How much trouble am I in? Is there a cure?

[Shelterdog]

My Dell Dimension with XP suddenly was giving messages when I booted up that
it couldn't find progams associated with several *.lnk files. I tried to
run a scandisk, and later to run Norton Systemworks from the CD, and it
couldn't start .exe programs. So I reinstalled Windows. Everything worked
OK for a couple of days, except that it ran slowly. I checked my C drive and
found that it was about 90% full, so I uninstalled several programs from the
Control Panel and moved a bunch of data files to my external hard drive.
Then when I rebooted, I started getting the same *.lnk messages that I was
getting at the beginning, and this morning, I saw that some of my application
files on the Desktop suddenly showed up with .DOC icons and similarly
incongruous things. I ran my antivirus from the CD and found nothing. Any
suggestions what's going on, and why I should do about it?

 

[wilscott1st]

My Dell Dimension with XP suddenly was giving messages when I booted up that
it couldn't find progams associated with several  *.lnk files.  I tried to
run a scandisk, and later to run Norton Systemworks from the CD, and it
couldn't start .exe programs.  So I reinstalled Windows.  Everything worked
OK for a couple of days, except that it ran slowly.  I checked my C drive and
found that it was about 90% full, so I uninstalled several programs from the
Control Panel and moved a bunch of data files to my external hard drive.  
Then when I rebooted, I started getting the same *.lnk messages that I was
getting at the beginning, and this morning, I saw that some of my application
files on the Desktop suddenly showed up with .DOC icons and similarly
incongruous things.  I ran my antivirus from the CD and found nothing.  Any
suggestions what's going on, and why I should do about it?

Personally, I would back up all the data i wanted to keep and start
over.
That is, format the drive and reinstall XP, reinstall anti-virus, scan
the backed up files for viruses, reinstall programs, etc...

some people would recomend scanning for spyware, viruses, run a
hijackthis log, etc, etc, and you may never get to the root cause or
if you do, the time invested is extensive.

You do need to exclude hardware (hardrive, memory, etc) as the culprit
otherwise neither tactic will be fruitfull.

for me, the time it takes to just start over instead of spending hours
trying to clean things up is negligable.

 

[Lem]

My Dell Dimension with XP suddenly was giving messages when I booted up that
it couldn't find progams associated with several *.lnk files. I tried to
run a scandisk, and later to run Norton Systemworks from the CD, and it
couldn't start .exe programs. So I reinstalled Windows. Everything worked
OK for a couple of days, except that it ran slowly. I checked my C drive and
found that it was about 90% full, so I uninstalled several programs from the
Control Panel and moved a bunch of data files to my external hard drive.
Then when I rebooted, I started getting the same *.lnk messages that I was
getting at the beginning, and this morning, I saw that some of my application
files on the Desktop suddenly showed up with .DOC icons and similarly
incongruous things. I ran my antivirus from the CD and found nothing. Any
suggestions what's going on, and why I should do about it?

See this thread:
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...oft.public.Windowsxp.general#0a54f8a55356fc89
tinurl'd: http://tinyurl.com/25uh8l

--
Lem -- MS-MVP - Networking

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

A Repair Install is not going to address these problems.

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315

Run a /thorough/ check for hijackware, including posting your hijackthis log
to an appropriate forum.

Checking for/Help with Hijackware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=5878
http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal_and_Prevention:_Introduction
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/data/prevention.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/tshoot.html
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm
http://defendingyourmachine2.blogspot.com/
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

When all else fails, HijackThis v2.0.2
(http://aumha.org/downloads/hijackthis.exe) is the preferred tool to use.
It will help you to both identify and remove any hijackware/spyware with
assistance from an expert. **Post your log to
http://forums.spybot.info/forumdisplay.php?f=22,
http://castlecops.com/forum67.html,
http://forums.subratam.org/index.php?showforum=7,
http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30, or other appropriate forums for expert
analysis, not here.**

If the procedures look too complex - and there is no shame in admitting this
isn't your cup of tea - take the machine to a local, reputable and
independent (i.e., not BigBoxStoreUSA) computer repair shop.

 

[Shelterdog]

I downloaded the program using my laptop, and then tried to run it with a
flash drive plugged into my problem PC, but I couldn't get it to run.

 

[Shelterdog]

I tried this. First, I tried using Windows Explorer, but couldn't get it to
open. Then tried opening My Computer, and followed the steps from there, but
it didn't change anything. I'm coming to the conclusion my HD is cooked.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

What program?

I downloaded the program using my laptop, and then tried to run it with a
flash drive plugged into my problem PC, but I couldn't get it to run.