Startup problem: "can't find logon.exe"

Startup problem: "can't find logon.exe"

QUESTION:
Okay, here's a puzzler. I have an old Windows XP computer that I hadn't used in a while. It's just been sitting in the guest room for several months, since I got a new computer. My daughter came to visit and I was going to let her use it. Fired it up and got a message saying "Windows cannot find logon.exe." That sounds like a pretty important thing to get lost, and I don't have a clue how it got lost. The computer still booted but it's acting a little weird, like copy and paste not working right. Is this something I can copy from another computer or download somewhere or ...? Thanks for your help. - Jack E.

ANSWER:
Sometimes you can fix this problem with a simple registry edit. As always, be sure to back up the registry first. Then perform these steps:

1. Open your registry editor and navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ Winlogon
2. In the right pane, double click Shell.
3. In the values box, if you see "Explorer.exe" and then "Logon.exe," delete the "Logon.exe" part only.
4. Click OK.
5. Close the registry editor.
6. Reboot the computer.