M
MasterDebater
I apologize for the lengthy post.
System:
I'm running win xp pro (system came with win xp, I upgraded immediately to
win xp pro. This current problem has nothing to do with the upgrade to win
xp pro, which was done over a year ago) on an e-machine T2625 AMD Athlon xp
2600+ 2.12GHz, 1GB RAM.
Note: My computer came with the primary partition (system partition, C:
drive) configured to NTFS. All other partitions that I have created on that
physical hard drive and on other physical hard drives are FAT32.
Problem:
A week ago, I had just finished fully cleaning my system (a long process)
and then went to play tetris and BAM! A new problem. How nice. I have a
number of dos programs, including tetris.exe, some old astronomy dos
software, etc. which have worked fine on win xp pro for quite some time
until recently (the last week) when they collectively began to fail with an
"attempt to access invalid address" error. I cannot ascertain the exact time
at which this problem began since I only use the DOS programs infrequently.
Information which may be helpful:
The first thing I did was Google search with the following string: "attempt
to access invalid address" xp dos.
This search brought some (perhaps) useful info, which I will relay here:
From: http://www.computing.net/windows2000/wwwboard/forum/58304.html
"Andrew" on June 02, 2004 said "Todays morning, after one hour of work I
needed to restart computer becouse I was not able to disconnect from
internet. There was no activity but it was not disconnecting. After that I
can't start any DOS program on this computer, any dclick in icon to program
is giving error: "Attempt to access invalid address". When I try to run DOS
program from command prompt window I see : "Cannot execute program". I scan
comp. for viruses - it did not find anything. Any sug.? "
"Bill Mason" on June 08, 2004 said "I currently have a similar problem to
what you descibed. I found that if I start Windows in the "safe" mode I can
then access what I need to. This is not a satisfactory solution for me. I
would greatly appreciate any better cures if you are now aware of any.
Thanks! "
"Christopher" on June 15, 2004 said "Same symptoms, XP Pro. User reported a
few xxx popups while downloading NAV2004 just prior to problem. Checked her
index.dat file and found NO record of browsing anything but okay sites.
Tried NAV2004, Adaware, Spybot, TrojanHunter, turning off servies, msconfig,
logged in as Administrator, checked config.nt and autoexec.nt, nothing
worked. Finally had to use XP system restore and roll back 3 days. Maybe
something nailed the Environment Variables ? Didn't think to check those
until after restore. "
"manu (by manu24)" on June 30, 2004 said "same prob. here with win xp home,
but sometime back i turned off my system restore for some reason and forget
to turned it on, so now i cannot roll back, so what do now? any suggestions.
manu "
end of thread
from: http://www.techimo.com/forum/t111831.html
"akinsey " on June 7th, 2004 said " I have a user who is running XP Home on
a newer HP Pavilion, which had a bad hard drive and was replaced a week ago
under warranty at Best Buy. She cannot use any DOS programs under XP, even
using any of the available compatibility modes. HOWEVER, there was no
problem with ANY DOS programs running under XP prior to the drive being
replaced.
1) MS KB searches on DOS Compatibility Problems in XP point to NTVDM
configuration problems. I.E.:
When you have problems with MS-DOS programs:
Test the NTVDM (Windows Virtual DOS Machine) subsystem:
1. Start / Run / Command.com / OK.
2. If a C:\Windows\System32\Command.com session does NOT open, the NTVDM is
misconfigured. Check the Config.nt and Autoexec.nt files in the
%SystemRoot%\System32 folder for non-standard entries...[snip]
Start-run-command.com (enter) yields the error "attempt to access invalid
address". (see attachment, error.JPG)
command.com
Ntio.sys
Ntdos.sys
Ntvdm.exe
Ntvdmd.dll
Redir.exe
All appear in the windows\system32 folder. I looked at the config.nt and
autoexec.nt files and they're pure, exactly as extracted from the XP cd.
Suggestions?"
