lots of problems

[a random ninja]

I'm not sure if i got hit by a virus today or what...

It started out that Firefox would not load up certain pages...but
Internet Explorer would. I updated IE from version 6 to version 7 and
after that it was having problems with the exact same pages as Firefox.
After that things got even worse. For some reason now, every time I
start/restart, my icons and start bar are missing. I have to manually
run explorer.exe for them to show up. Then, I was unable to access
Add/Remove Programs. I go to control panel and click on it, the
hourglass pops up for half a second and then nothing happens. And now,
I am unable to run any setup.exe file that I download. I double click
it, choose 'run' and nothing happens. I would just completely reformat
and reinstall Windows XP, but I no longer have my installation cd, and
I'm not sure I have the product key, either. Does anyone have
suggestions for any or all of these issues? Any advice at all is
appreciated.

 

[BluAngelEyes23]

Hello,

I had this error today too. It appears that by upgrading IE to 8+ Beta, this will solve the problem. If this is your website, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Nothing is wrong with your site, or the one you are looking at as far as Server Side Configuration goes. I don't know why MS would release something with a bug as large as this.

Bea23,

 

[Ron Badour]

Do a system restore to a point in time before the troubles started. See
the Help file on the Start Menu if you need help with this. Then run
complete scans of the hard drive with updated versions of anti virus and a
spyware programs. If you need these programs:

AVG v8: http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download?prd=afe

Spybot: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/

If you install Spybot, I suggest you not use the Tea Timer or Browser
Helper.

--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP
Windows Desktop Experience

 

[a random ninja]

Thanks, I'll try the system restore...but unfortunately, like I said,
I'm unable to run any setup files, so I could download those two
programs (indeed I have tried to get spybot already), but I wouldn't be
able to install them. I double click the setup, and it says run or
cancel, but when I click run, on any setup file, nothing happens. But
I'll see what I can do, thanks for your suggestion.

 

[Ron Badour]

I am hoping that the restore would put you back before the problem with the
..exe files started. If not, have a look at these:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q311446/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q310585/
Download an .exe fix reg file:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm , item 12. left column

--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP
Windows Desktop Experience