Have you been using any registry cleaning tools? Some of the more enthusiastic ones can actually delete two registry keys that Help and Support and System Information need to use. The easiest way to fix them is to use the Fix Help tool which can be found on Doug Knox’s site.
Download it from:
www.dougknox.com/xp/scripts_ desc/fixwinxphelp.htm.
Simply run it to reload the correct registry settings. If you’re using the Toni Arts Easy Cleaner, you can stop it damaging the Help and Support Centre by adding it to the Skip List. For more information on this, check out the website at
www.toniarts.com/faq.htm. Also, if you’ve been turning off services to improve the performance of Windows XP, make sure you haven’t disabled the Help and Support Service. You can also try reinstalling the Help and Support Centre. Find the PCHEALTH.INF file in the Windows\Inf folder – you’ll need to change the options so you can see hidden files and folders in Explorer to see it.
Right-click and choose Install, then check the registry keys for System Information to make sure they’re pointing at the right folder. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\MSInfo should have a Path value set to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo\msinfo32.exe and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\ SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows \CurrentVersion\AppPaths\ msinfo32.exe should have a default value of C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo\MSInfo32.exe and a Path value of C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSInfo.
If you are unfamilar with the registry read the following article on how to backup the registry:
http://geekpolice.net/pc-tutorials-guides-and-faqs-f13/back-up-the-registry-t1294.htm?If you’re still having problems, there are further suggestions at
www.kellys-kornerxp.com/ xp_h.htm#h&s
which may be of some help to you.
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