"Paladisious" on July 1st, 2004 said "The exact same thing is happening to
me in Win XP Home, except I formated my machine, and since then I've
reinstalled windows and all those lovely classic DOS games, but that
'invalid adress' error keeps coming up when I try to run them."
"noseBleeD " on July 1st, 2004 said "I am fairly sure when it says the
address is invalid, it means it has gone beyond the end of the memory
registers that are assigned to the program you are trying to run.
Does this happen in safe mode?
This could be caused by a memory leak.
This could be caused by a bad virus that harmed your hdd, and ram, or video
ram, or more.
I would verify the above posts like you said concerning the winXp version
first, then try safe mode and see if problem still exist.
I would then boot into recovery console and run chkdsk /f command.
I would the test memory with other known good memory and if good, add more."
end of thread
From: http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win2000/1087416706
"fcoen " on June 16, 2004 said "I have recently re-installed windows 2000
server, but now all the dos programs that used to work on it give an error:
"attempt to access invalid address". Not only that but things like the edit
command give the same error. Any suggestions. Thanks. "
"MaddMaxx" on June 16, 2004 said "Did you switch from FAT32 to NTFS?"
"fcoen " on June 17, 2004 said "yes..."
end of thread
From:
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_21020181.html
"stevewdindas" on 06/09/2004 said "I have notebook that has had and repaired
a number of viruses. However, even though it is reporting clean after
several different scans whenever I try to run most .exe applications it
reports the error "Attempt to access invalid address". I have tried the
programme in safe mode and it works. Any suggestions?"
end of thread
From: http://computing.net/windows2000/wwwboard/forum/58739.html
"manu (by manu24)" on July 01, 2004 said "Hi, my comp got hijacked with some
xxx dialer n dl.html file etc and some trojans. i got rid of those now i m
facing this problem when ever i click some dos application like my turbo
c++.exe or some other dos application i got this error"Attempt to access
invalid address". unfortunately some time back i turned off my system
restore so i m unable to rool back my system. plz help me, ne suggestion
will br g8tly appreciated. Manu using win xp"
end of thread.
The most useful fact which I gathered from these threads is that this is a
recent problem (Note the dates of the posts), since I have tried many other
searches on Google, other search engines, and usenet groups such as this and
found no other references to this problem. Therefore the only references to
this problem are recent. This indicates to me that we are dealing with a
virus, trojan, or malware which has began to show its effects only in the
last month or so. Further evidence for this being a recent virus is that
none of the above referenced threads includes any definite answers or
solutions, just people trying to find answers to (roughly) the same problem
at (roughly) the same time, indicating (to me) that this is a new virus or a
new version of an old one.
MY Hijackthis log is clean:
"Logfile of HijackThis v1.97.7
Scan saved at 9:15:56 AM, on 7/2/2004
Platform: Windows XP (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 (6.00.2600.0000)
Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Stop-the-Pop-Up Lite\stopthepop.exe
C:\Program Files\AVPersonal\AVGNT.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\RUNDLL32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\ctfmon.exe
C:\Program Files\AVPersonal\AVGUARD.EXE
C:\Program Files\AVPersonal\AVWUPSRV.EXE
C:\PROGRA~1\Symantec\NORTON~1\GHOSTS~2.EXE
C:\Program Files\Ahead\InCD\InCDsrv.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7Debug\mdm.exe
C:\Program Files\Norton Utilities\NPROTECT.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\slserv.exe
C:\Program Files\Speed Disk\nopdb.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\msimn.exe
C:\Program Files\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page_bak =
about:blank
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NeroCheck] C:\WINDOWS\system32\NeroCheck.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [sureshotpopupkiller] "C:\Program Files\Stop-the-Pop-Up
Lite\stopthepop.exe" -minimized
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVGCtrl] C:\Program Files\AVPersonal\AVGNT.EXE /min
