Lost file association with exe files

[Rod]

The aftermath of a trojan attack (Vista Guardian) has resulted in the file
association of exe files being lost and hence an inability to run exe files.
I am quite convinced that the trojan is now dead, but I can't figure out how
to fix the damage.

If I could get into the registry I could fix it, but of course regedit is an
exe file so I can't run it.

I've tried tricks like running it from command line or from inside a batch
file but with no joy.

I have also made a copy and called it regedit.com. This looked promising as
Vista asked for user permission to run the program, but then nothing. It
gets killed off before it starts.

I am not familiar with the particular machine, nor am I very familiar with
Vista and I am now at a loss as to how to proceed. Any bright ideas?



many thanks



Rod

 

[Rod]

The exe fix here is what you want:
http://www.winhelponline.com/articles/105/1/File-association-fixes-for-Windows-Vista.html

That looks like the solution, many thanks. I can't try it at the moment as
am not near to the computer.

Won't the MERGE operation make a call to an exe?

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I don't know about the Merge operation, but it fixed a problem I had when
somebody had associated exe files with Acrobat pdf files!

Which has recently happened here...Thanks for the fix, except I'm
running Win 7. We'll see what happens.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Which has recently happened here...Thanks for the fix, except I'm running Win
7. We'll see what happens.

Maybe not...I recall that this only happens in the download dialog when
I am working in Firefox. Windows Explorer is OK.

In hopes of a clue, I'll still research the registry entries you
pointed to. This is a new phenomenon, and my bit of research so far has
revealed very little to me