download and installation of programs

  • Thread starter Thread starter martin
  • Start date Start date
M

martin

Whenever i download and install any program and then restart the computer the
program is deleted. can anybdy tell me what to do
 
martin said:
Whenever i download and install any program and then restart the computer
the program is deleted. can anybdy tell me what to do
Click to expand...

This doesn't happen all by itself. You must have a third-party program
running that resets the computer or perhaps the machine is infected. We
don't really have enough information from you to troubleshoot this.

The First Question Of Troubleshooting: If the problem is new, what changed
between the time things worked and the time they didn't?

The Second Question of Windows Troubleshooting: what is the malware/virus
status of the machine? If you think it is clean, what programs (and
versions) did you use to determine this?

Be sure the computer is clean:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

Is this a standalone home machine or an office workstation. Member of a
domain?

Version of XP and Service Pack level?

Antivirus and other security programs installed?

Malke
 
Whenever i download and install any program and then restart the computer the
program is deleted. can anybdy tell me what to do
Click to expand...



This sounds very strange to me. Whenever anything is very strange, the
likelihood of malware infection is there, but I've never heard of any
malware that does this.

So let me ask these questions:

1. Exactly how did you download and install it?

2. What programs have you seen this happen with?

3. How do you know the program was deleted? Where was it that it no
longer is? Have you looked in all the following places: desktop, Quick
Launch Bar, Start|Programs, \Program Files, Control Panel|Add-Remove
Programs?
 
martin said:
Whenever i download and install any program and then restart the
computer the program is deleted. can anybdy tell me what to do
Click to expand...

Please clarify your terminology.

Do you mean that the program you installed has been uninstalled? Or do
you mean that the installation file you had downloaded has been deleted?
 
In Ken Blake, MVP typed on Sat, 19 Sep 2009 08:13:11 -0700:
This sounds very strange to me. Whenever anything is very strange, the
likelihood of malware infection is there, but I've never heard of any
malware that does this...
Click to expand...

There are lots of software does this on purpose, like MS EWF for
example. I like MS EWF a lot as all writes to the drive is buffered to
RAM instead. Thus effectively making your hard drive as read only. No
need to even shutdown properly, just pull the plug. No harm done, as the
drive has no record that it was even ran.
 
Well first of all thank you for reading what my problem is. I'm running
windows xp pro, I downloaded everything from service pack 3 to java script
and whenever I download them they will stay in the system until I restart the
computer when I restart everything I download is gone from the computer, I've
checked temp internet files, control panel, desktop and their just not there
anymore.
 
The file is deleted completely from the computer, by the way I'm
running Windows XP Pro.
Click to expand...

Please give an example of an installation file you have downloaded. That
is, what is the name of the file? Where did you download it from

Did you use XP's search function, searching the entire C: drive, when
you were trying to identify its location? Or did you merely look at the
contents of selected folders?

How did you download this file? With what program?

When you downloaded it, where do you save it to? Or is it possible you
selected Run instead of Save?
 
In martin typed on Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:49:01 -0700:
Well first of all thank you for reading what my problem is. I'm
running windows xp pro, I downloaded everything from service pack 3
to java script and whenever I download them they will stay in the
system until I restart the computer when I restart everything I
download is gone from the computer, I've checked temp internet files,
control panel, desktop and their just not there anymore.
Click to expand...

Interestingly this is exactly how Microsoft's EWF works. As it treats
your system/boot drive as read only. As all writes are sent to the RAM
instead and the OS doesn't know any better. And when EWF is enabled,
shutting down everything during the last bootup is totally gone, even
viruses and malware.

It is very interesting how you can have this feature without EWF. And I
would be very interested in knowing how your system is pulling this off.
Just in case you have EWF installed and don't know it. Try typing this
in a command prompt. This will give a status report if EWF is installed.

ewfmgr c:
 
martin said:
Whenever i download and install any program and then restart the
computer the program is deleted. can anybdy tell me what to do
Click to expand...

There are programs - Microsoft has one whose name escapes me - that
automatically roll back any changes to the system to a pre-defined
organization. These are used in schools and the like to restore a computer
to its pre-determined configuration.
 
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