DELL Inspiron 4000 / WinMe hangs after temp files deleted

[neogeek]

DELL Inspiron 4000 / Celeron 600 MHz / 128 MB SDRAM / WinMe

I've been cleaning out (viruses and malware) and tuning up this laptop. I did a search to locate all .tmp files; there were many dating back for years. I kept the ones from the latest session today only and deleted all others including several from an earlier session today. Before doing this, I had the unit running as good as new. I'm now experiencing system instablility, hangs at startup. This never happened before I deleted the temp files. I thought I only needed to keep the temp files from the current session. I also made the mistake of moving the deleted files to a new folder instead of restoring them to see if that would reverse the problem. I can't connect this to any other action as it happened immediately after the deleting; everything was perfect before and there was no other signifigant procedures performed today except for running a systemwide virus scan that indicated I'm clean.

I've thought of trying a repair/reinstall of WinMe but would rather not if it isn't necessary or helpful.

Can anyone help?

 

[mattjurado]

1. Can you restore the files? You say you moved the deleted files to a new folder. Not sure if you really deleted them, or moved them.
2. Are you sure you are spyware free? I highly recommend using multiple tools, definitely ad-aware (

http://www.download.com).

3. Try system restore. Start>programs>accessories>system tools. Restore to any time before this morning.

Matt J.

Please always take the time to backup any and all data before performing any actions suggested for ANY problem, regardless of how minor a change it might seem. Also test the backup to make sure it is intact.

 

[neogeek]

Thank you for your reply, Matt.

re: (1) deleted files, First, I deleted them to the Recycle Bin; after that I moved them to a new folder on my Desktop, where they now reside. I thought they might have been restored to their original places if I had run Restore from the Recycle Bin but now it would sem they no longer have the info attached to them to route them back to their originally configured places. Also, I'm not sure where they all were positioned / which folder(s) they came from....maybe all C:\WINDOWS\TEMP but maybe other places as well.

(2) I'm pretty sure I'm Spyware free; I've run updated versions of Spybot S&D, Ad-Aware and Spyware Blaster.

(3) Sadly, when I cleaned out the viruses, I turned off System Restore and forgot to turn it back on. If I had a restore date, I'd be a happy camper indeed.

I'm left with 3 issues:
1. Where's the line between OK and NOT OK when deleting temp files; which can be safely deleted and how can we ID that?
2. I have a DELL WinMe Reinstallation CD; if the problem is System instability, should I reinstall?
3. I have a Registry backup file from before this temp/instability problem (though it has settings from before I got rid of the Spyware remnants). Worse comes to worse, will this act as a Restore for this situation?

 

[mattjurado]

1. I usually stick to c:\windows\temp folder when cleaning, but in theory, deleting any temp files should not have an effect like this.

2. You can use the system restore, but backup all data first. However, I would look at this first...

3. Make a registry backup first. Then, restore your old registry backup. Run spyware scans again, remove the registry keys found. You can also make a 9x bootdisk, go to dos, and run scanreg /fix, or scanreg /restore (search for scanreg.exe, not sure where its at).

Matt J.

Please always take the time to backup any and all data before performing any actions suggested for ANY problem, regardless of how minor a change it might seem. Also test the backup to make sure it is intact.

 

[neogeek]

1. Someone who's been helpful in the past told me tonite that there are .tmp files that can be necessary to system stability, that work in shared situations......maybe that sounds off. I certainly was surprised by the bad turn. IT DID START IMMEDIATELY AFTER DELETING THE .tmp files that Search found.

2. When you said "restore", I take it you meant the System Reinstallation CD.

3. We're on the same page! I've been thinking about merging the old Registry Backup files; if that doesn't do it, then I'll go with reinstall option. There is no data to back up though I am concerned about applications. Since she's lost all her disks, I may have to see what I can get back via downloading from manufacturers, DELL and Microsoft.

Thanx once again, Matt!
John.

PS. Going into dos is an intriguing thought.