I've recently been battling spyware/adware issues. Using
several applications and tools available on the internet,
I must have removed my quick launch toolbar
functionality. When I try to restore the Quick Launch
Toolbar by right clicking in the Taskbar, then selecting
Toolbars and then Quick Launch, I receive a Windows error
message that says, "Cannot create toolbar."

Any help you can provide on fixing this problem is greatly
appreciated.

Thanks,
John

I am experiencing this exact problem as well. Happened in
the last few days.

>-----Original Message-----
>I've recently been battling spyware/adware issues. Using
>several applications and tools available on the internet,
>I must have removed my quick launch toolbar
>functionality. When I try to restore the Quick Launch
>Toolbar by right clicking in the Taskbar, then selecting
>Toolbars and then Quick Launch, I receive a Windows error
>message that says, "Cannot create toolbar."
>
>Any help you can provide on fixing this problem is
greatly
>appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>John
>.
>

I'm having the same problem as John. I looked at editing
a particular registry value, based on a microsoft
knowledge base article
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-
us;273785&Product=win2000 but it turns out that that
registry item does not even exist in my registry.

Any new ideas?

>-----Original Message-----
>I've recently been battling spyware/adware issues. Using
>several applications and tools available on the internet,
>I must have removed my quick launch toolbar
>functionality. When I try to restore the Quick Launch
>Toolbar by right clicking in the Taskbar, then selecting
>Toolbars and then Quick Launch, I receive a Windows error
>message that says, "Cannot create toolbar."
>
>Any help you can provide on fixing this problem is
greatly
>appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>John
>.
>

Looks like there's quite a few of us plagued with the same
issue. I also found a few other posts on the board with
the same problem, but I haven't yet found any posts with a
solution. I'll give the board a few more days and then I
will email the support center directly.

When I have the solution, I will post it here.


>-----Original Message-----
>I've recently been battling spyware/adware issues. Using
>several applications and tools available on the internet,
>I must have removed my quick launch toolbar
>functionality. When I try to restore the Quick Launch
>Toolbar by right clicking in the Taskbar, then selecting
>Toolbars and then Quick Launch, I receive a Windows error
>message that says, "Cannot create toolbar."
>
>Any help you can provide on fixing this problem is
greatly
>appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>John
>.
>

I'm adding some additional information that I provided in
another post for someone having the same problem. I think
Elizabeth mentioned her Registry was missing items and I
too think this would be a good place to investigate.

See July 1 post, Quick Launch Problem...

I just created a New User and it made no difference, I get
the same error, "Cannot creat toolbar."

I think your right about the Spyware/Malware. I'm using
each of the following:

- SpywareBlaster
- SpywareGuard
- SpyBot S & D
- Ad-Aware 6
- McAfee 8
- Zone Alarm Firewall
- Free Surfer Pop-up Blocker

I've also used other utilities to view/fix problems:

- CWShredder
- HighjackThis
- BHODemon
- HostsFileReader
- LSP Fix
- No-ADS proxy auto configuration script

At present my system is 100% clean according to each of
the apps/tools, and its running without incident of
spyware/adware/malware/etc. Unfortunately, I think the
damage is done with respect to the Quick Launch Toolbar.

Can anyone identify the Registry items pertaining to this
toolbar in a known good, functioning system? Maybe the
entries could be listed in a reply, at least for
verfication purposes.

>-----Original Message-----
>I've recently been battling spyware/adware issues. Using
>several applications and tools available on the internet,
>I must have removed my quick launch toolbar
>functionality. When I try to restore the Quick Launch
>Toolbar by right clicking in the Taskbar, then selecting
>Toolbars and then Quick Launch, I receive a Windows error
>message that says, "Cannot create toolbar."
>
>Any help you can provide on fixing this problem is
greatly
>appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>John
>.
>

Based on the dozens of user posts, it sounds like this
predicament has been caused either by spyware, or perhaps
even by AdAware itself (or another spyware removal tool),
as it removes an offending item.

(I also tried the new user, John, and posted my reply
under the concurrent thread "Quick Launch problem" in
hopes that Dave Patrick will reply again.)

Elizabeth


>-----Original Message-----
>I'm adding some additional information that I provided in
>another post for someone having the same problem. I
think
>Elizabeth mentioned her Registry was missing items and I
>too think this would be a good place to investigate.
>
>See July 1 post, Quick Launch Problem...
>
>I just created a New User and it made no difference, I
get
>the same error, "Cannot creat toolbar."
>
>I think your right about the Spyware/Malware. I'm using
>each of the following:
>
>- SpywareBlaster
>- SpywareGuard
>- SpyBot S & D
>- Ad-Aware 6
>- McAfee 8
>- Zone Alarm Firewall
>- Free Surfer Pop-up Blocker
>
>I've also used other utilities to view/fix problems:
>
>- CWShredder
>- HighjackThis
>- BHODemon
>- HostsFileReader
>- LSP Fix
>- No-ADS proxy auto configuration script
>
>At present my system is 100% clean according to each of
>the apps/tools, and its running without incident of
>spyware/adware/malware/etc. Unfortunately, I think the
>damage is done with respect to the Quick Launch Toolbar.
>
>Can anyone identify the Registry items pertaining to this
>toolbar in a known good, functioning system? Maybe the
>entries could be listed in a reply, at least for
>verfication purposes.
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>I've recently been battling spyware/adware issues.
Using
>>several applications and tools available on the
internet,
>>I must have removed my quick launch toolbar
>>functionality. When I try to restore the Quick Launch
>>Toolbar by right clicking in the Taskbar, then selecting
>>Toolbars and then Quick Launch, I receive a Windows
error
>>message that says, "Cannot create toolbar."
>>
>>Any help you can provide on fixing this problem is
>greatly
>>appreciated.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>John
>>.
>>
>.
>

I've run into this problem also. It was on a computer that was
infected w/ the VX2 spyware. This was the first time I used Ad-Aware's
new VX2 plugin to remove it, I had been using another utility with no
problem. I noticed that the permissions for HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT weren't
correct. The system account didn't have permission to this key and
several others were missing. Can anyone else verify if this is the
case on theirs?


