SRS -

If you're still getting the "missing .dll" on bootup, take a look and see if there's a "more" or "details" button on the message. Sometimes it will tell you where it's looking, so you'll know where to put it back - and/or it may tell you what file is looking for it.

Second option: look in your Windows Startup folder:

If you're using Win 2000 go to:
"C:\Documents and Settings\...\Start" and also
"C:\Documents and Settings\...\Start\Program Files\Startup"
where the \...\ is where you pick a "user."

In Win2000 there will probably be at least an "Administrator," an "All Users," a "Default User," and likely one with your name on it – if that's how you set up the first time. Check each Start and Startup folder to see if there's anything in there that could be "asking for" the .dll that's supposed to be missing.

The files in Start and Startup are all shortcuts, so you can right-click on one and pick Properties. You may have to pick a "Shortcut" tab after that, but one of them should show your .dll as a target. (Since a .dll can "call" another .dll, its' not absolutely guaranteed that it'll be there, but the odds are pretty good.)

If you move the Shortcut file out of the Startup folder, Windows will quit looking for the .dll when you reboot. (You could delete the shortcut, but if you just move it you can move it back if something quits working.)

Note that the shortcut to the .dll may be in more than one "user" folder, so you have to check them all.

The most likely thing is that when you uninstalled the old Real Player(?) you didn't remove the Startup shortcut that's still trying to load it when you boot. If the new version (or whatever replacement you install) doesn't use the same name for it's starter, or puts it in a different place, you'll keep getting the boot message.

There is another remote possibility to consider, especially since you've tried reinstalling and it didn't put the .dll back. There is a class of virus that typically puts a shortcut to its own .dll into every Startup folder it can find. The typical is that the virus .dll changes your browser home page, often to a porn site but sometimes to a travel agency. The shortcut that it puts in Startup is intended to run the .dll to reset back to the new site everytime you reboot. Norton usually "kills" the virus, but may not block it before it writes the shortcut, and the shortcut itself isn't actually a virus – so your homepage doesn't change, but the shortcut is still trying to run the virus .dll "program" that Norton killed. If that's the case, you certainly don't want to replace the .dll. The "original" version of this virus type was called "Troj/JetHome" and the .dll it called for was sp.dll, but some smart-a.. (omitting other adjectives) could have changed the name.

Since you've found files with "your" .dll name elsewhere, (Norton would have removed it if it was a virus) and it apparently hasn't messed with your machine, I think it's extremely remote that the virus is involved, but you can check it out on any of the AV web sites if you're curious.

John