URGENT : Running Spybot - Search and Destroy Gives problems.

[Lakshmi Jagarlapudi]

Hi Everyone,

As per some people recommendations, inorder to clean my pc against virus, I
have downloaded and ran
"Spybot - Search and Destroy" program. After it finished its work , it said
it has cleaned so and so.
However to my utter surprise, now I am not able to use my PC at all.
Whenever I try to any program say ,notepad,
I get the message "This file does not have a program associated with it for
performing this action. Create an association in the
Folder Options Control Panel".

This is so shocking that I tried to fix the virus issue and I am not even
able to start anything or even work on my computer.
Can some body really help. I need real urgent help on this.

Any help is highly appreciated.
Thanks very much,

 

[henry]

Go to this folder C:\Windows\System32\dllcache
Click Tools/Folder Options Turn on show hidden files and folders.

Then turn OFF "hide protected operating system files".
This is your backup of windows system files which notepad is one of.

Find notepad.exe, right click and click copy. Next go to the shortcut for
notepad in your start menu. Right click and choose properties.

Click "find target". This will open the containing folder.
Right click in this folder and click paste. Windows will tell you the file
already exists do you want to replace it. Click yes and you have restored
notepad.

Go back to Folder Options and hide the system files and hidden files again.

 

[Lakshmi Jagarlapudi]

Well everybody out there,

Let me tell you,firstly
the spyboy has created a system restore point before it started its
process.
Then gave me a list of all the problems that my PC had.
And then when I pressed the fix button it has "so-called" fixed. However
that fix ,I think,
has screwed some very basic information in the registry. Because of which
even
basic applications(in fact nothing) are not running.

I was so happy that, it has removed so many unnecessary programs and files,
however it has also
tampered with some very basic required files or registry. So finally I have
restored my PC to a desired restore point.

So everyone out there, do you have any further suggestions at this stage.

Anyway, watchout before you use any kind of such programs.

Waiting for all your updates.

 

[madmax]

Hi Everyone,

As per some people recommendations, inorder to clean my pc against virus, I
have downloaded and ran
"Spybot - Search and Destroy" program. After it finished its work , it said
it has cleaned so and so.
However to my utter surprise, now I am not able to use my PC at all.
Whenever I try to any program say ,notepad,
I get the message "This file does not have a program associated with it for
performing this action. Create an association in the
Folder Options Control Panel".

This is so shocking that I tried to fix the virus issue and I am not even
able to start anything or even work on my computer.
Can some body really help. I need real urgent help on this.

Any help is highly appreciated.
Thanks very much,

It is important to create a backup before making any changes(as you learned)
I have links to other programs to protect yourself on my site.
-max

--
To help you stay safe see: http://www.geocities.com/maxpro4u/madmax.html
This message is virus free as far as I can tell.
Change nomail.afraid.org to neo.rr.com so you can reply
(nomail.afraid.org has been set up specifically for
use in Usenet. Feel free to use it yourself.)

 

[Guest]

Hi Everyone,

As per some people recommendations, inorder to clean my pc against virus, I
have downloaded and ran
"Spybot - Search and Destroy" program. After it finished its work , it said
it has cleaned so and so.
However to my utter surprise, now I am not able to use my PC at all.
Whenever I try to any program say ,notepad,
I get the message "This file does not have a program associated with it for
performing this action. Create an association in the
Folder Options Control Panel".

This is so shocking that I tried to fix the virus issue and I am not even
able to start anything or even work on my computer.
Can some body really help. I need real urgent help on this.

Any help is highly appreciated.
Thanks very much,

Spybot S&D has a very extensive help file,I don't supposed you bothered to read it before you used it.

 

[Sharon F]

Hi Everyone,

As per some people recommendations, inorder to clean my pc against virus, I
have downloaded and ran
"Spybot - Search and Destroy" program. After it finished its work , it said
it has cleaned so and so.
However to my utter surprise, now I am not able to use my PC at all.
Whenever I try to any program say ,notepad,
I get the message "This file does not have a program associated with it for
performing this action. Create an association in the
Folder Options Control Panel".

This is so shocking that I tried to fix the virus issue and I am not even
able to start anything or even work on my computer.
Can some body really help. I need real urgent help on this.

Any help is highly appreciated.
Thanks very much,

It sounds like you have/had a virus besides spyware. It is not normal for
Spybot Search and Destroy to change the association for EXE files. However
that is a symptom of several viruses. Although both adware and viruses are
"malware," they are addressed differently. Use an antivirus product that
has been updated with the latest virus definitions to detect and remove any
viruses that are found.

You can repair the EXE association by using the EXE fix from the following
page at MVP Doug Knox's site: http://www.dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm

 

[Lakshmi Jagarlapudi]

Guys,

Instead of trying to define what is a virus or spyware etc etc..., the
bottomline is that there is a nagging problem in the PC. And Spybot has
detected that when I ran it on my PC. And spybot told that it can fix the
problem, I dont care whether it is a virus or spyware or something else.

And in "so-called" fixing it , it accidentally changed something in the
registry. And this happened not just once but twice. I had to restore my
system twice.

So I would rather put a pull stop to whether we should run spybot or
not.(because it has detected a problem). I would concentrate more on why it
has tampered with registry. Hope I am very clear atleast now.
And if a anit-virus program can fix the problem , I would appreciate if
you can suggest a link where i can download
the program and run it. Or do I have to buy it? I would appreciate any
pointers.

