BAD System wide EXE prob

[Sleepless]

I was trying to figure out a file association problem when downloading files
from the Internet via IE6. I went into Folder Options>File Types and look
for EXE files. I couldn't find a listing...

Studiply, I clicked on NEW, entered EXE and tried to associate EXE with, I
believe setuapi. When I realized this was not a good idea, it was too late
and I was in an area I don't have much experience. I clicked on restore and
it had an icon with %1 next to it. I thought the restore would be OK as I
was going to delete it anyway. Well, I left it there, then deleted the EXE
in the list.
Well, for those of you in the know, I WAS TOO LATE (screaming at
myself!!!!!!!!!!)

Now, every EXE comes up as Cannot open and that dialog giving me a choice to
go on the web to locate a program or pick from the list !!!

I first went to System Restore and got the same situation, and I don't have
enough knowledge to select a program even though I perused 'system32' hoping
that some program would jump out at me... NOPE!

I rebooted hoping the system would find a corrupt registry and use a backup.
NOPE... It just tried to load all my startups and most wouldn't load at all
without myself being capable of selecting the approprriate program for each
OR they opened in Notepad in code. There is no EXE in the list now
although in retrospect, I think that icon was for notepad as everything is
opening in notepad if they open at all.

I went to a 'command prompt' via my context menu and I have run 'sfc
/scannow' which didn't find anything....

please, please, pa -leeeese, I know now I did everything wrong. please,
please, please, don't tell that what I am thinking now is the only thing I
have right...

....and that is - I am royally screwed !!!

I guess I should be grateful that I can post this...

I'll pray while I anxiously await some help.... if I can get back in here...

Thanks,

Sleepless... and desperate

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Sleepless.

Sorry I don't have a magic wand to fix the problem, but you're not the first
person to ask about associating EXE files with something. The basic
fallacy, of course, is that your logic is exactly backwards: We don't
associate EXE with anything; we associate other file types with EXE files.
We associate .doc files with Word.exe, for example. Don't try to associate
Word.exe with .doc - or anything else.

Since I don't have the problem - and I'm not going to invite it just for
testing - my response might be a little naive, but...can't you simply click
on Folder Options | File Types, highlight .EXE and click Delete?

Since SFC /scannow didn't fix it, the next step in the hierarchy of recovery
techniques would be the Repair Reinstall, but that takes a couple hours so
you probably don't want to have to do that. To read about it, see:

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q315341

RC

 

[David Candy]

Shift click the iem and see if RunAs works.

 

[Sleepless]

Shift click the iem and see if RunAs works.

David, what do you mean by 'iem'?

 

[David Candy]

Ite don't buy ms keybards if you want to type.

 

[Sleepless]

I believe I already have these stored on my system. Good idea... Now it's
a matter of accessing them either on my system or at Kelly's site and seeing
if they will run... I haven't tried ieplore.exe but the shortcut icons are
gone to that nasty, unknown file type icon...

Thanks for the idea Maureen...

Sleepless

 

[David Candy]

RunAs to will be needed to install them. If that is broken you'll need to rename regedit.exe to regedit.com

 

[David Candy]

After I type a message three or four times I send it. My keyboard is a faulty design.

It is a MS Wireless Multimedia keyboard. It likes to be waved in front of the monitor to work perfectly, but this is difficult and hurts my wrist waving the keyboard.

There is a small angle so if I am right of the monitor the keyboard works. The matching wireless mouse is better but if the cat is anywhere nearby, not line of sight, it drops packets.

The cat prefers to sleep om my right so my keyboard if often left of the monitor centre line. By hanging the reciever off the table the keyboard becomes tollerat and the mouse unusable.

I've already turned the power off twice today to punish the computer, an I do everyday.

The other immense design fault is the keys are wrong. There is no way to use standard windows Cut / Copy / Paste keys and functions keys and Print Screen at the same time. Worse as Print Screen and Insert share a physical key that means one often copies a screen shot over what's on the clipboard when pasting (Shift + Insert).

This product was sold as a Windows Wireless keyboard. The wireless is crap and the keyboard is not a PC compatable keyboard.

I was a bit of an expert on antenna design before personal computers were invented, have designed several commercial products. It has a faulty antenna design. I've used PC compatable keyboards for 13 years (and 3270 before then) and can recognise faulty design.

 

[Maureen Goldman]

I went to System Restore, chose the only point available for today which was
about 12 noon or 10-11 hours ago, and followed the prompts. I could tell
from the tiny, slow movement of the System Restore progress bar that it was
going to take awhile. I know SR is not disk image or as comprehensive as
something like GoBack. But I still had 15GB's of info and most of it was
program files and very little data. I knew it would be awhile. I relaxed
for the first time in almost 10-12 hours. I sort of dozed off, which for me
is like twilight zone, half asleep, dreamy, eyes closed but still awake. I
heard a few familiar sound events.

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA !!!

I'm glad that things are all right again. What a relief!

When System Restore works during a crisis, it's great. However,
sometimes it fails so everyone should have a secondary backup.
Frequently recommended here is erunt.zip, a 575K freeware utility.
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt