[cifani090]

2 night's ago i had my circuit breaker slight turn, which made my computer not turn on. After we fixed the problem, i was finally able to get on the internet. Now, a day later, i am not able to click on anything on my desktop, except when i go to guest. It says "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have appropriate permissions to access the item." I hate when my computer has a problem, please help. Thanks 

 

[desktophifi]

How many accounts you have on your computer? are you the Admin? 

 

[Dynobot]

Would you happen to be running AVG???

 

[Dynobot]

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_vista-gaming/error-windows-cannot-access-the-specified-device/94613e6a-222c-4d23-b336-2695d410b829

 

[Uncle Erik]

Have you considered switching to Linux? My XP machine went funny in 2003. I switched over to Red Hat 7.3 and have continued with Fedora.

The learning curve isn't as bad these days. Give Ubuntu a shot. It's a very good distribution. I haven't had a problem in eight years.

OS X is a good choice, too, but you have to buy new hardware, so Linux is a better choice.

 

[beamthegreat]

Hmm I think this is because of ur environment variables.I think you install something and some of the files was missing so now, go to your computer properties...

My Computer----->Properties--->Go to Advance Setting--->environmental variables --->Check it or match with somebody else computer or ur desktop

This is sometimes because of system 32 files. There is one file by this name called shellexecuteEX check if it is there...

On thing more u can do is:

Go to My Computer---> Then Go to properties of your hard disk --->Security--->give full permission to adminstrator which you want to give then apply, click ok, then check the box.

 

[Dynobot]

X2 Linux
 
Now-a-days Linux is very polished and complete, you will find that it-just-works right from the start as supposed to years ago.
 
 

 

[Kirosia]

Hindsight is 20/20 and all, do you own an Uninterruptible Power Supply? It's like a supercharged surge protector with battery backup, in case of minor blackouts etc. (mainly to give you time to shut the PC off proper). APC is what I use.

 

[cifani090]

Linux looks alot like Apple, i am a gamer and i play games every once in a while. Im not sure if it is friendly, in that aspect. My older brother said i will need to move everything over, and clear the hard drive. 

 

[El_Doug]

Linux looks like Apple... what do you mean?  Neither of the two common desktop environments (GNOME or KDE) resembles OSX at all, and the actual use feels nothing like OSX.  Perhaps you are suggesting that GNOME does not look like Windows, and are thus generalizing? 
 
If you want "game friendly," stick to Windows
 
The real issue is that, no matter what OS you are using, without backups + a UPS (like kirosia mentioned), you always run the risk of losing data integrity.  There is no way around this
 
Quote:

Linux looks alot like Apple, i am a gamer and i play games every once in a while. Im not sure if it is friendly, in that aspect. My older brother said i will need to move everything over, and clear the hard drive. 

 

 

[Roller]

You can always go for a safe and less destructive route (compared to a drive wipe), and just do a install repair, should fix that in a jiffy, and windows update takes care of the rest.

 

[Dynobot]

Or maybe even go ahead and re-install Windows then install Linux Mint or Ubuntu and have a dual-boot machine.
 
Linux for your everyday stuff and Windows for your games.
 
 

 

[Gatepc]

I agree that linux is excellent I'd use it but Lightroom is not supported and I already have a lot of paid software on mac. But if your a gamer stick with windows. If i was you i would do a fresh install of Windows.

 

[Brooko]

Quote:

Or maybe even go ahead and re-install Windows then install Linux Mint or Ubuntu and have a dual-boot machine.
 
Linux for your everyday stuff and Windows for your games.
 
 

Big +1 to this post.  It's what I do.  I only use Windows for some gaming and loading my ipod.  For everything else day to day (including some casual gaming) we use Linux (Debian).
 

 

[classakg]

Quote:

Or maybe even go ahead and re-install Windows then install Linux Mint or Ubuntu and have a dual-boot machine.
 
Linux for your everyday stuff and Windows for your games.

Another thumbs up from me. A logical solution.