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [NvMediaCenter] RUNDLL32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\NVMCTRAY.DLL,NvTaskbarInit
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\System32\ctfmon.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: &Define - C:\WINDOWS\Web\ERS_DEF.HTM
O8 - Extra context menu item: &Search the Web - C:\WINDOWS\Web\ERS_SRC.HTM
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel -
res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office10\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O8 - Extra context menu item: Look Up in &Encyclopedia -
C:\WINDOWS\Web\ERS_ENC.HTM
O16 - DPF: {74D05D43-3236-11D4-BDCD-00C04F9A3B61} (HouseCall Control) -
http://a840.g.akamai.net/7/840/537/2004061001/housecall.trendmicro.com/house
call/xscan53.cab
O16 - DPF: {9A9307A0-7DA4-4DAF-B042-5009F29E09E1} (ActiveScan Installer
Class) - http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/as5/asinst.cab
O16 - DPF: {A3009861-330C-4E10-822B-39D16EC8829D} (CRAVOnline Object) -
http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/ravonline.cab"
I have already performed all of the usual tasks associated with a difficult
problem:
1. Ran online panda-antivirus, trend micro, ranta-antivirus, downloaded and
ran free AVG antivirus, then uninstalled it, and then downloaded and ran
free AntiVir. Ran all of these again in safe mode except for AVG free, which
doesn't like winXP safe mode and can't find core driver. That's nine virus
scans which found nothing (due to the fact that, just prior to noticing the
current problem, I had just run all of these scans and more as part of
monthly maintenance).
2. In safe mode, and then again in regular mode, deleted all files in the
following directories: Temporary Internet Files (for all users, verifying it
to be empty, verifying that Content.IE5 was either empty or deleted, for
each user and Admin and 'All usuers' and 'default user' and localservices
and networkservices); Cookies; Windows/Temp; Windows/Downloaded program
files (except for those downloaded program files associated with the online
virus scanners); windows/prefetch; Windows/web; C:\recycler (except for
S-1-5-21-760979014-647424850-2722162428-1005, the actual recycle bin, which
it won't let me delete); and then ran accessories|system tools|disk cleanup
on all drives, in both regular and safe mode, deleting everything which I
could (but everything was empty by then - in, fact, everything had already
been empty because I had already done all of this just prior to noticing the
problem).
3. Ran SpyBot search and destroy and Ad-Aware in regular and safe mode.
Already clean.
Some things of note:
1. Since my primary partition (system c: drive) came as NTFS, I have never
been able to access it directly when in DOS mode or when booted from a DOS
floppy, since DOS can't recognize NTFS, so recently, having finally grown
annoyed enough to do something about it, I searched the net and downloaded
'ntfsdos', a DOS program which acts as a file system driver for DOS/Windows
and that is able to recognize and mount NTFS drives for transparent access.
It makes NTFS drives appear indistinguishable from standard FAT drives,
providing the ability to navigate, view and execute programs on them from
DOS. It is an older program which was apparently necessary in the days when
FAt32 windows couldn't recognize NTFS. I mention this merely for the sake of
completeness, since none of the other people in the above referenced threads
mentioned this ntfsdos program, which is a relatively rare program, and it
is unlikely that it would be present on any of their systems, and therefore
unrelated to the present problem. However, one post asked if the person had
changed from FAT32 to NTFS, but didn't explain why he thought this might be
important, and although I didn't change from FAT32 to NTFS, I just thought
I'd mention that I ran this NTFSDOS program so as to be able to access NTFS
C: drive from DOS.
2. As suggested in one of the above-mentioned posts, I ran Command.com, but
got the error "attempt to access invalid address". All the usual dos
programs and associated files are present in system32 folder, and config.nt
and autoexec.nt appear to be fine.
3. My DOs stuff works fine in safe mode.
4. I don't seem to have the recovery console, or at least I don't see it
listed when booting.
5. A month ago when last cleaning the system, I turned off system restore
before running the virus scans, as always, but forgot to turn it back on, so
if I want to restore windows I'll have to go back at least a month. I'd
rather avoid that.
Sorry for the long post.
