.exe files don't work

[michael.sherrard]

I have a machine that had what I thought was a solid build. All anti-
virus software was up to date and patches were up to date. As a
matter of fact, that was what I was doing when this happened to me. I
was checking through SMS here at work to ensure all the patches on the
machine were up to date when suddenly none of my .exe files would
work. I go through programs now and all the icons indicate that
windows does not recognize the file type any more. The explorer.exe
icon in the tool bar is that way, all office icons are that way, etc.
What's more is that I cannot open any .exe files in control panel.
So, I can't check on advertised programs, can't add or remove programs
or hardware, etc. I'm at the point of rebuilding the machine, but if
anyone can help me avoid that, I would be eternally grateful. Thanks
for the advice.

 

[Guest]

Hi michael,

Before doing the rebuild, give Doug Knox's File Association Fixes a try:
http://dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm
Make sure you read the NOTE about exe file associations.

In addition to running the EXE File Association Fix, you may want to run the
CPL File Association Fix, since you are having problems opening the applets
in Control Panel.



Regards,