Cannot run any programs

[smeitie]

Guys,

I have a strange one. I cannot run any application. It gives an error saying that there is no association to it. (I know three should be no association with an executable) I can rename the exe to cmd and it will run. I have run a full virus scan with Symantec and found nothing. I have run Spybot and nothing. Any help appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Roy.

 

[bcastner]

This is 90+ certain to be a virus.

If you carefully follow the steps, beginning with the online AV scan in faq608-4650 it will sort the issue. I suspect both the AV scan and the general cleanup tools suggested would be wise in your case.

 

[AnalogAnomaly]

I must disagree with bcastner, there are two likely canidates that i would first consider, it sounds to me more like the aftermath of a virus, actually a trojan like subseven, to be more specific. It sounds like you may have been infected and removed the trojan or one like it. When Mobman (Programmer who wrote SubSeven) First introduced this nasty little trick, i was quite impressed, and hadn't previously thought of it as a possibility. You see subseven can be set to re-associate all executables not with explorer.exe but with subseven itself, thus ensuring that the trojan is actually running on the infected machine most of the time. You won't notice it until subseven is removed, and the executables are left pointing to a program(in this example, the trojan subseven) that acts as an intermediary between the executables and explorer.exe, as a result of this 'middle-man's' abscence these files will not run properly, there are a couple remedies, some work better than others, the first is to go to start>settings>control panel then tools, then folder options, then click the tab to the right which should read something along the lines of 'file types' (going off of memory here, so bear with me), then find the .exe files, if not click 'add' or 'new' whatever it is, thn set as type 'application' and set the extension as .exe see if that helps.. as for anti-virus, of all of those i've tried, the only ones i found to be worth anything at all are F-Secure, Kapersky, and Bit-Defender(made by the programmers that made kapersky after management got stupid and the progammers wouldn't have any part of it and decided to split). Bit-defender may have a new name now v-something, though i don't recall. The rest arn't any good. Those mentioned above make norton look stupid. I avoid the following at all costs: AVG, McAffee, Norton System Works, etc. Hmm.. There was more.. but I don't seem to recall what I was going to mention.. And I don't feel like reading my own post. (Yeah, i'm that lazy)
I hope whatever I rambled about helps.

Best of Wishes,
Analog Anomaly

 

[bcastner]

AnologueAnomoley,

?

Bill Castner

 

[smeitie]

Guys,

Eventually got Adaware to run and it removed some crap. It must have been one of them, as it is now running OK again.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,

Roy.