Any help is appreciated.
System:
I'm running win xp pro (system came with win xp, I upgraded immediately to
win xp pro. This current problem has nothing to do with the upgrade to win
xp pro, which was done over a year ago) on an e-machine T2625 AMD Athlon xp
2600+ 2.12GHz, 1GB RAM.
Note: My computer came with the primary partition (system partition, C:
drive) configured to NTFS. All other partitions that I have created on that
physical hard drive and on other physical hard drives are FAT32.
Problem:
A week ago, I had just finished fully cleaning my system (a long process)
and then went to play tetris and BAM! A new problem. How nice. I have a
number of dos programs, including tetris.exe, some old astronomy dos
software, etc. which have worked fine on win xp pro for quite some time
until recently (the last week) when they collectively began to fail with an
"attempt to access invalid address" error. I cannot ascertain the exact time
at which this problem began since I only use the DOS programs infrequently.
Information which may be helpful:
The first thing I did was Google search with the following string: "attempt
to access invalid address" xp dos.
This search brought some (perhaps) useful info, which I will relay here:
From: http://www.computing.net/windows2000/wwwboard/forum/58304.html
"Andrew" on June 02, 2004 said "Todays morning, after one hour of work I
needed to restart computer becouse I was not able to disconnect from
internet. There was no activity but it was not disconnecting. After that I
can't start any DOS program on this computer, any dclick in icon to program
is giving error: "Attempt to access invalid address". When I try to run DOS
program from command prompt window I see : "Cannot execute program". I scan
comp. for viruses - it did not find anything. Any sug.? "
"Bill Mason" on June 08, 2004 said "I currently have a similar problem to
what you descibed. I found that if I start Windows in the "safe" mode I can
then access what I need to. This is not a satisfactory solution for me. I
would greatly appreciate any better cures if you are now aware of any.
Thanks! "
"Christopher" on June 15, 2004 said "Same symptoms, XP Pro. User reported a
few xxx popups while downloading NAV2004 just prior to problem. Checked her
index.dat file and found NO record of browsing anything but okay sites.
Tried NAV2004, Adaware, Spybot, TrojanHunter, turning off servies, msconfig,
logged in as Administrator, checked config.nt and autoexec.nt, nothing
worked. Finally had to use XP system restore and roll back 3 days. Maybe
something nailed the Environment Variables ? Didn't think to check those
until after restore. "
"manu (by manu24)" on June 30, 2004 said "same prob. here with win xp home,
but sometime back i turned off my system restore for some reason and forget
to turned it on, so now i cannot roll back, so what do now? any suggestions.
manu "
end of thread
from: http://www.techimo.com/forum/t111831.html
"akinsey " on June 7th, 2004 said " I have a user who is running XP Home on
a newer HP Pavilion, which had a bad hard drive and was replaced a week ago
under warranty at Best Buy. She cannot use any DOS programs under XP, even
using any of the available compatibility modes. HOWEVER, there was no
problem with ANY DOS programs running under XP prior to the drive being
replaced.
1) MS KB searches on DOS Compatibility Problems in XP point to NTVDM
configuration problems. I.E.:
When you have problems with MS-DOS programs:
Test the NTVDM (Windows Virtual DOS Machine) subsystem:
1. Start / Run / Command.com / OK.
2. If a C:\Windows\System32\Command.com session does NOT open, the NTVDM is
misconfigured. Check the Config.nt and Autoexec.nt files in the
%SystemRoot%\System32 folder for non-standard entries...[snip]
Start-run-command.com (enter) yields the error "attempt to access invalid
address". (see attachment, error.JPG)
command.com
Ntio.sys
Ntdos.sys
Ntvdm.exe
Ntvdmd.dll
Redir.exe
All appear in the windows\system32 folder. I looked at the config.nt and
autoexec.nt files and they're pure, exactly as extracted from the XP cd.
Suggestions?"
