I have been running Windows 7 on my Dell XPS m1330 for about a month now. I have been really enjoying it and thought it was simply stellar compared to Vista but all of a sudden this week it has started to misbehave badly. Problem #1: Nothing shows up in "Devices and Printers." There is nothing there. The green bar at the top doesn't even show up loading stuff. It just sits there and says "0 Items" on the bottom. Problem #2: Every time I open a folder it always pops up in a new window. I have been in folder options multiple times and toggled the "Open folders in new windows" switch many times and it doesn't do anything. It's VERY annoying going to a folder deep within other folders and then I have to go through and "X" all the ones I don't need behind it. Again, this all started a couple days ago. I thought these had to do with my McAfee software which I had just updated but I just toally 100% removed that following their instructions and everything is still the same. I have also noticed my computer is very sluggish lately, especially opening FireFox. I was thinking I had some sort of Spyware but I ran SpyBot and a Full scan with McAfee before uninstalling it. A few things came up in Spybot which I got rid of, and nothing showed up in McAfee. Any help would be VERY much appreciated. I really need to switch my default printer!

Have you checked your HDD for errors? Go to My computer, right click your drive(s) > properties > functions > check for errors

raquettelaker2,1. How does the printer connect to the computer? 2. If you open an Explorer window and go to Organize, Folder and Search options and see if you are still set to 'Open each folder in the same window'.A few things came up in spybot... what kind of things? Were they just tracking cookies or something worse?

I'll try that, thanks.

1. The printer is connected via USB. I also have Adobe Acrobat that comes with the PDF "printer." 2. Tried this, toggled it on and off, hitting apply and it did nothing. 3. Just adware and tracking cookie kinds of stuff. I got rid of McAfee and tried downloading Avast! at the recommendation of another W7 forum. So far not impressed although I'm running a scan right now with it so I guess we'll see if it comes up with anything else. Also, my laptop has been running EXTREMELY HOT ever since W7 started misbehaving. It's so weird. I was really enjoying W7 for a few weeks and it seems to have just thrown in the towel. I'm downlaoding it again so I can try to do a repair install (will this do me any good?) but I may just format and go back to XP for now. Thanks!

raquettelaker2,You might try a program called Speedfan (although I don't know if it works with Windows 7 yet) to try to keep the laptop cooler. And heat can cause all sorts of problems. Did you finish the checking the drive for errors like floppydrive suggested? That might help if you have it set to automatically correct errors when you run it. Of course, a damaged file is a damaged file, so you might be re-installing anyhow.Let us know....

If you had a BSOD, you might have actually lost some of your system. If you take frequent images (I use Acronis TrueImage), then restore back an image or 2. I have experienced this, though my BSODs at the time were OC (overclocking) related.Hope that helps! - - - Kris

raquettelaker2, to reiterate my question: have you checked your HDD for errors?

Not yet. I was running the virus scan last night which took forever and thought I'd give each it's time. I will start the HD scan now. As for the overheating, I figured that out. I opened my HWMonitor and found the graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS) was bouncing off the max temperature of 220 deg. F. I also remembered Windows Update having a recommended update for this card but it not installing correctly so I ignored it. I tried installing it again and it worked, and my computer is running much cooler now and much quicker. I still have those other problems but I'm going to do the disk scan now. Thanks!

HD Scan didn't come up with anything or fix any of my problems. It flashed the results for about three seconds when it finished before the computer rebooted. I think I saw some "Reparse" something or other errors that were fixed? I think I'm just going to do a repair installation of W7. Does the RC setup have this option or do I need to start from scratch?

raquettelaker2,You could try running the System File Checker first. Just click on Start and type SFC /scannow (have your disc ready).

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

No luck. I'm going to run the repair setup...

I just ran the W7 setup again, selected "Upgrade" again. It took a good three hours and I now how have all the functionality in the Devices and Printers panel and my folders open in the same windows. Finally. Thanks for you help!

Yay! Glad you got it worked out. Now, experiment with the backup tool... just in case.