Start button trouble, and other...strange happenings

Ok this has been going on for some time now but now I've gotten tired of it. I use Windows ME and my start button keeps going all grey, where the "Start" has dissapeared, as so:
http://www.angelfire.com/anime5/devi...ton_error1.gif
Then, its just a matter of time before something...odd just happens...a random pick (usually from the net) will appear on it. Its been my avatar, pieces of the yahoo messenger window, and other crazy stuff. Sometimes its all discolored too, but heres what it is right now:
http://www.angelfire.com/anime5/devi...tton_error.gif
And now, look at what just happened (not sure if this is a Firebird error or the same problem):
http://www.angelfire.com/anime5/devi...atar_whack.gif
Look at my avatar, whats up with that O_O...

SO, does anyone know what could be the root of this problem?

Well, I don't know if it's the cause of this particular problem, but it almost certainly is, but you're using Windows ME. 'Nuff said.

Yeah, get rid of ME :p

Other than that, have you checked for viruses etc.? Otherwise my best guess be WinME's poor image/icon buffer handling, but I can't see why that should happen, even that is going pretty far as far as corrupting stuff goes :p

My WinME messed up my icons once, booting in safe mode fixed it. Try that. Other than that, get rid of WinME.

Well sadly the only other OS I own is Win 98 (the original Win 98, NOT second edition), and theres just too much newer software thats not able to work with it (ie, media player 9), and sadly I don't have hundreds of dollars to go out and spend on a new OS.

So, if anyone can please tell me what this is (other than ME), it'd be great, because I'm stuck with it.

I don't think its simply because its ME though because it didn't do this for along time.

Ohh and about booting in safe mode - do I do anything in particular once I'm in safemode? Because I've booted it in safe mode numerous times since it started happening and it still persist to happen every day.

...and sadly I don't have hundreds of dollars to go out and spend on a new OS. --devilmaykickass

It's amazing that Windows 98 sucks, Windows ME sucks worse, and so the solution is to buy ANOTHER version of Windows. Like hiring someone to fix your roof, and continuing to pay him more and more money to come back and fix it again and again, even though you KNOW he's going to do a terrible job at it and in two years you'll have to pay him yet again.

Instead of buying more Windows, you can reinstall Windows ME from scratch. A clean install of Windows will fix usually all the problems you have. When I used Windows, this was my preferred method of fixing problems I couldn't otherwise solve. Backup your harddrive, format it (wipe it clean), then reinstall Windows ME. Another solution is to live with it. Some messed up icons isn't that bad a problem in and of itself. You can also look for help on http://support.microsoft.com/ and http://www.google.com/groups , those are good places to find answers to many computer problems.

Or look in the Windows folder and delete the file called ShellIconCache (you might need to enable showing hidden files) then reboot, or try deleting that from Safe Mode, before you go waste time reinstalling (even though I think you'd be better off with Win98 in any case anyway, regardless of WMP9 since who needs WMP9 when you can download WMP Classic instead :p )

Errrmm ok, I guess I'll just back it all up and clean install (as much as I loathe doing it)...:mad:

See, I think a big part of the problem is, the comp I have now is an HP that came with a ton of preinstalled crap thats useless to me. Also, when I first installed everything (I ran the quick restore CD thing when I first got it cause it belonged to someone else, but its practically brand new, and it had all thier crap on it, and I recall having to do a bunch of whacked out crap just to get videos to play right. I guess HP doesn't even know what the hell proper drivers are for there hardware...but anyway, yeah, and its default Windows ME, so bah...

But Unne, I'll ask you, since you seem to be more experienced in the field of operating systems...which would you say sucks less? ME or 98? If I'd be better off with 98 I'll go with it, despite the fact that I won't be able to have WMP 9:( .

And finally, whats WMP Classic?

WMP Classic is a free open-source alternative to WMP, based on version 6.4 with more customisability and support for various file types. WMP6.4 by far had the most tidy and clean interface and was easiest to use out of all the WMPs Microsoft has made - everything Microsoft made afterwards is bloated and ugly, including WMP9. :p WMP Classic can also read more file formats than WMP9 anyway, including Quicktime and Real Media with the appropriate filters installed, as well as OGM and Matroska video files without the extra filters that WMP9 would require.

If you really must use the piece of crap called WMP9, if you looked on the MS site, you'll find that there is a Win98 version of it. I'd recommend getting the codecs only though and running the media through WMP Classic though, if you really need such codecs.

Well yes, there is a WMP 9 version for win 98, but thats for win 98 Second edition, not the original, which is what I have...

Ohh, and 2 queations about WMP Classic:
1) Will it run in windows 98 original?
2) Download Link?

Can't you upgrade Windows 98 to Second Edition (or whatever) by downloading a Service Pack from Windows Update or some such thing?

Anyways, Windows ME basically is exactly the same thingas Windows 98, except that ME looks a bit different and has a few updated device drivers and has a bit more bloat / a few bugs added, things like that. I wouldn't touch either of them with a 10-foot pole, let alone use one of them on a daily basis. I'd take ME over 98, more likely, just because it looks a little better, but honestly, it's like choosing between getting kicked in the teeth or getting kicked in the groin.

ME is a "let's get everyone to spend a couple hundred dollars for no reason" release. Kind of like Office 97 -> 2000 -> XP -> 2003. Keep spending more money to re-buy software that does the same thing as what you already have, yay.

Your solitude in Linux land has made your mind weak, old man! Win98 SE is clearly superior to ME.

I used 98 for a long time, and ME for about a year, and they both suck equally, in my memory.

98 has always been more stable than ME on machines I've tried them both on.

Well I just solved the problem by reformatting and installing Windows 98. Things seem to run and load alot quicker and smoothly than with ME, so I think I'll stick with it. If for some reason I want ME again than I can just run the installation from Win 98 (I have the Upgrade version of ME so I always have to install 98 first anyway).

And I got WMP Classic and I love it 100 times more than WMP 9:) .

Now to get all my programs back -__-.

And the thing about upgrading Win 98 through a Service pack of some sort, well, it'd be greatly appreciated if I was given further info on this.

I don't think you can download an upgrade from Win98 to Win98SE.

ok, now my prob is, how to get quicktime to play in the WMP Classic ?

EDIT: Nevermind. I'm back on ME, and I got WMP 9 back and everything is just find...

I do have another question though - is there any reason to have WMP Classic if I have WMP 6.4 already?