I Think I Killed My Laptop

[Jersey Chick]

Or at least wounded it -

Here's my problem and since you all come through every time, I'm really hoping someone out there knows the answer to this (and it's what I want to hear. :))

Here's my problem:

One of our Blockbusters is closing so my husband bought a bunch of their DVDs yesterday. I put one in my Toshiba Satellite laptop and it seems to have funked everything up. I tried to reboot, and a message came up that the Windows Vista (boo, hiss) can't load the user profile properly, so it loaded a temporary (sucky) desktop.

Can I fix this or do I need to get a computer professional? And if I can fix it, anyone here (crosses fingers) know how I go about doing that???

Please and thank you!! :D

[Fenika]

I can only suggest booting in safe mode or in last known working settings, BUT I suggest waiting for someone else to tell you if that's best :)

[Tirjasdyn]

hrm XP does this, corrupt the User account. First time I've heard of Vista doing it. But don't worry it's fixable.

You just need to create a new user account:

Directions here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Fix-a-corrupted-user-profile

XP does this alot, drove me nuts sometimes.

[Jersey Chick]

Yay! Finally, so good news!

An ex-boyfriend who is a computer dude said the same thing. I created a new user account and it works. I just lost all the bookmarks and saved passwords (I think) - unless someone here is going to make me ever happier (and I just took an Ambien, so I'm all kinds of loopy right now.) and tell me I can get them back from effed profile to squeaky clean new profile. :D

AWers - you guys ROCK!!!

[Medievalist]

You can find the bookmarks; you may have to go spelunking but they're there.

You will need to Google the browser in question to find where the bookmarks are stored, but they are retrievable, and importable.

The file they're in is just ascii / plain text; it's pretty much always retrievable.

[Jersey Chick]

Ok - I think my spelunking will have to wait until the AM - when I'm more awake.

Thank you. I KNEW you guys would rock this - reps points will commence in the AM. Again, when I'm awake and they stand a greater chance of making sense.

[Jersey Chick]

One more question - can I delete the old profile, or will that make a mess of things (I know how evil Windows likes to make things more difficult than they really need to be) or should I just leave where it's lying in the dirt?

[Medievalist]

Leave it for at least 30 days in case you find other things you need to spelunk.