Task Manager & Net Connection Probs

[Silk]

I have to problems, both of which are related (I know
cause this has happened to me before, I can't remember
how I fixed it last time though.)

First one is that when I press CTRL+AlT+DEL, task manager
doesn't load. I can't remember the exact error message at
the moment (I'm running on same computer, but an
alternate, and clean install of Windoze) but it's
something like 'Cannot open application properly, a bunch
of numbers like 0xc00000000, and then some other
microsoft advice junk about what I should do. This in
it's self it no biggie, since I can just run task manager
from the spare windows folder (which works fine, even
when running on the version of windows which wont open it
when I use CTRL+ALT+DEL), however, the bigger prob is
that my net connection isn't, umm, connecting. I'm on
dial up (We just invented the wheel where I live, so
Broadband isn't available), when I click on the
connection link I have on my desktop, the Icon goes grey
coloured, and does nothing, there is no 'Connect to'
option in the start menu, and when I open Internet
Explorer and try to connect from there, it dials, but
says it cannot establish a connection.

This is seriously tweaking me off, and I'm quite sure
it's got something to do with something in the windows
folder, since everything runs fine out of the spare
windows install. However, I don't wish to do anything
major such as replace the explorer.exe or replace the
files, as that's going to majorly stuff a few things,
probably my registry knowing my luck. Umm, thanks.

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Silk,

And you last updated your antivirus software and ran a full system scan
when?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Windows
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[Silk]

lol, today, that's the first thing I did. I had some
problems, a friend managed to download blaster to my
spare windows install, (Hadn't downloaded patch to that
one) but that's cleared up (Thank you Microsoft, for
once) and I'm still getting the errors. I'm pretty sure
this isn't a virus. It doesn't seem to be doing anything
nasty, and I've never heard of a virus that disables the
internet... how would it spread?.

Anyways, besides the usual trojans and adware that a
virus scan turns up, nothing, and this is the most up-to-
date version of McAfee there is. (Downloaded latest
version + Updates today.)

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

Have you tried NA's stinger yet?
http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/

It may help where the installed software does not.

Many bugs now disable your av software, though it appears to you to be ok
(the actual detection process is disabled, but the system tray process is
left alone). The symptoms you describe can easily be attributed to one of
these. Why would it disable your ability to connect? Why not? In order to
evade detection, it will inhibit your ability to update the system and/or
research the symptoms. These bugs do not play nice at all.

Try Doug Knox's emergency tools, they may help you figure out what is going
on:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_emerutils.htm

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Windows
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone