Desktop Themes

[LovelyLisa]

Hello everyone,

My son's computer used Windows 98SE. Earlier tonight we tried to change the theme, which we have done before but his time it won't let us. I can select a theme but when I try to apply it I get the folowing message:

This program has performed an illegal operation.

When I click on details I get this message:

Themes caused an invalid page fault in module <unknown> at 0000:00435580.

Would anyone have any suggestons on how I could fix this?




Thanks.

Lisa

Have you tried rebooting?

You might also try reinstalling the theme.

[LovelyLisa]

Yes, I did try rebooting and it still would not allow me to make changes. I don't know how to reinstall the theme, sorry. I am pretty new at this. Could you or someone tell me the steps to reinstalling it?


Thanks for helping me.

[JohnE.]

I had the exact same problem several years ago and the only way I found to fix it at the time was to run Norton Utilities WinDoctor, which can detect and repair some bad registry data related to Themes. There may be other solutions but that is the only one I know of myself.

Unfortunately, if you don't have WinDoctor this isn't much of a solution and I'm sorry, I can't remember which registry entries were messed up, it was a long time ago. You might want to try some other registry cleaner such as Microsoft's RegClean.

Is this a theme that came w/ Windows, or did you download it?

If you downloaded it, you just need to reinstall it from the download.

If it's one of 98's, just go to Add/Remove Programs, then from the System tab you can uncheck it, reboot, then go back and check it again to reinstall it. You will need your 98 CD though, so make sure it's handy.

[LovelyLisa]

Thank you both for helping.




Unfortunately, I don't have Norton Utilities WinDoctor. It is a theme that came with Windows. I do have the CD and will do as you instructed and hopfully that will fix this for me. If not I will download and try the RegClean. Thanks so much for the directons.



Lisa

[Beemer]

Hello LovelyLisa, Welcome to Techimo.

If you go to Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel you will find "Themes" in one of the categories. Not sure which category.

Once found, remove the check beside "Themes" and click OK all the way out of Add/Remove Programs and reboot.

Once you have returned to Windows, go back and put the check mark into Themes. You will need the Windows CD to re-install the, "Themes Package" at this point.

You should be able to get the theme you want running now.

Cheers!

[LovelyLisa]

Thank you for the welcome, you're very kind.


I did as you said and it's working perfectly again. Thank you for such great detailed directions. Being fairly new to computers, I really appreciate it and that you all took the time to help me.


Thanks again everyone



Lisa

[Beemer]

Yup! We're just a helpful bunch around here...lol
You're very welcome.

Cheers!