Recently purchased a Dell Laptop. The XP seems to have a problem. When
running different programs like Office 2007 or others the comand icons are
greyed out.
For example the button icon of office is black and white instead of the 4
color button.
Carlenia wrote:
> Recently purchased a Dell Laptop. The XP seems to have a problem.
> When running different programs like Office 2007 or others the
> comand icons are greyed out.
>
> For example the button icon of office is black and white instead of
> the 4 color button.
>
> Any idea what could be wrong?
- "Recently" - can you be more precise?
- Is this a new or used laptop, direct from Dell or an individual (not a
business)?
Just wondering how it was installed, what all came with it, etc.
I'd still suggest you doing the following - for the experience if not for
the fact that you could have problems and it might clear them up - to get
more information and cleanup your system...
First - please state your full Windows XP edition and version.
Start button --> RUN
(no "RUN"? Press the "Windows Key" + R on your keyboard)
--> type in:
winver
--> Click OK.
The picture at the top of the window that opens will give you the general
(Operating System name) while the line starting with the word "version"
will give you the rest of the story. Post _both_ in response to this
message verbatim. ;-)
Start button --> RUN --> type in:
"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Installer Clean Up\msizap.exe" g!
--> Click OK.
(The quotation marks and percentage signs and spacing should be exact.)
Download, install, run, update and perform a full scan (separately) with the
following two applications (freeware versions are the ones to use for this):
After performing a full scan with one and then the other and removing
whatever they both find completely, you may uninstall these products,
if you wish.
Download the latest version of the Windows Update agent from here (x86): http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=91237
.... and save it to the root of your C:\ drive. After saving it to the root
of the C:\ drive, do the following:
Close all Internet Explorer windows and other applications.
Start button --> RUN and type in:
%SystemDrive%\windowsupdateagent30-x86.exe /WUFORCE
--> Click OK.
(If asked, select "Run.) --> Click on NEXT --> Select "I agree" and click on
NEXT --> When it finishes installing, click on "Finish"...
Log on as an user with administrative rights and open Internet Explorer
and visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and select to do a
CUSTOM scan...
Every time you are about to click on something while at these web pages -
first press and hold down the CTRL key while you click on it. You can
release the CTRL key after clicking each time.
Once the scan is done, select just _ONE_ of the high priority updates
(deselect any others) and install it.
Reboot again.
If it did work - try the web page again - selecting no more than 3-5 at a
time. Rebooting as needed.
The Optional Software updates are generally safe - although I recommend
against the "Windows Search" one and any of the "Office Live" ones or
"Windows Live" ones for now. I would completely avoid the
Optional Hardware updates. Also - I do not see any urgent need to install
Internet Explorer 8 at this time.
Seriously - do all that. This is like antibiotics - don't skip a single
step, don't quit because you think things will be okay now - go through
until the end, until you have done everything given in the order given. If
you have a problem with a step come ask and let someone here get you
through that step. If you don't understand how to do a step, come back and
ask here about that step and let someone walk you through it.
You might run Belarc Advisor (Free) and print out the results for your own
benefit. It will take inventory of your machine - something that is never a
bad idea. http://www.belarc.com/
XP on a Laptop 
Linear Mode
