Rundll32.EXE - DLL INITIALIZATION FAILED The application failed to initialize be

J

J. Myers

"Rundll32.EXE - DLL INITIALIZATION FAILED The application
failed to initialize because the Windows station is
shutting down."

Trying to fix a Dell pc for a friend. I get this message
everytime I shut down Windows XP normally. Any thoughts on
how to get rid of this?

Thanks, Joe
 
M

Malke

J. Myers said:
"Rundll32.EXE - DLL INITIALIZATION FAILED The application
failed to initialize because the Windows station is
shutting down."

Trying to fix a Dell pc for a friend. I get this message
everytime I shut down Windows XP normally. Any thoughts on
how to get rid of this?

Thanks, Joe

It's very possible your friend's computer has a virus. What does a scan
with a current antivirus program (meaning a version not earlier than
2002 and using updated virus definitions) show? Also, remove spyware
with Spybot Search & Destroy from www.safer-networking.org and Ad-aware
from www.lavasoftusa.com. Be sure to update these programs before
running them. These programs are free, so run them both since they
complement each other. It is best to run antivirus and spyware removal
tools in Safe Mode. You may also want to run CWShredder and HijackThis
from http://aumha.org/freeware.htm. Although CWShredder is no longer
being updated, it will still clean older variants of the CoolWebSearch
malware. Please read the instructions carefully. Also, make sure
you've visited Windows Update and applied all security patches. Do not
install driver updates from Windows Update. Make sure you are running a
firewall.

Malke
 
M

Michael D. Alligood

RUNDLL32 is the Microsoft Windows program that loads DLLs into memory so
that they can be used by specific programs or by Windows. This behavior
could be associated with a programs not responding properly or is associated
with spyware programs and viruses. Anti-virus software and firewalls do not
fully protect your system against the majority of spyware and privacy
threats. Spyware is commonly bundled with software downloads, attached to
e-mails, or transmitted through networks so it can appear to be legitimate
software, but once installed it can be nearly impossible to detect and
remove without the help of a dedicated spyware removal tool such as:

Ad-Aware 6.0 (build 6.181)
http://www.lavasoftusa.com

SpyBot 1.3
http://www.safer-networking.org/

SpyWare Blaster
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html/

HiJackThis
http://www.spychecker.com/program/hijackthis.html

Please make sure that you download the updates for each of these programs to
ensure complete detection of known spyware programs. Although nothing is
absolute in removing spyware and keeping it off, downloading and executing
the programs above can dramically decrease future infections.

Also please utilize free virus scans from the following sites:

Trend Micro
http://www.trend.com

Bit Defender
http://www.bitdefender.com

Panda
http://www.pandasoftware.com/

McAfee
http://www.vil.nai.com/vil/stinger

After Spyware / Adware is remove, you may get an error finding files on
reboot

After you use anyone of these programs (with the exception of HiJackThis)
you may receive an error of some sort after rebooting your system. This is
pretty common. Many spyware programs add themselves in the Startup location
and execute when Windows boots. If you recieve an error when rebooting after
removing spyware, do not panic. This is more than likely a startup remnant
trying to access the spyware program that is no longer on your computer.
HiJackThis is a great utility to find and remove these startup remnants.
However, there is a less technical way of removing these items:

(1) Click START to RUN and type: msconfig
(2) Select the STARTUP tab
(3) Uncheck the file that pertained to the startup error message you
received
(4) Click APPLY and OK
(5) Reboot your system

If this fails to fix the startup error message after reboot, there are still
options:

(1) Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start
Menu\Programs\Startup
(2) Delete the icon that pertained to the startup error message you received
(3) Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\username\Start
Menu\Programs\Startup
(4) Delete the icon that pertained to the startup error message you received
(5) Reboot your system



--
Best of luck!

Michael D. Alligood
MCSA, MCP, CCNA, A+,
Network+, i-Net+, CIW A, CIW CI
 

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