Old computer | Imamother

amother

Sun, Nov 27 2022, 1:06 am

Help! Please pardon my ignorance regarding computers: I have an old computer. It was working just fine. I recently clicked on something that changed the icon by all programs to the Excel icon, and when I click on any program I get the following message:
____________is not a valid Win32 application.
I tried contacting Microsoft, they said that my system is too old! Please help! I need my computer desperately for my remote job and I cannot afford to buy a new one.

P.S. I am still able to use programs such as Microsoft word or Excel, but only by pulling up a document that I sent via email, downloading it and opening a new file in that program...

Any assistance would be appreciated.

amother

Lemon

Sun, Nov 27 2022, 1:10 am

Courtesy of Google:

https://answers.microsoft.com/.....db7cb

"You have probably used the Open With... command on a shortcut (e.g. LNK) and inadvertently set Excel as the default file association for all .LNK files. Use the UnAssoc utility to remove the system or user assigned file association from the .LNK files. You can get a copy of UnAssoc from my SkyDrive here."
https://onedrive.live.com/?id=.....28E22

Hope that helps!

amother

Sun, Nov 27 2022, 1:29 am

Thanks so much for trying to help me! So the difference between my issue and the one you posted about, is: that my icons all changed to the Excel icon, but I am unable to open any of the programs. It's not that all programs open Excel. It's just that I get that error message...

amother

Lemon

Sun, Nov 27 2022, 1:47 am

I think it may still be the same issue. When you click on the icon to open a specific program, you are clicking a shortcut that opens the program, not clicking on the program itself.

Apparently it's possible to confuse the computer into trying to open ALL shortcuts in Excel, which doesn't work.

I'd try running the linked utility and see if it fixes the issue.

amother

Sun, Nov 27 2022, 6:59 pm

I tried deleting the .xls, as advised in one of the posts in the links that you sent me, but nothing changed. Any other advice? Thanks loads!

amother

Bone

Sun, Nov 27 2022, 7:04 pm

Do not give a random stranger from the internet TeamViewer access on your computer. Anyone knowledgeable enough to help you should know better than to suggest that.

Bleemee

Sun, Nov 27 2022, 7:06 pm

amother Bone wrote:

Do not give a random stranger from the internet TeamViewer access on your computer. Anyone knowledgeable enough to help you should know better than to suggest that.

Yes.

sammy4

Sun, Nov 27 2022, 7:06 pm

Most issues are super hard to fix without actually seeing them…. Smart move not to trust anyone from the internet… if you prefer to do Zoom where you have more control over what I can do - that works too. Just trying to help a fellow Jew out..

amother

Lemon

Sun, Nov 27 2022, 7:07 pm

amother OP wrote:

I tried deleting the .xls, as advised in one of the posts in the links that you sent me, but nothing changed. Any other advice? Thanks loads!

Did you try running the linked utility?

amother

Mon, Nov 28 2022, 12:31 am

Thank you Sammy4 for offering to help, and thanks to those who advised that I do not allow remote access to a stranger.

Sammy4, would screenshots help?

amother

Mon, Nov 28 2022, 12:47 am

amother Lemon wrote:

Did you try running the linked utility?

Pardon my ignorance, what does that mean? Please explain. (computers 4 dummies style...)

amother

Lemon

Mon, Nov 28 2022, 1:30 am

amother OP wrote:

Pardon my ignorance, what does that mean? Please explain. (computers 4 dummies style...)

Download this program and run it.
https://onedrive.live.com/?id=.....28E22

myname1

Mon, Nov 28 2022, 2:59 am

What happens if you right-click on one of the files and choose "Open With"? Can you choose another program from the list? So you would right-click a Word document, click "Open With" and choose the Word program. Is this far too simple in this instance?

amother

Bone

Mon, Nov 28 2022, 7:14 am

amother Lemon wrote:

Download this program and run it.
https://onedrive.live.com/?id=.....28E22

Please don't click links to download files from strangers!

The link below has instructions for changing the program that you open a file with.

https://www.computerhope.com/I.....2.htm

Or, you can try right clicking on a file and selecting "open with" and choosing the correct file type.

It sounds like all the files are being identified as excel, and if you try to open a non-excel file in excel, you will get an error message.

amother

Mon, Nov 28 2022, 10:15 am

myname1 wrote:

Thank you so much for trying to help. So when I do that I get this error message:

" Acrobat could not open 'Acrobat.exe' because it is either not a supported file type or because the file has been damaged (for example, it was sent as an email attachment and wasn't correctly decoded.)

To create an Adobe PDF document, go to the source application. Then print the the document to Adobe PDF."

amother

Mon, Nov 28 2022, 10:35 am

myname1 wrote:

Oy! Help! I right clicked on an Adobe file and selected Open with Adobe Acrobat, and now all the icons, for all the programs switched to Adobe.

ATTENTION ALL COMPUTER TECHS: Please try to help me! Thanks in advance!

amother

Tue, Nov 29 2022, 12:07 pm

BUMP! Please!
Oy! Help! I right clicked on an Adobe file and selected Open with Adobe Acrobat, and now all the icons, for all the programs switched to Adobe.

ATTENTION ALL COMPUTER TECHS: Please take the time to try to help me! Thanks in advance!

naturalmom5

Tue, Nov 29 2022, 2:32 pm

while I totally understand and concur with Bone

I would definitely recomend you zoom with Sammy4,
See and talk to her first

Cant be worse than going to a shop and paying a total stranger