having two problems in XP

[TyrellCorp]

first one- When opening any folder anywhere, it opens the Search screen, instead of the folder's contents. In order to open the folder, I have to right click and choose Open, which is somehow way down in the right click list now. And Search is at the top.

2nd one- Windows Explorer just starting reading cds as being full, when in fact I know they are blank, or only have a little bit of data on them. When I try to write data to the cds, it says they are not writeable. But they are, and I have written to them before with no problem.
A sort of opposite thingjust happened with a flash card I use in a camera. After formatting it empty in XP, the camera reads it as full, and cant do it's erase function.
I have lots of specs about the computer, but I dont know what's relevant to these problems. Let me know if any info would help.

 

[aqsg72]

first one- When opening any folder anywhere, it opens the Search screen, instead of the folder's contents. In order to open the folder, I have to right click and choose Open, which is somehow way down in the right click list now. And Search is at the top.

Yeah I had a problem like that where browse in ACDSee starting being the automatic default action to take when opening a folder. I'm pretty sure you can alter it in windows explorer>tools>folder options>file types>folder. Set action to open/explore and that should solve it.

I'm not sure about problem 2 sorry