Removing Sidebar causes Explorer problems

[Solutus]

Anyone see this problem?::
In the last week I have encountered 2 clients with the same issue. Both are Windows 98 machines. They saw a Sidebar appearing in Internet Explorer. They went to Add/Remove Programs and removed it. The next time they rebooted they get a message from NAV Autodetect that can't find the configuration files. Then the Windows screen comes up and immediately a message that Explorer caused an illegal operation. Safe mode brings the same thing. I tried booted from disk and reinstalling Windows 98. Same problem. You can move around the screen if you don't click OK on the illegal operation box.

I removed one of the hard drives and scanned it for viruses but it was clean. Eventually I backed it up and reformatted and reinstalled Windows 98.

I know it has something to do with removing the spyware Sidebar but can't find anything on it and how to repair.

--deborah

 

[kjv1611]

Try scanning with all these programs:
HijackThis
Ad-Aware 6.0
Spybot Search and Destroy
RegScrubXP

I know you can get Adaware and Spybot from

http://www.download.com,

and I know you can get RegScrubXP from

http://www.majorgeeks.com

They are all free, and they all help with spyware. I just the other day removed some registry files for a spyware program by using RegScrubXP that neither Spybot nor Ad-aware could get rid of. That stuff is a big headache. If you reinstalled Windows, then it sounds like the hard drive needs to be formatted really good before a new installation (if you end up trying that again). Try formatting the hard drive(s) of question with Darik's Boot and Nuke at

http://www.dban.sourceforge.net

Stephen
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6 KJV

 

[kjv1611]

If it caused problems with IE, then try checking the proxy settings.

Stephen
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6 KJV

 

[Solutus]

I guess I should add more to my problem.

I know about Hijack this, Spybot and Ad aware. All great programs. The problem is, though, that I can't get into windows to run those programs, even through Safe Mode. I get an Explorer.exe illegal operation and it shuts down. With Explorer not working, I can't run the spyware programs.

I know formatting is an option, obviously it is the last option I want to choose.

Any other thoughts on how to get the system to run in order to run spyware protection?

Also, kjv1611, could you help more by indicating where to check proxy settings and what to look for?

 

[kjv1611]

Proxy settings (in Windows) would be found in your network connections - select a network connection, right-click, and it should be there - you may have to go to properties for the internet connection.

But, it is sounding like the only option is going to be a fresh install. Whatever is causing the problem can be fixed (unless it is physical) by running Darik's Boot and Nuke to format the hard drive completely. It uses military-level disk formatting. Just look at

http://www.dban.sourceforge.net

and read what they say there. I've used it on at least 3 hard drives over the past few months, and it worked great. You can create a bootable CD or floppy with the file, it's very small, once you download it, then boot the machine from the cd or floppy that contains the hard drive you wish to format, and select auto boot and nuke (or something like that), then just wait (don't wait at the machine, just check it after a few hours or slow - this is not a speedy program. When it is finished, you should be able to reinstall Windows 98 with no problems, just make sure you have a boot disk for Windows 98. [WINK]

Stephen
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." John 14:6 KJV