Open Menu Missing

  • Thread starter Thread starter JoeM
  • Start date Start date
When you right click on any program or icon.
Example: When I right click on "MyComputer" you normally get "open",
"explore", "Search", etc. But on the computer I am having trouble with the
open choice is missing. It is not just on MyComputer it is on everythin.
So I can not open MyComputer, I can not open any programs in the start menu,
When I click run then type "cmd" or command.com it says file not found.
If I use a boot disk and took at the system outside of windows the files
appear to be in the correct location. I believe a reg key may have be
deleted, that removed this option, but I am not sure.
Any Help will be appreciated.

OS: Window XP SP2
I can boot into the OS just can not run any other programs. I can also
start IE without any trouble as well.
 
Try the system restore command in the run box
%systemroot\system32\restore\rstrui.exe to bring up the system restore menu
and restore to a previous point before the problem started. Try it in safe
mode with command prompt mode if that doesn't work in a regurlar start mode.
 
It says it can not find the program that is associated with this program.

I think the best way may be to do a repair, but if anyone want to give me
more ideas I will try

Thanks
 
JoeM said:
It says it can not find the program that is associated with this
program.

I think the best way may be to do a repair, but if anyone want to give
me more ideas I will try

Thanks
Click to expand...

What is the virus/malware status of this machine? If you think it is
clean, what did you use to determine that? Please tell us the name and
version of your antivirus and whether the subscription is active and
definitions are current.

Malke
 
More info. Did a repair with XP disk and still have the same problem.

This is a Windows XP Home Machine
 
JoeM said:
More info. Did a repair with XP disk and still have the same problem.

This is a Windows XP Home Machine
Click to expand...

Since you allowed your antivirus subscription to lapse, your computer
has a good chance of being infected. Did NIS install properly? If the
computer was infected before you installed NIS, some of its - or some
system files - may have been damaged.

I would uninstall NIS and then scan with either Sysclean (first link
below) or Dave Lipman's Multi-AV (second link below). After that
initial scan with the first-line antivirus tool, try installing NIS
again. Update it and do a thorough scan in Safe Mode.

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
http://www.ik-cs.com/multi-av.htm

It would be wise to go through the non-viral malware removal steps at
Link 1 also.

Malke
 
Removed HardDrive from computer 1(the computer I am having trouble with) and
put it into Computer 2(another functioning computer I have). Scanned
(Computer 1's Hard Drive) with Norton 05(Fully updated), and found NOTHING.
I then put HardDrive back into Computer 1. Booted into safe mode, both the
standard user and administrator usernames are missing the open command when
you right click on then, and when you run any program it says it is not
associated with anything. I have tried to reassociate exe, txt files with
the program with No Luck. I can not run regedit or any exe files. I can
open computer management, but can not view any logs, nor shutdown or start
any services.
 
If I boot Safe mode command prompt, I can open the registry. Looking in
there it apears as if some entries were deleted
Example: "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe" does not have any sub keys.
 
JoeM said:
If I boot Safe mode command prompt, I can open the registry. Looking
in there it apears as if some entries were deleted
Example: "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe" does not have any sub keys.
Click to expand...

Try repairing with the System File Checker.
Start>Run>sfc /scannow [enter]
Have your XP cd handy.

If that doesn't work, if you know the system is completely
virus/malware-free do a Repair Install. If the Repair Install doesn't
work, clean-install Windows, install drivers and programs from
installation media, restore data from backups.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm - Repair Install
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install

Malke
 
The "repairing with the System File Checker" did not work, but I was able to
fix the problem by resetting the security in the "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\" key.
I don't know what think it was NIS06, but all security settings were removed
from that key. When I reset the security all was OK.

Thanks

Malke said:
JoeM said:
If I boot Safe mode command prompt, I can open the registry. Looking
in there it apears as if some entries were deleted
Example: "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe" does not have any sub keys.
Click to expand...

Try repairing with the System File Checker.
Start>Run>sfc /scannow [enter]
Have your XP cd handy.

If that doesn't work, if you know the system is completely
virus/malware-free do a Repair Install. If the Repair Install doesn't
work, clean-install Windows, install drivers and programs from
installation media, restore data from backups.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm - Repair Install
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Click to expand...
 
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