Thanks,

 

[Guest]

Try this link and run through 1-4...
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm

Good luck.

Guys,

Instead of trying to define what is a virus or spyware etc etc..., the
bottomline is that there is a nagging problem in the PC. And Spybot has
detected that when I ran it on my PC. And spybot told that it can fix the
problem, I dont care whether it is a virus or spyware or something else.

And in "so-called" fixing it , it accidentally changed something in the
registry. And this happened not just once but twice. I had to restore my
system twice.

So I would rather put a pull stop to whether we should run spybot or
not.(because it has detected a problem). I would concentrate more on why it
has tampered with registry. Hope I am very clear atleast now.
And if a anit-virus program can fix the problem , I would appreciate if
you can suggest a link where i can download
the program and run it. Or do I have to buy it? I would appreciate any
pointers.

Thanks,

 

[MowGreen [MVP]]

Lakshmi,

Unfortunately the line has been blurred between spy|ad|malware and
virus, trojans, keyloggers, etc ... Kelly has suggested "it" be
called virulware (thanks, Kelly . In order to determine just WTF
the virulware is one, has to hit it with more than one antivirus
program and the usual anti-spyware programs (AdAware, Spybot,
CWShredder).
Advise you to attempt on online virus scan at these 2 sites :
http://www.ravantivirus.com/scan/
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm

Then boot to Safe Mode, enable "Show hidden files and folders ", and
do a thorough scan with your AV (with the latest def files).
Prior to running CWShredder, AdAware, and Spybot, make sure that
they're all they're all updated. Then run HackedDefender Disabler:
http://www.aumha.org/downloads/unhackdef.zip

Reconfigure AdAware to do the deepest scan that it can :
http://forum.aumha.org/viewtopic.php?t=5877

Now run, in this order :
CWShredder
AdAware
Spybot

When done, scan with HijackThis and check to remove what you can
determine is toxic to the system or post the log to a forum that
specializes in deciphering HJT logs :
http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?s=f9bf6993baaf5b1335a941f77a08d1b9&showforum=18
http://forums.techguy.org/forumdisplay.php?f=54
http://www.webuser.co.uk/cgi-bin/forums/postlist.pl?Cat=&Board=security
http://forum.aumha.org/viewforum.php?f=30
http://text.dslreports.com/forum/security

HTH,

MowGreen [MVP]

*-343-* FDNY
Never Forgotten

Guys,

Instead of trying to define what is a virus or spyware etc etc..., the
bottomline is that there is a nagging problem in the PC. And Spybot has
detected that when I ran it on my PC. And spybot told that it can fix the
problem, I dont care whether it is a virus or spyware or something else.

And in "so-called" fixing it , it accidentally changed something in the
registry. And this happened not just once but twice. I had to restore my
system twice.

So I would rather put a pull stop to whether we should run spybot or
not.(because it has detected a problem). I would concentrate more on why it
has tampered with registry. Hope I am very clear atleast now.
And if a anit-virus program can fix the problem , I would appreciate if
you can suggest a link where i can download
the program and run it. Or do I have to buy it? I would appreciate any
pointers.

Thanks,

virus, I

 

[Wialu Plethora]

-----Original Message-----
Guys,

Instead of trying to define what is a virus or spyware etc etc..., the
bottomline is that there is a nagging problem in the PC. And Spybot has
detected that when I ran it on my PC. And spybot told that it can fix the
problem, I dont care whether it is a virus or spyware or something else.

And in "so-called" fixing it , it accidentally changed something in the
registry. And this happened not just once but twice. I had to restore my
system twice.

So I would rather put a pull stop to whether we should run spybot or
not.(because it has detected a problem). I would concentrate more on why it
has tampered with registry. Hope I am very clear atleast now.
And if a anit-virus program can fix the problem , I would appreciate if
you can suggest a link where i can download
the program and run it. Or do I have to buy it? I would appreciate any
pointers.

Thanks,

my pc against
virus, I finished its work , it
said associated with it
for issue and I am not
even

The problem isn't with Spybot S&D; the problem is that
you're an idiot. There are warnings all over the place in
Spybot about being careful what you allow it to "fix" and
that just because the program brings something to your
attention doesn't mean that it is necessarily a threat of
any kind. YOU apparenly just allowed Spybot to delete
something or things that shouldn't have been messed with.
Software developers often design applications with the
assumption that end users will have a reasonable amount of
functioning gray matter and can follow simple instructions
and heed obvious warnings. As you've proven though, as
soon as they idiot-proof something, the idiots get
stupider.

 

[Sharon F]

Guys,

Instead of trying to define what is a virus or spyware etc etc..., the
bottomline is that there is a nagging problem in the PC. And Spybot has
detected that when I ran it on my PC. And spybot told that it can fix the
problem, I dont care whether it is a virus or spyware or something else.

And in "so-called" fixing it , it accidentally changed something in the
registry. And this happened not just once but twice. I had to restore my
system twice.

So I would rather put a pull stop to whether we should run spybot or
not.(because it has detected a problem). I would concentrate more on why it
has tampered with registry. Hope I am very clear atleast now.
And if a anit-virus program can fix the problem , I would appreciate if
you can suggest a link where i can download
the program and run it. Or do I have to buy it? I would appreciate any
pointers.

The difference is important. You need different tools to clean a virus than
you do to clean spyware/adware.