Can't run applications in Windows 98 1

[Fowlinho]

I have had a awave of viruses attack my machine which somehow knocked out my McAfee checker. I'm using Windows 98 SE and now am unable to open applications and get the prompt that I require gwrrukz.exe. I'm unable to locate this file on my C drive / my LAN to my other PC's hard drives and also the 98 SE CD ROM.

Outlook is fine and so is IE 6.00. I can get to Word / Excel through opening existing files. Is there anything I can do to recover the situation?

Best regards

Steve

sfowler128@ntlworld.com

 

[Rob2806]

Update your anti-virus
Use Spybot
Use Ad-Aware
Use AV
Reinstall Office.

 

[dbk4297]

Hi,
Are you sure the file name is gwrrukz.exe?
I can't find any information on that name.

But yes, it would sem to be virus related. Try the online virus scanner at

http://www.symantec.com.

Darrell,

http://home.pacbell.net/dbk4297/

 

[Fowlinho]

Darrell

Hi and thanks - yes that's the file that Win 98 SE is saying that is missing to run any application. By rights, it should be 'net searchable. I was thinking that a repair option of Win 98 should be feasible by booting from the CD Rom, but I haven't been succesful. Wonder what I'm doin wrong or directions please!!

Cheers

Steve

 

[mattjurado]

It sounds like your virus scanner removed the virus file, after it altered the registry. Any chance you know its name? If so, look for a virus removal tool for it at symantec.com. Download it to a floppy, then run it on the affected system. If not...

Can you edit the registry (start>run>regedit)?

Some viruses alter Hkey_classes_root\exefile\shell\open\command

The value should be "%1" %*

If there is anything else trailing this value, delete it.

If you can't edit the registry, rename the file c:\windows\regedit.exe to regedit.com. Then do the steps above.




Matt J.

 

[Fowlinho]

Matt

Unfortunately, I can't run regedit. What should I do next/

 

[mattjurado]

If I remember right, this is what you need to do...

If you can't edit the registry, rename the file c:\windows\regedit.exe to regedit.com. Then do the steps above.


Matt J.

 

[Fowlinho]

Matt

Which file can be edited? There are a number. Presumably not the .exe file but either the lgc, cnt, file types. I have two regedit.exe versions - one is in C:\Windows - the other is C:\windows\options\cabs - is one a back up file that I could restore from?

Cheers

Steve

 

[rockerfellerz]

Rename the regedit.exe to regedit.com as per above then run that file to get the registry editor to open. Then search the registry for strings containing " gwrrukz.exe ". Then delete any entries that contain that name.... When they have been deleted change the name back to regedit.exe.( the one in c:\windows is the one you want to change the name of.

If you're going through Hell...keep going... (Winston Churchill)
RocKeRFelLerZ

 

[diogenes10]

would jv16 powertools work in this situation?

 

[mattjurado]

Hang on, DON'T just delete them, rather, if they have been modified to include that gwrrukz.exe, edit them and remove that value. Take the example I listed above,

Hkey_classes_root\exefile\shell\open\command

If you just delete the whole value, I don't know what the result would be. However, if you remove the gwrrukz.exe after the "%1" %* you should be okay.

Matt J.

 

[Fowlinho]

Matt et al!

OK - renamed regedit.exe using the right click and dialogue window opened so I renamed the file. What I got was regedit.com.exe! How can I change the extension to .com and clear the .exe part of the string?

I still can't use the Run command to open the file as it still an application.

Copied regedit.exe to floppy and opened file from the floppy on another machine.

Results I got back were:

ab (default) (value not set)
ab a ""
ab b "gwrrukz.exe"
ab c "gwrrukz.exe"
ab d "Application"
ab e "*.pst"
ab MRUList "eadcb"

I think that regedit is searching the drives on the other and not the affected machine as these have afloppy) c:dhard drives) e:CD ROM

I tried opening the renamed regedit.com.exe on the affected machine using MS Word - I couldn't find a string or reference to gwrrukz.exe .

Another further ideas?

 

[Rob2806]

You need to setup explorer to show file extensions to rename it regedit.com. Use find in Explorer to find the file, Regedit.exe. Highlight it and then amend the name, deleting .exe and change it to .com

You will get an error message asking whether you want to do this. Confirm and the file will be renamed.

 

[Fowlinho]

Rob

Hi, have changed the extension as suggested but can't use Run to open & edit the file. Still looking for gwrrukz.exe now to open an MS DOS application!

I had to use another machine - use Explorer as I can't open it on the affected machine, copy the renamed file from the floppy and into the Windows directory. Seems to be behaving same way on other machine (same string coming back). How can I edit if I can't use the Run command on the affected machine? Any ideas any one?

Cheers

Steve

 

[Rob2806]

Steve,

Have you tried running Spybot and Ad-Aware?

If you haven't try renaming back to regedit.exe and then run the above two programs. They may be able to get rid of it for you.

Have you looked in msconfig? Has an entry for it been put in there?

 

[Fowlinho]

Are Spybot and Ad-Aware free?

 

[Rob2806]

Yes, both are free downloads. If you use a search negine like Google it will find them both for you.

 

[Fowlinho]

Rob / other patient folk!

I used an online virus checker and discovered I had quite a few non-cleanable viruses. I'm concerned that these may have been the result of previous cleanups by my McAfee software. I had regularly updated by downloading .dat files and may have rendederd them harmless.

As I deleted the viruese which caused this and previous problems using McAfee - how am I going to erradicate the problem? The "Clean" McAfee option always seems to fail with "Delete" being the option I have always chosen.

I'm not sure that using another virus checker is going to be sufficient enough in order to perform intelligent enough diagnostics in order to replace the missing "gwrrukz.exe" file which is needed in order to run any application including the "Run" command from my affected machine.

Someone please through me a lifeline here!

cheers

Steve
sfowler128@ntlworld.com

 

[mattjurado]

What viruses did you have? If you look at Symantec's site, you might be able to download a repair tool specific for that virus, to a floppy, and then run them on the infected computer.

Matt J.

 

[Fowlinho]

Matt

that I don't know as I'm unable to get into Virus Central, the main McAfee front-end.

Steve