"Paladisious" on July 1st, 2004 said "The exact same thing is happening to
me in Win XP Home, except I formated my machine, and since then I've
reinstalled windows and all those lovely classic DOS games, but that
'invalid adress' error keeps coming up when I try to run them."
"noseBleeD " on July 1st, 2004 said "I am fairly sure when it says the
address is invalid, it means it has gone beyond the end of the memory
registers that are assigned to the program you are trying to run.
Does this happen in safe mode?
This could be caused by a memory leak.
This could be caused by a bad virus that harmed your hdd, and ram, or video
ram, or more.
I would verify the above posts like you said concerning the winXp version
first, then try safe mode and see if problem still exist.
I would then boot into recovery console and run chkdsk /f command.
I would the test memory with other known good memory and if good, add more."
end of thread
From: http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win2000/1087416706
"fcoen " on June 16, 2004 said "I have recently re-installed windows 2000
server, but now all the dos programs that used to work on it give an error:
"attempt to access invalid address". Not only that but things like the edit
command give the same error. Any suggestions. Thanks. "
"MaddMaxx" on June 16, 2004 said "Did you switch from FAT32 to NTFS?"
"fcoen " on June 17, 2004 said "yes..."
end of thread
From:
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_21020181.html
"stevewdindas" on 06/09/2004 said "I have notebook that has had and repaired
a number of viruses. However, even though it is reporting clean after
several different scans whenever I try to run most .exe applications it
reports the error "Attempt to access invalid address". I have tried the
programme in safe mode and it works. Any suggestions?"
end of thread
From: http://computing.net/windows2000/wwwboard/forum/58739.html
"manu (by manu24)" on July 01, 2004 said "Hi, my comp got hijacked with some
xxx dialer n dl.html file etc and some trojans. i got rid of those now i m
facing this problem when ever i click some dos application like my turbo
c++.exe or some other dos application i got this error"Attempt to access
invalid address". unfortunately some time back i turned off my system
restore so i m unable to rool back my system. plz help me, ne suggestion
will br g8tly appreciated. Manu using win xp"
end of thread.
The most useful fact which I gathered from these threads is that this is a
recent problem (Note the dates of the posts), since I have tried many other
searches on Google, other search engines, and usenet groups such as this and
found no other references to this problem. Therefore the only references to
this problem are recent. This indicates to me that we are dealing with a
virus, trojan, or malware which has began to show its effects only in the
last month or so. Further evidence for this being a recent virus is that
none of the above referenced threads includes any definite answers or
solutions, just people trying to find answers to (roughly) the same problem
at (roughly) the same time, indicating (to me) that this is a new virus or a
new version of an old one.
MY Hijackthis log is clean:
"Logfile of HijackThis v1.97.7
Scan saved at 9:15:56 AM, on 7/2/2004
Platform: Windows XP (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 (6.00.2600.0000)
Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Stop-the-Pop-Up Lite\stopthepop.exe
C:\Program Files\AVPersonal\AVGNT.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\RUNDLL32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\ctfmon.exe
C:\Program Files\AVPersonal\AVGUARD.EXE
C:\Program Files\AVPersonal\AVWUPSRV.EXE
C:\PROGRA~1\Symantec\NORTON~1\GHOSTS~2.EXE
C:\Program Files\Ahead\InCD\InCDsrv.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7Debug\mdm.exe
C:\Program Files\Norton Utilities\NPROTECT.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\slserv.exe
C:\Program Files\Speed Disk\nopdb.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\msimn.exe
C:\Program Files\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page_bak =
about:blank
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NeroCheck] C:\WINDOWS\system32\NeroCheck.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [sureshotpopupkiller] "C:\Program Files\Stop-the-Pop-Up
Lite\stopthepop.exe" -minimized
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVGCtrl] C:\Program Files\AVPersonal\AVGNT.EXE /min
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [NvMediaCenter] RUNDLL32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\NVMCTRAY.DLL,NvTaskbarInit
