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Ok, Where to start. Thank you for all the time you obviously spent researching this. I will go through your tips one by one and see what I find. I did download and run the PSPV utility and the only thing it showed was my password for my email with my ISP. Nothing for net passport or msn. I got a reply from Microsoft and they said they are kind of busy right now and will get back to me in 5 days or so. Ha ha. In the mean time I will do some file and registry searching as you laid out. I will post my findings. Thank you.

Oh, I did find the key you refered to. I put the – sign in front of it. It had no effect and when I went back into the registry I found that entry with no sub keys and a new entry without the -. So it looks like XP simply moved the information to the newly created key and ignored the key I changed. Interesting.

Thanks Bruce. I contacted Microsoft and I’m waiting to see what they say. No matter what I do, I can’t duplicate the problem (or feature) on my 98 2nd ed computers. So it must have something to do with XP. I’ll wait and see if anyone else has any suggestions I can try, and what Microsoft says.

Very similar. But mine says sign in to msn groups. But basicly the same type box yes. But now the only way I can get the box is to sign out and then click sign in. Otherwise it logs me in automatically. And I don’t have the auto sign in box checked.

Now I am really stumped. Just now, after booting fresh from yesterday, I went to the msn site and clicked sign in. It not only had my user name but just went directly to logged in without my doing anything. And all cookies ect were deleted last night using guard IE, IE6 itself, spider, and manually with windows explorer. I just did a search of the registry for my user name and came up with nothing. I then did a file search for my user name contained in files, including system and hidden files and again turn up nothing. It’s got to be here somewhere. Otherwise how would they know it was me? Well maybe someone in the lounge knows.

No, it’s not auto complete. When I click the sign in button the box opens with one of my user names already filled in. The other user name is available in a drop down box. The password box is empty. Auto complete does just that, complete something I start to type. This is pre filled in like a cookie would do. But it must be stored somewhere other than cookies, history, or temporary internet files. I will search the registry and see if it is in there somewhere.

I found the answer in another thread. That assumes the computer will start and run enough to get to the system restore shortcut.

As long as the subject has been brought up – how does one restore the system if things go wrong? My system restore is turned on. Thanks.

Thank you Big Al. I will just mark it ignore in AdAware.

I found the software making the change though it seems strange. It is Adaptec/Roxio EZ CD Creator. Both version 5 and 6 seems to be the programs making this change. I have no idea why. I just thought I would pass this along in case anyone else has the problem and does a search of the forum.

Well I must have scared the program by writing to the lounge because suddenly it decided to work. I did hold the control key while clicking the x (something I have used in 98se many times) one last time and this time it seemed to work. But I will save all the tips provided just in case it looses it’s mind again. Thank you for all the replys. And Big Al, I don’t have a problem editing the registry, I have done it many times, including a few times I wish I woudn’t have, but I am comfortable in there. Thanks again all.

Yes it sure does. Thanks for the answers. I don’t care for the built in program. I just installed winzip and it is working fine.

I use and really like Guard IE . Try it for free and it’s $30 to register. Besides blocking pop-ups, It can also clean out your cookies, temp internet files, and history when closing IE. And it guards against other nasty web things too.

Kimmn21,
Try burning the mp3 files using the data cd button on Roxio. Not the audio button. I burn mp3 files for the kids and that is how I do it. They will play fine on all the computers and on thier portable mp players. Give it a try.

I have installed a video capture card and related software and I suspect it is one of those programs that caused the problem. That is about the time it happened the first time. My fix of editing the registry has worked and it sticks so it must just be on an install that the setting is changed. I’ll watch for it the next time I have to re-format and reinstall everything.

It just did it again. I had to reformat and re-install 98SE. I loaded all my software and updated to IE6 and SP1. I also upgraded windows itself. And a few programs that are fairly new. One of those changed the registry from jpg to jpeg. If I do manage to find the culprit I will post it. Darn thing.