.exe and .lnk files do not work

[kawascream]

Hi all,

used my show desktop icon earlier to minimise all my windows and my
windows media player went full screen and could not do anything to
minimise it.

Not even pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL, ALT+ENTER, ESC, ALT+F

Anyway, switched off PC......

....switched back on, now none of my shortcuts work and I cannot run
any .exe files.

"Windows not can find a program associated with .lnk file extension"

Trying to run a .exe file does work, so cannot run Help and Support,
System Restore, regedit, msconfig, adaware or anything!

any ideas welcome

Thanks
Terry.

 

[Doug Miller]

Hi all,

used my show desktop icon earlier to minimise all my windows and my
windows media player went full screen and could not do anything to
minimise it.

Not even pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL, ALT+ENTER, ESC, ALT+F

Anyway, switched off PC......

....switched back on, now none of my shortcuts work and I cannot run
any .exe files.

"Windows not can find a program associated with .lnk file extension"

Trying to run a .exe file does work, so cannot run Help and Support,
System Restore, regedit, msconfig, adaware or anything!

any ideas welcome

This is symptomatic of a virus -- can't remember which one right now -- ran
into it on a friend's PC this spring. Workaround is to copy or rename
regedit.exe, msconfig.exe, etc. as regedit.com, msconfig.com, etc. and run the
.com files.

 

[Ramesh, MS-MVP]

Cannot run EXE files [Programs don't open]:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/exefile.htm

 

[TaurArian [MVP]]

Windows® XP File Association Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm
EXE File Association Fix (Restore default association for EXE files)
LNK (Shortcut) File Association Fix (Restores Default Shortcut Behavior)