What to Do If the Help and Support Center Is Not Running

Every once in a while, XP locks up. I know, hard to believe. Sometimes that freeze is caused by the Help and Support Center. But all is not lost. You don't necessarily have to yank the power cord and reboot the system to recover. Sometimes you just have to resuscitate the Help and Support Center itself.

The Windows XP Help and Support Center relies on two modules: the Help and Support Center executable (helpctr.exe), and the Help and Support Center Service (helpsvc.exe). If two or more instances of helpctr.exe are running at the same time, the Help and Support Center may not run at all. To remedy this condition, follow these steps:

1.	Press Ctrl+Shift+Esc (or Ctrl+Alt+Delete) to open Windows Task Manager.
2.	Click the Processes tab, and then click the Image Name heading to sort the list in alphabetic order.
3.	Find and highlight each instance of helpctr.exe with a click of a mouse. Then, click the End Process button, repeating this step until all instances of the executable have been closed.
4.	Now, choose Start | Control Panel to open Control Panel.
5.	Click the Performance and Maintenance link, click the Administrative Tools link, and then double-click Service to open the Services window.
6.	In the list of services, right-click Help and Support, and choose Restart from the shortcut menu.

The Help and Support Center should now be back on its feet without an unplanned reboot and possible loss of unsaved data.