Skip to main content

Help and Support and System Information fail to start

A system issue with the Windows applications System Information and Help and Support won't start. (The application processes are msinfo32.exe & helpctr.exe)

The System Information was likely corrupted by an unexpected termination, malware, spyware, virus or the like. It can be recovered by reinstalling System Information and Help and Support services.

Restore Help and Support and System Information by perform the following in command prompt:
net stop helpsvc
cd /d %windir%\pchealth\helpctr\binaries
start /w helpsvc /svchost netsvcs /regserver /install
start /w helpsvc /register

System Information and Help and Support should run correctly now.
Also see: Restoring Windows Original Files

Comments

strangerland said…
I've searched high and low for a fix to this problem and This Is It! If msinfo32.exe will not start from the run dialog do this. Thanks.
David Rodecker said…
Glad that helped. It's ironic you have to search for help when the Windows help system itself fails.

-dave

Popular posts from this blog

Windows Firewall can not run because another program or service is running that might use the Network Address Translation component (IPNat.sys)

Windows Networking Firewall failure Error Upon trying to open and configure the Windows built-in Firewall, you receive the error: "Windows Firewall can not run because another program or service is running that might use the Network Address Translation component (IPNat.sys)" Cause is due to settings left in by "Routing and Remote Access" service. Even if the service is stopped, Windows will still report this error because the network card bindings are still being held by RRAS. Disable RRAS by opening the MMC for it and "Disable Remote Access and Routing". This can also be found by Right -clicking "My Computer", opening the Service and Application node. By Disabling RRAS in this way, the network protocol interface bindings are removed allowing for the Windows Firewall and Connection Sharing service to take over.

VB.Net code to control mouse movement and click

VB.Net code to perform mouse movements and clicks. Include references at the top of the class code file to Windows interface libraries: Public Declare Auto Function SetCursorPos Lib "User32.dll" (ByVal X As Integer, ByVal Y As Integer) As Integer Public Declare Auto Function GetCursorPos Lib "User32.dll" (ByRef lpPoint As Point) As Integer Public Declare Sub mouse_event Lib "user32" Alias "mouse_event" (ByVal dwFlags As Integer, ByVal dx As Integer, ByVal dy As Integer, ByVal cButtons As Integer, ByVal dwExtraInfo As Integer) Some fixed constant values will be needed, so include these as basic names: Public Const MOUSEEVENTF_LEFTDOWN = &H2 Public Const MOUSEEVENTF_LEFTUP = &H4 Public Const MOUSEEVENTF_MIDDLEDOWN = &H20 Public Const MOUSEEVENTF_MIDDLEUP = &H40 Public Const MOUSEEVENTF_RIGHTDOWN = &H8 Public Const MOUSEEVENTF_RIGHTUP = &H10 Public Const MOUSEEVENTF_MOVE = &H1 This

Acrobat Reader is Slow to Open

When Adobe starts, the application scan its plugin folder. Each API file that is here is loaded into the application, taking additional load time and much more memory. You can safely prevent Adobe from using these. The developers and product managers at Adobe stuffed several goodies which most end-users rarely use. I recommend getting rid of most of these with the exception of Searching & Form entry. DWTips posted this, but I found the steps slightly different, here is what I recommend:: Close Adobe if it is open. Browse to the folder C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\plug_ins Create a new folder named Optional Move all files (.api files) to Optional, except EWH32.api, Search.api and AcroForm.api. Now Adobe should starts much quicker.