Unable to Access Control Panel Selections

I'm running Vista Home Premium x64, 2GB memory, NVidia 8600 GT with ASUS
M2N motherboard. My problem is this: About four days ago I started my
system and left the room. When I came back the monitor was blank even
though the computer was running. I had to do power button shut down. It
started back up without a problem. Later on I tried to open the device
manager from the control panel and got a half second flash of a screen
but it would not open. That started me looking at other shortcuts in the
control panel (classic view). I have since found that I cannot access:

Auto Play, Backup and Restore, Default Programs, Ease of Access,
Network and Sharing Center, Parental Controls, Performance Information
and Tools, Personalization, Power Options, Speech Recognition Options,
System, User Accounts, Welcome Center, Windows Anytime Upgrade, Windows
Sideshow and WWindows Update.

I haven't been able to find any information about this particular
problem anywhere I've looked. I had the UAC turned off and always got a
warning after startup that it was disabled. I turned it back on and can
now access the device manager but everything else is still inaccessable.

I'm still able to use my system but it's driving me nuts knowing it's
not 100%.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,


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blksmth52

blksmth52;747126 Wrote:
> I'm running Vista Home Premium x64, 2GB memory, NVidia 8600 GT with ASUS
> M2N motherboard. My problem is this: About four days ago I started my
> system and left the room. When I came back the monitor was blank even
> though the computer was running. I had to do power button shut down. It
> started back up without a problem. Later on I tried to open the device
> manager from the control panel and got a half second flash of a screen
> but it would not open. That started me looking at other shortcuts in the
> control panel (classic view). I have since found that I cannot access:
>
> Auto Play, Backup and Restore, Default Programs, Ease of Access,
> Network and Sharing Center, Parental Controls, Performance Information
> and Tools, Personalization, Power Options, Speech Recognition Options,
> System, User Accounts, Welcome Center, Windows Anytime Upgrade, Windows
> Sideshow and WWindows Update.
>
> I haven't been able to find any information about this particular
> problem anywhere I've looked. I had the UAC turned off and always got a
> warning after startup that it was disabled. I turned it back on and can
> now access the device manager but everything else is still inaccessable.
>
> I'm still able to use my system but it's driving me nuts knowing it's
> not 100%.
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
> Thanks,
Hello,
Let's start with system restore. Go back 5 days ago.


--
t-4-2

I knew I'd forgotten a part in my original post (sorry). When I turned
the UAC back on I regained access to System Restore. I've tried to
restore to an earlier point but to no avail. I've tried going back as
far as two weeks. It goes through all the steps, restarts and states
that system couldn't be restored and to select another restore point. At
one point I was getting an error that refered to 0x81000202. When I
tried to find info on it all my searches brought up were references to
Windows XP. That included going to the Microsoft Knowlege Base.


--
blksmth52

blksmth52;747211 Wrote:
> I knew I'd forgotten a part in my original post (sorry). When I turned
> the UAC back on I regained access to System Restore through the start
> menu but the shortcut in Control Panel doesn't work. I've tried to
> restore to an earlier point but to no avail. I've tried going back as
> far as two weeks. It goes through all the steps, restarts and states
> that system couldn't be restored and to select another restore point. At
> one point I was getting an error that refered to 0x81000202. When I
> tried to find info on it all my searches brought up were references to
> Windows XP. That included going to the Microsoft Knowlege Base.
Hello blksmth52,
Run a virus scan with your anti-virus program. See what the program
says.
Here is also a link. Go to the section : Control Panel Problem - click
the link under that section.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/12...e-disable.html


--
t-4-2

I went to the link and tried enabling Control Panel. Nothing changed.

I ran Windows Defender and it shows no malware and computer is running
normally.

Just finished a virus scan with avast! and came up with a list of files
it couldn't scan. I went looking for the files and they don't exist.
Looked in the Recycle Bin to see if they got deleted...not there.

Here's the list (they are all from the same place):
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\...\My Music
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\...\My Pictures
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\...\My Videos
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\...\My Documents
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\NetHood
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Templates
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Recent
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Send To
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Start Menu
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\PrintHood


--
blksmth52

blksmth52;747279 Wrote:
> I went to the link and tried enabling Control Panel. Nothing changed.
>
> I ran Windows Defender and it shows no malware and computer is running
> normally.
>
> Just finished a virus scan with avast! and came up with a list of files
> it couldn't scan. I went looking for the files and they don't exist.
> Looked in the Recycle Bin to see if they got deleted...not there.
>
> Here's the list (they are all from the same place):
> C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\...\My Music
> C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\...\My Pictures
> C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\...\My Videos
> C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\...\My Documents
> C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\NetHood
> C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Templates
> C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Recent
> C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Send To
> C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Start Menu
> C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\PrintHood
Hello,
You might want to rebuild the icon cache. Here is the link :

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/11...e-rebuild.html


--
t-4-2

I rebuilt the icon cache but it didn't change any thing in the Control
Panel. Something I hadn't tried was right click on the faulty icons. I
did that and clicked on explore. Every window is blank. I know there has
to be a logical explanation for this. I've been trying to think of
anything I've done out of the ordinary and the only thing I can think of
is Wednesday night I downloaded a demo for a game called Dracula:
Origin. Other than that the only time I've gone online is to check email
and search for a solution to this problem. Virus scan and Windows
Defender both came up negative (which is a good thing I guess).


--
blksmth52

blksmth52;747430 Wrote:
> I rebuilt the icon cache but it didn't change any thing in the Control
> Panel. Something I hadn't tried was right click on the faulty icons. I
> did that and clicked on explore. Every window is blank. I know there has
> to be a logical explanation for this. I've been trying to think of
> anything I've done out of the ordinary and the only thing I can think of
> is Wednesday night I downloaded a demo for a game called Dracula:
> Origin. Other than that the only time I've gone online is to check email
> and search for a solution to this problem. Virus scan and Windows
> Defender both came up negative (which is a good thing I guess).
Hello blkamth52,
My knowledge is limited and I'm out of idea.
I suspect there is one thing you did not tell us : you have SP1
installed.


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t-4-2