sleep. :-D

Good old Solitaire - it only everything was as simple as that!!!

Since it's hard for you to get to a PC to check what's happening, it might be good to try to cover as many bases as possible at one time. Do you happen to have an HP printer? They can cause the problem, as discussed on Microsoft site:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=821690
Link to other advice also given there.

You might like to check if MSCONFIG.EXE is still there. If you put it there, and then it disappeared again, it would seem likely that you have a virus.

While you're at it, if the problem isn't solved and you need to post again, it would be good if you gave some details about your computer - type, make, operating system (XP or whatever?), updates installed, storage capacity and how much used (on your hard drive), how much RAM... Did you add any software or hardware just before the problems started?

Have faith. God and Majorgeeks are a good combination.
It seems you have encountered them in that order.

 

Sorry for your loss. Take your time and post when you have time. This thread will be here when you get back to it.

Not to disrupt the help on your software problems but you are using your computer for a lot of things with very little RAM. 512mb on XP and running any anti-virus software is going to cause a lot of your pagefile and slowness problems.

You really should consider adding more RAM if the Motherboard supports it.

 

9:20 p.m cst. Hello again. This is what I've had a chance to do since last post:

Yes..I was able to go into Safe Mode by hitting F8.

Regarding step 2: PC wouldn't let me uninstall spybot. Step 2b: Firewall: as far as I understand AVG free has no firewall. My only firewall that I'm aware of is the Windows Firewall which a dialog box pops up if I right-click the PC icon in the system tray on right-hand side.

Step 3: Java is ok., Have no Norton stuff, and Ccleaner was ran...again.

Step 4: Still tells me MISCONFIG is not found. I know it is. It's in the Binaries subfolder where Sgt Wesq told me to put it. So I opened up Explorer and in the Binaries subfolder I double-clicked on the MSCONFIG file and chose Normal mode.

Step 6 - XP Cleaning. I can't figure how how to get Netgear wireless to connect to internet in safe mode. Many of the desktop icons don't show since everything is enlarged. It was 6 years ago. I don't remember what I did. It connects automatically when I reboot.

Well, gonna go home and work on PC more. Plus Sgt CGWesq has asked me some questions and I need to answer them. Good news is, my friend is letting me take his laptop home so I can continue to communicate with MajorGeeks this evening.

 

Reading Sach2's post, I see you have already answered some of my questions - in your first post. My mistake :-o.
Not everything works when you start in safe mode - only the necessities. That's why some things are not normal. The idea is to cut out all the stuff you don't really need to start the computer and see if you can get a start that way and then run some standard functions.
I don't use AVG, but I see they have a version with a firewall - it looks like you pay a fee for it though, so if you're using the free version, I think there would NOT be a firewall with it, as you said.
Missed this question before:

Yes, you would be, as long as no one has done anything with accounts on the computer. To check, go to:
Start>Control Panel>User Accounts and see if it says "limited user " or "administrator" on your account.

 

Hi,
Seem to be going okay so far,
if you can boot in to normal mode and install the anit-malware programs and update AVG then restart in safe mode and run everything, things should improve.