"Elizabeth" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<313c01c4613b$e7c13460$(E-Mail Removed)>...
> Based on the dozens of user posts, it sounds like this
> predicament has been caused either by spyware, or perhaps
> even by AdAware itself (or another spyware removal tool),
> as it removes an offending item.
>
> (I also tried the new user, John, and posted my reply
> under the concurrent thread "Quick Launch problem" in
> hopes that Dave Patrick will reply again.)
>
> Elizabeth
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >I'm adding some additional information that I provided in
> >another post for someone having the same problem. I
> think
> >Elizabeth mentioned her Registry was missing items and I
> >too think this would be a good place to investigate.
> >
> >See July 1 post, Quick Launch Problem...
> >
> >I just created a New User and it made no difference, I
> get
> >the same error, "Cannot creat toolbar."
> >
> >I think your right about the Spyware/Malware. I'm using
> >each of the following:
> >
> >- SpywareBlaster
> >- SpywareGuard
> >- SpyBot S & D
> >- Ad-Aware 6
> >- McAfee 8
> >- Zone Alarm Firewall
> >- Free Surfer Pop-up Blocker
> >
> >I've also used other utilities to view/fix problems:
> >
> >- CWShredder
> >- HighjackThis
> >- BHODemon
> >- HostsFileReader
> >- LSP Fix
> >- No-ADS proxy auto configuration script
> >
> >At present my system is 100% clean according to each of
> >the apps/tools, and its running without incident of
> >spyware/adware/malware/etc. Unfortunately, I think the
> >damage is done with respect to the Quick Launch Toolbar.
> >
> >Can anyone identify the Registry items pertaining to this
> >toolbar in a known good, functioning system? Maybe the
> >entries could be listed in a reply, at least for
> >verfication purposes.
> >
> >>-----Original Message-----
> >>I've recently been battling spyware/adware issues.
> Using
> >>several applications and tools available on the
> internet,
> >>I must have removed my quick launch toolbar
> >>functionality. When I try to restore the Quick Launch
> >>Toolbar by right clicking in the Taskbar, then selecting
> >>Toolbars and then Quick Launch, I receive a Windows
> error
> >>message that says, "Cannot create toolbar."
> >>
> >>Any help you can provide on fixing this problem is
> greatly
> >>appreciated.
> >>
> >>Thanks,
> >>John
> >>.
> >>
> >.
> >

Since June 30, I have been struggling with a particularly nasty
version of vX2. This variant brought with it or was somehow
associated with zestyfind, targetsoft, twaintec and a couple of other
malware / virus infections. This was on a machine with current norton
anti-virus definitions, anti malware daemons, and a hardware firewall.
The cause was most
likely browsing to an infectious web site.

This vX2 variation was immune to hijackthis, cwshredder, and spybot.

The symptoms were having the default home page in IE changed to
zestyfind, having the hosts
file populated with bogus entries (mostly pointing to the localhost,
but a couple of real
IP's mixed in), the constant creation / re-creation of winupd.dll,
targetsoftsetup.exe, and
targetsoftsetup.exe-xxxx.pf in the windows\system32\prefetch folder.
The browser would also launch sporadically to GAIN sites and other
useless game, travel, etc. sites. Each time, three advertising icons
would appear on the desktop.

Also, in the system folder, the vX2 executables would take the form
6xx4svc.dll where xx is
some combination of letters (usually the second letter being an "o".)
The file 6to4svc.dll
is a valid windows development environment file, and should not be
mistaken for malware.
The malware versions were frequently hidden, system, and read-only.

There were other symptoms as well, such as rundll32 taking up 90% of
the processor time and quick-launch not working.

Here are the steps I took to remove this awful infection. It took me
close to a full day to figure out. Since my daughter was the culprit,
I'm sending her a bill which she can pay me out of her college fund
;-)

1. Ran ad-aware. Basically, this was a game of whack-a-mole and made
no difference.
2. Removed the targetsoft registry key, and created a new one where
everyone had "deny" privleges.
3. Renamed winupdt.dll to winupdt.$$$ and created an empty read-only
instance of winupdt.dll using notepad to prevent the viral version
from being created. I also did this with winhost32.exe, inetadpt.dll,
and wincore.dll all of which were malware associated files.
4. Rebooted, ran adaware again, reducing the infection, but not being
able to clear it completely. I built a few walls in the previous
steps, but still could not get rid of the infection.
5. Downloaded the 1.02 version of the adaware vx2 removal plugin and
ran it. It detected the vx2 infection and prompted me to reboot. I
did so, and ran adaware which found a number of vx2 files. However,
it always had trouble deleting one or two of them. No matter how many
times I repeated the process, one of the .dll's would activate
(possibly as part of the targetsoft executable process... but I'm not
sure), spawn a bunch of others, and reinfect the machine.
6. Finally, I ran adaware, identified the locked hidden files and used
"moveOnBoot," a great utility from gibonsoft, and had it delete the
locked vx2 files on bootup. This allowed me to reboot without active
infection, and run adaware to remove any lingering files.

At this point, I still have no quicklaunch toolbar. If no fix arrives
for this, I will likely reinstall XP service pack 1 to see if it
reappears.

Hope this helps someone. Feel free to contact me.

RO