Sidekick 99 Boot Trouble

[moranpro]

I have run Sidekick 99, ver 6.01, for many years under Windows 2000 Professional. A few weeks ago, the program stopped booting. When I try to boot, the logo briefly appears on screen and below, then goes away and does not open the program. Any ideas out there?

Thanks.

 

[james33]

Dear moranpro,

This has happened a couple of times with me and my solution has been (After checking that no new software has been added which is causing it) to re-boot the computer and retry and if that does not get it going then I disable all threads relating to Windows Media (using Task Manager)and then try again.
Let us know if that works



Regards Jim
Check the FAQ area of this Forum for answers (If there are any FAQs!) , it could save you a lot of time and effort!

 

[moranpro]

Thanks for the reply, James. I have tried re-booting the computer, but no change. I do not see anything listed in the Task Manager related to Windows Media, but I am not sure I know what to look for.

Everett

 

[james33]

Dear Everett,

Check out the following link to the FAQ pages here.

faq807-5203

Regards Jim
Check the FAQ area of this Forum for answers (If there are any FAQs!) , it could save you a lot of time and effort!

 

[moranpro]

Thanks, James. I had already looked at that, among many others, but this does not address the problem I have. In my instance, I am not installing, just booting the program and it does not freeze, just fails to boot. Accordingly, there is no sidekick.exe listed in the task manager because it never booted. There appears to be no reference to Windows Media Player in the task manager.

 

[james33]

Dear moranpro,

Then the only thing is to work your way down the list of running processes and stop all of those which you are allowed to stop and then see if Sidekick will boot.
If that fails I am at a loss too.

Have you tried installing another version of Sidekick I have never liked 99 even though it did load quickly and would suggest 98 and the patch.

Regards
Jim

 

[moranpro]

OK. I can try the process of elimination. Hmmm... is there some way for me to ask the computer to load Sidekick at startup and early enough to perhaps not be in conflict with other programs?

I am open to Sidekick 98. Is it still available somewhere? On [your site, I think?] you seem to have it but caution against opening the files without scanning them for viruses. Are your own files susceptible in that way? You will think I am an idiot, but I no longer use anti-viral software as they have all caused me more grief than protection. I just try to stay away from very public and social networking sites.

Everett

 

[james33]

Dear Everett,

They are clean, but if you are still in doubt I do have a CD but communicate through my website address if you want a copy.

Regards Jim
Check the FAQ area of this Forum for answers (If there are any FAQs!) , it could save you a lot of time and effort!

 

[james33]

Dear Everett,

I don't know if this still works but in Win98 you can preface the items/Shortcuts in the StartUp folder with numbers so that they start in order.
As there are Reg entries too it may not work...
Worth a try as 1 starts before 2etc

Regards
Jim

 

[moranpro]

I'll look into that. Thanks. In the meantime, I re-installed Sidekick 99 using the download and have the exact same results, so there must be something still conflicting with it. A real head-scratcher.