Explorer performed an illegal operation !! Please help... 1

[zaidulon]

Some rogue programs overwrote 2 files shfolder.dll and shlwapi.dll in my system ( Win98 SE, Celeron 900) . Now Windows Explorer cannot start ( an error message appeared : This program has performed an illegal operation...) . I clicked on details and found this message : " Explorer caused an invalid pagefault at module SHDOCVW.dll at address...."

The problem is I do not know the exact size or version of the 2 overwritten files!

Please advise how to fix this problem without having to reinstall windows98 SE .

Thanks

 

[Jordan58]

Look in your recycle bin. It won't be in the Recycle bin if you used Shift+Delete, that combination bypasses the recycle bin. Do you have gateway goback...or other software that allows you to view your hard drive as it was in the past. Try that first. At least its easier than reinstalling. If you don't have a file recovery tool, you should probably download one, or purchase one.

 

[zaidulon]

Thanks for tips...

The .dll files were overwritten without notification and not deleted by me. So there is no point looking in the recycle bin in the first place !

I did use a file recovery tool but got no luck with it!

Perhaps , I'll try "Go Back"next time to figure out the version and size of the files.

I finally solved the problem by D/L different versions of the two files from the net ( using Googles and the files' names as keywords) and systematically replaced them one by one. At the 4th trial, I got a hit and "Explorer" worked again...

BTW, I am curious to know who assign the "Star" to the answer ? It certainly not coming from me , though...