computer people. does anyone know how to fix this.

[seabeyond]

my brother is having this problem and is bugging husband who does computer. hubby working late on customers computers and is being pissy about it. he gave me this, and said he would not suggest brother go into registery to fix it. that brother can cause bigger problem.

is this a simple issue, or a complicated one. i have to call brother about other stuff and he is going to nag. rock and hard place

i think the error is temp environment variable





Check the following key in the registry;
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User
Shell Folders\

Verify that these variables all point to paths that exist and especially the
Cache folder.
By default it should point to;
Windows XP;
%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files
Windows Vista and Windows 7;
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files

These paths can often be set incorrectly due to U3 and other jump-drive
software.

[gmoney]

1. doesn't sound like fun

good luck.

[seabeyond]

2. lol lol. really hubby's fault. all those years ago when we first got married,

he willingly helped. 16 yrs later, with two computer illerate brothers (me too, but he loves me) he is saying, enough....

[notadmblnd]

3. is this actually the error message?

is this message displaying during boot up, or is it occurring when he is trying to perform a specific function?

[seabeyond]

4. i am sorry. no. i think something like. temp enviroment variable.

i will add that to op

[Rex]

5. Messing with regedit is a bad idea if you don't know what is in there.

Bad, bad idea. Unless you like formating the HDD and starting all over.

[notadmblnd]

7. Why can't he simply boot up and restore using last known good settings.

It looks to me like its an individual user setting that became corrupt? Restoring on boot up should clear it up, no?

[Rex]

11. That is the first thing I would do too, leave the system off for 30 seconds

then reboot it.

EDIT - If that doesn't work, you can press the F8 key and go into a special menu...press it while the system is in POST (black and white startup screen) then in the menu you should have an option to boot into the 'last known' good startup for the operating system. That should go to your system restore and hopefully find a good working copy of your registry.

[seabeyond]

19. thanks

i a going to send this info to brother.

i dont know anything. i tried to follow, lol. appreciate

[Rex]

21. NP and tell him goodluck, but not to mess with the registry

it is a bad area to get into if you don't know anything about it. He could change just one thing and the entire OS would be unbootable.

[seabeyond]

23. that is what my husband was saying. glad to have confirmation on that. lol.

bad bad stuff. got it.

[elifino]

6. Possible fix

Go to www.filehippo.com, download CCLEANER, after installing CCLEANER click on registry, click onScan for Issues, click on Fix selected issues,click on NO, click on Fix All Selected Issues, click on Close. I have found this to be a safe program and it is free. Do be careful if you go to Tool, Startup when using the Delete button.

[seabeyond]

20. excellent

thanks. i will send to brother and let him figure it out. very clear.

[Egnever]

8. Whats the actual error?

Cause what you posted doesnt appear to be it but rather someones suggested fix

[seabeyond]

18. when he goes to open an attachment in email open/view... he opens and gets error

windows word could not open.... temp environmental issue. then it opens and email closes.

he says the error is temp environmental variable.

i am so computer stupid. i dont do anything with computer but hand to hubby and say thank you.

[Egnever]

26. ok

There is some sort of problem with the Windows temp folder (perhaps deleted by mistake?). To check (and fix if needed) right click on "my computer" and select "properties". In the box that opens click on the "advanced" tab. Now click the button near the bottom marked "environment variables". The path to the Windows temp folder will be shown at the top part of the box. Check to see if the path actually exists or edit it to a folder of your own choosing. Check both "TEMP" and "TMP" and, if you alter them, make them use the same folder. Okay your way out and reboot. Now try the programs you are having difficulty with.

Depending on the operating system he is using the path will be something like

%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp

have him check to make sure the folder exists and if it does he may need to go to it and delete everything in it.

[seabeyond]

27. ha.

i am so excited. lol. problem solving. me.... i may not know shit. but i am solving problems the only way i know how. i ask.

thank you

[baldguy]

9. Use this

And charge a hefty fee for the service.

[seabeyond]

16. bah hahaha. i so hear ya. i am reading these posts with all my worth

and it isnt a whole lot. but sure do appreciate the input

[blogslut]

10. Offhand?

I would tell your brother to download/install CCleaner and run it, including the Issues wizard:

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

As for the jump drive software, I don't understand the need for such programs unless a person is using the removable storage as a portable operating system. Removable media is just external blank space and the only thing a user needs to do is make sure their OS can recognize the device. I format/erase my wee USB stick all the time and use it on both my Windows and Linux machines.

[ohheckyeah]

12. I agree with the CCleaner, BUT

if it doesn't work, download Ace Utilities and run the registry clean up again with it. It often finds many things CCleaner leaves behind.

I was having a problem today as well with a particular website. The Ace Utilities registry cleaner fixed it up.

[elifino]

13. Thats a new one on me

I am always looking for good utilities as I have to support 2600 workstations for my company.

