Corrupted Access to C: Drive

[mll_esq]

I am running Windows XP professional (version 5.1 with SP-1).
I have encountered a most unusual problem. I have difficulty accessing the C drive as a normal hard drive. Even the hard drive icon has disappeared from the C: drive (replaced by a standard windows icon) when I view the drive in Windows Explorer. (The other logical and external hard drives appear as normal, with the hard drive icon.)

My tech guru suggested to me that I may have deleted a Windows pointer file. And come to think of it when I was removing Norton AV Pro 2003 (to install the 2004 version), I may have accidently deleted some extra files -- but that was 5 weeks ago, and I do not wish to restore my computer to that point -- if it's not necessary. The problem is that my tech guru cannot seem to tell me which file I deleted.

Anyway, often when I try to access my C: drive, I receive the following error message:

THE MESSAGE READS:

"Windows cannot find AUTO-G.exe."
"The program is needed for opening files of type 'File'. "

"Type in the executable file to be used instead:
_______________________________________"

What can I do to remedy this? Does anyone know a safe solution or remedy to this problem?

Thanks,
Marty
(mll_esq)

[Play_The_0dds]

if you have the a cd with xp on it drop it in the cd drive, close the welcome screen if it pops up. go to start>run>type in
sfc /scannow
and let it run, it should replace what it needs from the cd.

[mll_esq]

Dear Risk It All:

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried it and unfortunately it did not work. I beleive this is because it is not a protected file -- the file is probably created when you designate C as your hard drive or boot drive. Just guessing though. Any other suggestions?

Marty
mll_esq

[mll_esq]

Dear Risk It All:

I got help from someone who experienced a similar problem. Apparently, I had a file named "autorun.inf" in the root directory of my C: drive. (This file is usually found on CDs so that they start as soon as the drive is mounted.) Anyway, deleting this file solved my problems.

Marty
mll_esq