1) I don't know the internal structure for ME. W2K and XP have it. Find your Temp folder by clicking on Start/Run and type in %temp%, then click OK. Clean it up as described.
2) progra~1 is the standard abbreviation for Program files
3) Boot into MSDOS, then type in del c:\windows\nzdd.dll and hit enter. Reboot in Windows
4) use your imagination! It's c:\Program Files\svapla-something

I wasn't aware that ~1 was an abreviation, I thought it was part of the name.

ok, SVA turned out to be SVAplaYER, it looked like some sort of winamp type thing, I didn't install it, so I deleted it.

I think I found the ME equivilent of the XP temp file, I cleaned it out.

nzdd.dll some how hide from my dos prompt, (for some reason my "reboot in MS dos" option at shutdown is gone, or maby I never had it.) but, when I shut down (and figured out hte little bliter had moved) I was able to remove it.

However, my control panel is still empty, would a repair install from the windows boot CD fix this?

See if this applies to ME as well:
http://searchwin2000.techtarget.com/tip/1,289483,sid1_gci852593,00.html?FromTaxonomy=/pr/5e3

Bookmark this webpage, choc-a-bloc full of ME-tips.
http://www.uninets.net/~blaisdel/Millennium.html

Don't know if a repair exists in ME. You could try to re-install over itself, but make backups first!
Your problem is somewhere in the registry.
One thing to try, is get MS TweakUI from http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/tweakui and see if you can fix it with that.

Neither of the first 2 links where helpful, but tweakui is. Since it opens from the control panel I restarted in safe mode, then went to the control panel tab, where I found some stuff that doesn't look like it belongs their. They are as follows,

bdeadmin.cpl
ccpan32.cpl
qtw32.cpl
wtcontrolpanel.cpl

none of the above items have a discription like the rest.

Found to problem, all I had to do was switch to windows classic view. Thanks for all of your help guys, I apprishiate it. Man I hope they don't rush Vista like they did ME, because if I upgrade from one POS OS to another Bill Gate's health just might suffer.

bdeadmin.cpl: Borland BDE control (maybe part of some database program, harmless)
ccpan32.cpl: calcomp tablet driver control, delete if you don't have a tablet
qtw32.cpl: quicktime control, OK
wtcontrolpanel.cpl: Wild Tangent control, BAD, Delete!

Stay away from Vista for at least another year! It's still only in beta, and we all know how well (!) M$ does their testing (not).

Oh no, not only does nobody I know have any way to get their hands on Vista, but from what I can tell, my systems not ready for it yet (not until I find a 6600 or 6800 at a resonable price). I FINNALY managed to run a defrag. It took all day but system seems faster now. That site you linked to had a fix for scandisk poping up every time I turn the computer on.

The only problem left is my mysterious dissapearing RAM, I have 384mb of RAM, and it all shows up in safe mode, but in regular, it only reports 254.
Also, now that I have tried to remove it for the third time, what the heck is wild tangent?

Read about Wild Tangent here: http://www.pchell.com/support/wildtangent.shtml

Does your PC have integrated video?
That might be the missing 128MB.
Go to www.lavalys.com and get their free Everest Home program.
Run that, it will tell you what hardware you have.

My graphics card is a geforce2 GTS.
I already have Everest (I think it was you who sugjested it in hte first place), it reports 254 total system memory, but if you look at the individual memory moduels (2 RDRAM 128MB PC-600, 2 RDRAM 64MB PC-600) it should equal 384 (and does in safe mode.)

Read this RDRAM FAQ, maybe you find something there. Check placing of what size chips where.
http://www.computer-memory-store.com/faq-rambus.html

I never wanted RDRAM and never will get it, it's too expensive. Only mass-producers like Dell are able to buy up all the market leftovers and flog them cheap.
They then 'claim' to have top-notch gear, which in fact are things that nobody else wants!
But beware if you want to upgrade yourself, you'll have to sell your soul!

I can't help you any further here, have no idea. Someone else?

Ya, I could buy about a Gig of ddr for what Dell wants for 254 RDRAM (probobly more.)

Is their some way to ensure that this is a software problem and not for example my mobo in it's death throws?

I've split the thread and put it into the Storage & Networking forum
Lost network connectivity, Mouse/KB problems