programs won't start; folders won't open

Hi fellow windows bbsers:

hate to admit it, but am rather a newbie

loaded windows 2000 on two different pentium ii computers

seemed to load fine on both, but now both will not start programs or open files

when i shut down the os, the programs or folders that did not open will show briefly before the shut down finishes

any help would be greatly appreciated

 

How much memory and how much free drive space on the PCs?

 

hey newt:

64 mb ram/6 gb harddrive on one; 128 mb ram/7 gb harddrive on the other

in the Windows Task Manager, under the Processes tab, the System Idle Process has a "99" under the CPU; could this be why nothing will open/run on them? noticed that on a working machine running win2k, it uses 10-20% of cpu resources

Thanks very much for any advice you could give

 

System Idle simply shows how much resource is not in use at the time. If the system is relatively idle, 99% is normal.

The 64Mb is low and may cause problems. 128Mb should be fine. And certainly enough drive space to run the OS.

It seems you can get some things open - at least task manager. Can you also check your event logs?