i noticed today that my 2nd computer (basicly it runs just to support my external hard drives which are networked so i get access them wirelessly on my main laptop) was at the boot screen alerting me that the covers been removed since last start up (i thinks its part of POST?). this is before bios / windows loads. which is normal (its done it since i've had it).. ok now to the problem. windows loads and gives me the error that "Lsass.exe" has crashed. no more then 30 seconds after i say ok a window pops up saying that its crashed again and windows is shutting down in 60 seconds and that i need to save and close all programs.. (which explains the warning about the cover) any idea how to fix it? I dont think i've updated it to SP2. would that fix it?

 

Lsass.exe isn't bad. It's a part of Windows:

http://www.liutilities.com/products/...library/lsass/

Now if it's crashing, you've got other problems to worry about. You can try to clean it, but it sounds pretty bad from what youv'e described. The "cheapest" route money wise would be to reformat/reinstall it, then immediately install all updates. You've gotta have all the CD's that came with the computer to do that though. This would also be a good choice if you don't have anything vital on that computer's hard drive, which it doesn't sound like you do since you said you have an external HD.

If reformatting isn't an option, read up on how to clean that sucker and good luck.