[ohheckyeah]

14. The guy who works on my personal computers

is the one who recommended it to me. It finds way more stuff than CCleaner and I've never had any problem with it at all.

[blogslut]

17. Cool

I'll go download that program and play with it. Thanks for the link. :)

[ohheckyeah]

30. I have a motto.

I used to drive my employees crazy with it....A CLEAN COMPUTER IS A HAPPY COMPUTER.

[seabeyond]

24. thanks.

i will send this to brother. maybe he will figure it out. i know he has had to clean stuff up before.

[seabeyond]

22. appreciate it blogslut.

i am going to send ALL these messages to brother and let him figure it. i dont have to do anything with my computer, and i have no desire to learn. i know much less than what brother does. well, i know nothing.

thanks

[polly7]

15. I use CCleaner also, Advanced SystemCare is another that fixes

a lot of things CCleaner doesn't. Might be worth a try.

[seabeyond]

25. appreciate it. seems like cleaning it up

is what people come up with.

as i have said over and over, means nothing to me. i appreciate it.

[gvstn]

28. I wouldn't just use a bunch of cleanup utilities.

Every problem I have had with my computer has been made worse by clean-up utilities.

I do recommend CCleaner because it is very safe. Let him go ahead and download it and run the Cleaner option which will empty his tmp/temp folders which can sometimes become corrupted. The Registry button and its subsequent fixes are also safe. Probably the only "registry cleaner" I would recommend because it fixes little problems but I have never seen it make things worse.

Since the problem occurs when he tries to open an attachment in email I would think the problem would be associated with email settings or Word. After he runs CCleaner (Cleaner and Registry scans) if the problem persists then the question is what filetype is the attachment? Is it a Word document ending in .DOC or .DOCX?

If it is a Word document then if he sends an email to himself with an attachment of a valid Word document ending in the same file extension (.doc or .docx) can he open it in his email program? He can send himself an email including an attachment of a Word document that he has stored on his PC and can open with no problems when just opening the document by double-clicking it.

If he can't open his own attachment then Word has a very good diagnostic to fix itself. Running it would fix the problem if it is related to the Word program itself. Which version of Word is he using? (2000, 2003, 2007,?)

If running Word's diagnostic doesn't work then it may be related to his email program. Which email program does he use? Outlook Express? Which year or version? (usually found under Tools>and sub-menu About.

The trick for your brother is to figure out if his email program is not working correctly or if Word is not working correctly.

[ohheckyeah]

29. You must not have used very good programs.

I wouldn't use or recommend any program that wasn't highly recommended by a tech person that I trust with my computer.

[gvstn]

32. I'm just saying

That registry cleaning software can really mess things up. CCleaner is safe as far as its registry cleaning function.

As far as keeping a clean computer, I personally keep all my documents and files on a separate partition from my operating system so I do not have to worry should a reformat and reinstall be necessary. I reformat and reinstall the OS once or twice a year as a matter or maintenance because I have never found any program that can make a computer work as smoothly as a fresh install will. **Not recommended for everyone because you have to have installers for all your programs and their license keys available ,as well as your email backed up, but it works for me.

[ohheckyeah]

34. I agree that you have to be careful

with what registry cleaner you use. I was very nervous about it which is why I called a tech for a recommendation.

I recently put a new 500 gig hard drive in my computer so I got a clean install. I'm seriously considering upgrading to Windows 7 on that computer. I put Windows 7 on my laptop and like it.

I apologize that my post sounded snippy. I had a screaming headache and shouldn't have been posting.

[gvstn]

35. No problem :)

Your post made the point that randomly trying registry cleaners is unsafe which is basically what I was saying. And yes the clean-up programs I tried were indeed not very good because they usually further damaged my OS. I stay away from them now and just do a fresh install at least once a year.

[polly7]

33. YW, I researched quite a few before downloading it, found it at

PC World's site when my computer was acting like a dick, ran it a few times and was very happy with the results. My problem may have been different than yours though, so use anything like this with caution and back-up first:).

[ET Awful]

31. There's no reason to edit the registry for that.

If in XP, right click on My Computer, go to "properties"
Click on the "Advanced" tab.

There should be a button for "environmental variables".

Click it and a window will pop up that shows the variables, make sure all the folders listed in the top section exist.

If in Windows 7, right click on "My Computer" go to "properties", click on "Advanced System Settings" on the left side.

Remaining instructions are the same as above.

I don't have a Vista machine in front of me right now, so I can't give you specific instructions.

This has fixed 90% of the issues I've run across with environmental variables.

The top section of the "Environmental Variables" window lists the "temp" settings,those are typically folders for temp files that some programs use. Do not delete anything, just create the necessary folders in the designated location.

NOTE: Where it says %USERPROFILE% it is referring to c:\documents and settings\(username).

[lumberjack_jeff]

36. Remember this haiku.

"Yesterday? Working.
Today, it is not working.
Windows is like that."