Can't access applications

[RK]

A friend called and asked if I could help her out. She is
running Windows XP, and had a huge buildup of spyware on
her machine. She could no longer launch most her
her desktop icons. When I looked at her PC, I realized
that she could not even launch anything from Start/Program
Files either. Typical behaviour is this:
Double click on an icon.
The hourglass shows up.
The screen goes blank after 3 seconds; all icons disappear.
Icons re-appear after 5 seconds as if nothing happened.

In actuality, nothing does happen.

I have tried to get into Control panel, but cannot as the
desktop icon and the Start/program methods all result in
the above behaviour.

If you click on Internet Exlporer you get an error message
saying the path is incorrect.

If anyone has seen this type of behaviour and figured it
out, please help!!!

Thanks,
RK

Note:
I was able to get Spybot to get rid of most of the spyware
junk. I downloaded Spybot
to disk and was able to run it. I cannot access the
internet since I cannot open
any browser windows

 

[Guest]

When you first boot up press and hold down the F8 key and you will get a screen with options on it that you need. I suggest you use the "safe mode with networking" and use the up or down arrows to highlight this selection and then click enter on your keyboard. This will get you into the safe mode where you should be able to use the start\run command to enter sfc /scannow You will need your XP CD as this will do a System File Check and replace missing or corrupt files. Be sure to put the space after sfc/ . Once this has been done you can try rebooting and see if that has helped. If you still find problems then get back to the safe mode and then go>start\run and type in cmd and hit enter. This will open the command line interface where you will then enter chkdisk /r and hit enter on your keyboard. This will check your disk for errors and fix them. All of this may take quite a lot of your time but be patient. If you can get to your desktop then you aren't in all that much trouble. There is just some association that has been broken and needs to be fixed. One question. When on your desktop can you get into the Task Manager by right clicking on the task bar and then clicking Task Manager ? If so then you can start various processes from here by clicking "file" "new process" and typing in iexplore.exe and clicking ok. That will get you an open IE Browser. You can also try explorer.exe to get a windows explorer open and to get you into the control panel. You can e:mail me if you need more help. Let us know how you make out. {:~)

 

[Guest]

Thank you for that info.

I can get into Task manager by 'ctrl,alt,del'
I have tried to run iexplore.exe from a couple of
different places with no luck. I'll go thru your steps
first and see what turns up.
I'll report back later.
Again, many thanks.
RK

-----Original Message-----
When you first boot up press and hold down the F8 key and

you will get a screen with options on it that you need. I
suggest you use the "safe mode with networking" and use
the up or down arrows to highlight this selection and then
click enter on your keyboard. This will get you into the
safe mode where you should be able to use the start\run
command to enter sfc /scannow You will need your XP CD as
this will do a System File Check and replace missing or
corrupt files. Be sure to put the space after sfc/ .
Once this has been done you can try rebooting and see if
that has helped. If you still find problems then get back
to the safe mode and then go>start\run and type in cmd and
hit enter. This will open the command line interface where
you will then enter chkdisk /r and hit enter on your
keyboard. This will check your disk for errors and fix
them. All of this may take quite a lot of your time but be
patient. If you can get to your desktop then you aren't in
all that much trouble. There is just some association that
has been broken and needs to be fixed. One question. When
on your desktop can you get into the Task Manager by right
clicking on the task bar and then clicking Task Manager ?
If so then you can start various processes from here by
clicking "file" "new process" and typing in iexplore.exe
and clicking ok. That will get you an open IE Browser. You
can also try explorer.exe to get a windows explorer open
and to get you into the control panel. You can e:mail me
if you need more help. Let us know how you make out. {:~)

 

[Plato]

A friend called and asked if I could help her out. She is
running Windows XP, and had a huge buildup of spyware on
her machine. She could no longer launch most her

She has really bad surfing habits and prolly downloads any junk
presented to her. After you fix her PC, give her a lesson in proper PC
usage.