stmgr has caused error in wintrust.dll

I should've known better - I need to just get rid of the Windows update icon on my computer so that I stop being tempted!
I *did* know better than to try to download/install the one critical update on my machine (trying that caused me to have to reinstall Win ME at least twice in the past!), but there was a Plug 'n Play update that I thought might be useful, so I gave it a shot. The download was uneventful, but then I got a message saying, "sucatreg has caused an error in WINTRUST.DLL ". I clicked on "close ", and rebooted the computer, since I wasn't able to get my browser to work at that point. From then on, whenever I turn on the computer, I get a message saying, "stmgr has caused an error in WINTRUST.DLL ". Tried restoring my system to my last restore point (both in normal and safe modes), but as soon as I go into system restore, I get the message again, and nothing happens after I click on "restore to an earlier date ".
I've done a google search on both errors, and apparently the error is specific to Win ME - something to do with the system restore function?
One suggestion is as follows:

Do a search files for stmgr. An icon that looks like a barcode and says stmgr under it should come up. Delete it.​

Another suggestion is to:

Go to the Start Menu / Run and type "Command" to get your command prompt window. Then change directory to your "c:\Windows\System" directory and then run the following command: Regsvr32 wintrust.dll​

Others suggest something about copying cab files from the WinME CD.
I'm reluctant to follow the advice of unknown entities, so I'd like to pose the question here: Are any of the above "solutions" viable? If not, can someone suggest what else I might try?
Thanks!

 

For anyone who might be interested, I posted this same question at the microsoft newsgroup for WinME, and a mighty kind fellow by the name of Mike Maltby provided me with the following solution (which WORKED!!!):

Re: stmgr error in WINTRUST.DLL
In: microsoft.public.windowsme.general
This problem ( "stmgr has caused in error in WINTRUST.DLL ") has now been
confirmed as being due to a damaged Win me catalogue. A fix that works is
to rename the folder C:\Windows\System\Catroot to
C:\Windows\System\CatrootOLD and then reboot your PC. This should
hopefully fix the problem. I would then recommend that you reset system
restore and make the following quick test. Note however that Win Me's
system file protection will not be as effective as it should as it will no
longer have available the reference information it requires from the
Catalogue.

To reset System Restore:
System | Performance | File System | Troubleshooting and check "Disable
System Restore ", Apply and IMMEDIATELY reboot. This will flush you
restore folder and erase all checkpoints, then,
System | Performance | File System | Troubleshooting and uncheck "Disable
System Restore ", Apply and again IMMEDIATELY reboot. This should now
automatically create a new checkpoint immediately following the restart.
Finally adjust the space allocated to the restore folder,
System | Performance | File System | Hard Disk and adjust the restore
slider to your preferred setting. A figure of 200MB is normally more
than adequate for day to day use allowing perhaps a week of checkpoints to
be available although increasing this to perhaps 400-500MB for a few days
during periods of large installs such Microsoft Office is advisable.

To check the operation of system restore:
a) Create a shortcut on your desktop to a file.
b) Create a manual checkpoint
Could you create a checkpoint?
c) Delete the shortcut
d) Restore your PC to the checkpoint you created.
Was the shortcut restored? Did you see any error messages?
e) Reboot your PC
Was the checkpoint retained?

Regards,
--
Mike Maltby MS-MVP
mike.maltby@gmail.com

 

Hi Rebecca,

I was following your thread, I couldn't come up with anything better than you did.

I don't have ME runing anymore, replaced it with another XP installation and reused ME's drive as a backup HD. I did copy off the all the contents of that drive, so I do have all the System files saved. So if you ever lose a file or otherwise can't replace one, I can be a source.

Regards - Charles

 

Thanks, Charles! I will definitely keep that in mind. I suppose one of these days I'll end up upgrading to XP myself, but for the time being, ME is still doing a decent enough job for my purposes (especially if I don't muck around with it!)...

 

Hi rebecca, just a little curious as to what microsoft update is or does
always gives you a problem ? I have a small office in which i'm running
8 computers all on Windows Me except 1 that dual boots Me and XP.
After the set up "Tweaks" Me runs flawlessly on all of them and i never have
run into your type of problem. I'm sure you know that you do not need to install "All" of the up-dates, that plug and play one is not really needed
unless your trying to control some remote device at least thats how i
understand it. I redo each computer about every 14 Mos. just because
they get a little "Gunked" up but in MHO Me is a GREAT operating system
and for the dollar it has a lot of "bang" A properly set up Me computer
doesn't even know what a "BS of D" is !

 

Hi Navair,
Despite the "general consensus" about WinME being awful, overall I share your sentiments about it. With the exception of the Windows Updates issue, I don't think I've ever had a problem that wasn't ultimately of my own doing.
The Windows updates problem (which a google search reveals a number of other people with ME have run into as well) is that the downloads seem to go okay, but things muck up during the subsequent installation. The "critical update" (IE6/SP1) consistently got hung up at something like 71%. Can't remember any more what did and didn't work after that, but I spent days on the phone with Dell support, and each time I ended up having to reinstall Windows ME. I finally decided I could live without the update, and until a the plug ' play business, I'd resisted messing with Windows Updates again. [I've since seen some suggested solutions for the IE6/SP1 installation problem on the internet, but I've been reluctant to give it a shot given my past history with the update... i.e., I'm chicken.]
This time I started getting error messages as soon as the download was complete. Until Mike Maltby offered his solution, every google hit I got on the error pretty much indicated that I was plumb out of luck.
In any case, I plan to keep plodding along with WinME for a while yet! Happy to hear somebody else likes the system too!

 

I like ME as well, the problem was that software updates and new applications were beginning to be a problem. Vendors are becomming ever more reluctant to make their applications backward compatable.

And I got tired of dealing with the 9x resource bottleneck, which ME in particular does not handle well. In this regard, XP is a quantum leap.

Regards - Charles

 

This Universal Plug and Play is useless to the average person, unless you plan on networking with your home appliances. I would uninstall through Add\Remove.

 

Thanks, Rebecca. I had the same problem, started yesterday right after I installed four "critical" windows ME updates. (Like you, I know better than to mess with updates, but the word critical sometimes fools me). Your fix seems to have worked, and I'm grateful. Found it and this group by Googling the error message. None of the updates was plug and play, by the way. And I like ME just fine, too.