[dinodino]

Get a Mac!





(sorry, couldn't resist...)

[thoughtomator]

Press CTRL-ESC and tell me if you can see the start menu.

[paulcissa]

Hit F8 for option to boot into safe mode (minimum device drivers will load). Restore the system to the last CheckPoint known to work. I believe this is under Start>Programs>System>Utilities, don't quote me, I'm going by memory (first thing to leave from aging).

Other than that; Yer On Yer Own.

[rodeocowboy]

Don't get a mac. But, shut the PC down with the CD drive open, put the windows xp cd in the drive and shut it. Then, turn on the PC and hit F12 until the BIOS screen appears, use your arrow keys and highlight boot from cd/dvd drive. Hit "enter" and follow the windows prompts. Freepmail me for my phone number if you need help.

WARNING! This will reformat your hard drive and you will lose anything stored on it.

[listenhillary]

Does it matter how long you wait? 10 minutes? Still no menu?

Have you installed any software recently?

[darkwing104]

When was the last time you defraged your hard drive?

[Jaysun]

Go to "start" choose "run" and type in "msconfig" enter. Click on tab labeled "startup". The checked items run when you turn on your computer. I suspect that you may have some crap starting up that you don't really need and perhaps that's your problem. You can uncheck the unnecessary ones and see if that helps.

You might also go to "my computer" and right click on "C" and choose properties. Click "disk clean up" and delete everything. This will free up space which might also help.

[proxy_user]

Do not move the mouse.

Hit cntl-alt-delete. Select the task manager. In the task manager, go to the processes pane and sort the processes by CPU percentage. Then proceeed. What process is at the top, using the most CPU?

[aft_lizard]

I have another path for you to take. Press ctrl-alt-del when it does that and see if there are any programs using an abnormal amount of memory and/or cpu percentage. If there is one close the process and uninstall/reinstall that program.

[VeniVidiVici]

AT&T is sucking on your network port too hard routing to NSA and is pulling bits off of your hard drive, thereby hanging your machine.

Or maybe your hard drive is just giving up the ghost.

Could be a lot of things. Try the safe mode boot to even see if you can get in. Installed any hardware/software recently?

[gondramB]

"If you can't get to the start menu at all, you may need to reinstall the operating system. If you can get to the start menu, run scandisk to repair your state data."

I see where he is going with this but there are a number of things to try first....

1. Try to get to safe mode by pressing the F8 key as the computer boots and selecting safe mode.

If you can boot to safe mode try running scandisk (which may require another reboot) and/or run msconfig and select diagnostic startup. If you can boot in diagnostic startup then some program or service is preventing booting. Go back to msconfig, go to the startup tab and uncheck every program that you don't need at startup.

If you like, I'll give you my phone number and we can do some interactive diagnosis.

[texas_mrs]

[Democrat for Bush]

The answer truly is, Get a Mac. Go to http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/ It details how you can run Windows on Mac now that it has the Intel chip. No more Virtual PC running slowly. You can now get a Mac mini http://www.apple.com/macmini/ for under $600 that runs OS X and Windows XP, and it will run Windows XP beter than any PC without the problems you enumerate. You'll get the best of both worlds, and you'll look really cool running Windows XP flawlessly (that certainly is an oxymoron) or at least better than on that piece of junk that is giving you problems now.

[Eric]

Another possibility is you have a trojan. The best way to discover the gremlins and get rid of them is visit the website called tomcoyote.com. They have saved me several times, although you do need a computer capable of getting to the internet and www.tomcoyote.com

[freekitty]

Maybe it's your mouse?

[Prince Charles]

Just reformat your hard drive. It's what MS advises.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1609313/posts

[Mannaggia l'America]

No offense to anyone in particular, but I have to say it's rather silly to suggest to anyone that they go out and buy a whole new computer to correct a mouse issue.

I know the issue is probably more than the mouse itself, but the now-boring "get a Mac" responses help nothing. I know it's tough to contain your MacZealotry, but it's probably not the "help" the original poster is looking for.

[CFC__VRWC]

Just for the heck of it, have you tried booting without the mouse attached? Can you navigate using the keyboard when it screws up? (hitting CTRL+ESC keys should pull up the Start menu, hitting the Windows Logo+E keys should launch Windows Explorer).