*.lnk error

[MattK]

I have XP SP1. All of a sudden while on the internet my
computer lost the ability to open any .lnk file. I
believe something went corrupt in the registry, I had
Norton fully running at all times and did a scan from
their website (since I could not start the program) and
it revealed no viruses. Also had AdAware running to
protect the registry, maybe it caused the problem. Any
ideas? Thanks!

 

[MattK]

I would like to add that I believe the problem may have to
do with not being able to run any *.exe files. It looks
like I need help getting the registry fixed.

 

[Interrogative]

I have XP SP1. All of a sudden while on the internet my
computer lost the ability to open any .lnk file. I
believe something went corrupt in the registry, I had
Norton fully running at all times and did a scan from
their website (since I could not start the program) and
it revealed no viruses. Also had AdAware running to
protect the registry, maybe it caused the problem. Any
ideas? Thanks!

I am not exactly sure what you expect to happen. a .lnk file is just a
shortcut to some other file at some other location, whether it is a program
or doc file, whatever. If you are expecting it to open to read something, go
find the original file with a search on your hard disk. It may have been
deleted or renamed. If you are expecting it to start a program then it may
have been uninstalled or corrupted.

 

[MattK]

Thanks for the reply, I'm sorry I wasn't describing the
problem better. Actually, I can double click on any
*.exe and nothing happens.

 

[Interrogative]

Thanks for the reply, I'm sorry I wasn't describing the
problem better. Actually, I can double click on any
*.exe and nothing happens.

I'm afraid you are going to have to have someone come in and look at that
for you. It could be as simple as your swap file needing to be increased and
that fixes that or a number of other reasons. Suggest you take it to someone
who is paid to fix that sort of thing.

 

[cquirke (MVP Win9x)]

On Wed, 8 Sep 2004 17:47:43 -0700, "MattK"

Thanks for the reply, I'm sorry I wasn't describing the
problem better. Actually, I can double click on any
*.exe and nothing happens.

Most likely you had a malware that grabbed the .EXE -> exefile
association, and the malware was killed off without repairing the file
association. The result may be that .EXE no longer "open".

Start with a formal virus scan, and take it from there. It's a common
situation, there will be plenty of tip sites that will run through the
process of running Regedit renamed as (say) Regedit.scr and then
repairing the HKCR\exefile association to read "%1" %*

If you're on NTFS, then expect a harder time, seeing as you can't
simply hop into the file system from a DOS mode boot (e.g. to do the
formal av scan, rename Regedit.exe and so on).

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