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\System32\ctfmon.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: &Define - C:\WINDOWS\Web\ERS_DEF.HTM
O8 - Extra context menu item: &Search the Web - C:\WINDOWS\Web\ERS_SRC.HTM
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel -
res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office10\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O8 - Extra context menu item: Look Up in &Encyclopedia -
C:\WINDOWS\Web\ERS_ENC.HTM
O16 - DPF: {74D05D43-3236-11D4-BDCD-00C04F9A3B61} (HouseCall Control) -
http://a840.g.akamai.net/7/840/537/2004061001/housecall.trendmicro.com/house
call/xscan53.cab
O16 - DPF: {9A9307A0-7DA4-4DAF-B042-5009F29E09E1} (ActiveScan Installer
Class) - http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/as5/asinst.cab
O16 - DPF: {A3009861-330C-4E10-822B-39D16EC8829D} (CRAVOnline Object) -
http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/ravonline.cab"
I have already performed all of the usual tasks associated with a difficult
problem:
1. Ran online panda-antivirus, trend micro, ranta-antivirus, downloaded and
ran free AVG antivirus, then uninstalled it, and then downloaded and ran
free AntiVir. Ran all of these again in safe mode except for AVG free, which
doesn't like winXP safe mode and can't find core driver. That's nine virus
scans which found nothing (due to the fact that, just prior to noticing the
current problem, I had just run all of these scans and more as part of
monthly maintenance).
2. In safe mode, and then again in regular mode, deleted all files in the
following directories: Temporary Internet Files (for all users, verifying it
to be empty, verifying that Content.IE5 was either empty or deleted, for
each user and Admin and 'All usuers' and 'default user' and localservices
and networkservices); Cookies; Windows/Temp; Windows/Downloaded program
files (except for those downloaded program files associated with the online
virus scanners); windows/prefetch; Windows/web; C:\recycler (except for
S-1-5-21-760979014-647424850-2722162428-1005, the actual recycle bin, which
it won't let me delete); and then ran accessories|system tools|disk cleanup
on all drives, in both regular and safe mode, deleting everything which I
could (but everything was empty by then - in, fact, everything had already
been empty because I had already done all of this just prior to noticing the
problem).
3. Ran SpyBot search and destroy and Ad-Aware in regular and safe mode.
Already clean.
Some things of note:
1. Since my primary partition (system c: drive) came as NTFS, I have never
been able to access it directly when in DOS mode or when booted from a DOS
floppy, since DOS can't recognize NTFS, so recently, having finally grown
annoyed enough to do something about it, I searched the net and downloaded
'ntfsdos', a DOS program which acts as a file system driver for DOS/Windows
and that is able to recognize and mount NTFS drives for transparent access.
It makes NTFS drives appear indistinguishable from standard FAT drives,
providing the ability to navigate, view and execute programs on them from
DOS. It is an older program which was apparently necessary in the days when
FAt32 windows couldn't recognize NTFS. I mention this merely for the sake of
completeness, since none of the other people in the above referenced threads
mentioned this ntfsdos program, which is a relatively rare program, and it
is unlikely that it would be present on any of their systems, and therefore
unrelated to the present problem. However, one post asked if the person had
changed from FAT32 to NTFS, but didn't explain why he thought this might be
important, and although I didn't change from FAT32 to NTFS, I just thought
I'd mention that I ran this NTFSDOS program so as to be able to access NTFS
C: drive from DOS.
2. As suggested in one of the above-mentioned posts, I ran Command.com, but
got the error "attempt to access invalid address". All the usual dos
programs and associated files are present in system32 folder, and config.nt
and autoexec.nt appear to be fine.
3. My DOs stuff works fine in safe mode.
4. I don't seem to have the recovery console, or at least I don't see it
listed when booting.
5. A month ago when last cleaning the system, I turned off system restore
before running the virus scans, as always, but forgot to turn it back on, so
if I want to restore windows I'll have to go back at least a month. I'd
rather avoid that.
Sorry for the long post.
Any help is appreciated.