How to Fix Help Support in Windows XP

Help and Support is a useful feature in most versions of Microsoft Windows, including XP. Help and Support contains a library of topics pertaining to many aspects of the computer, such as networking, printing and Windows updates. You can get to this utility by clicking the Help and Support icon on the Windows XP Start menu. However, if Help and Support is missing from the Start menu, does not respond when clicked or an error message appears saying the program could not open, take steps to repair the feature.

Click the "Start" button and then click "Run." A small window titled "Run" will open just above the Start menu and taskbar.

Type "regedit" into the "Open" box and click "OK" or press the "Enter" key. The Registry Editor will open.


Click the triangular button to the left of "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" to expand this registry folder. Find and expand the following folders in order: "SOFTWARE," "Microsoft," "Windows," "CurrentVersion" and "App Paths."

Locate "HELPCTR.EXE" in the "App Paths" folder. If it is missing, right click "App Paths." Point to "New" and select "Key." Type "HELPCTR.EXE" into the "New Key" field and press "Enter."

Select "HELPCTR.EXE" in the left pane and then right click "(Default)" in the right pane. Select "Modify" and type (or copy and paste) "C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\HelpCtr.exe" into the "Values" box. Click "OK" to finish fixing Help and Support and restart the computer.

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