VISTA Program Alteration

[Boklob]

My wife atempted to install an eGame program disk that apparently did not
work with Vista. Since then We have received error messages that the Vista
program has been altered, the system is running extremely slowly, and can not
print to the local USB Printer and the attempting to open the control panel
result in a window flashing up for a second then disapearing. I have
attempted several of the recommended remedies and still can not get the Vista
program validated again, or print.

Please Help My wife goes back to school tomorrow and needs the laptop.

Dave

 

[solon fox]

My wife atempted to install an eGame program disk that apparently did not
work with Vista. Since then We have received error messages that the Vista
program has been altered, the system is running extremely slowly, and can not
print to the local USB Printer and the attempting to open the control panel
result in a window flashing up for a second then disapearing. I have
attempted several of the recommended remedies and still can not get the Vista
program validated again, or print.

Please Help My wife goes back to school tomorrow and needs the laptop.

Dave

1. Run a full antivirus scan first.
2. Use system restore.

Q. Do you have any full system backups?
That would be the way to go for sure.

Q. What antivirus software suite do you use?

The antivirus software should've prevented the malware from getting on
in the first place.

Q. What was the program that failed to install?
It might make a difference in trying to recover.

Q. Where did the program come from? Purchased in a store, downloaded,
copied from a friend?
You might be able to call the game manufacturer for help. Knowing it's
source will help to evaluate the possibility of a trojan or
counterfeit.

Your last resort would be to use a recovery desk that came with your
computer.

You might try reinstalling Vista if you have the disks, there wouldn't
be any loss of data (except in the case of OEM recovery disks).

It won't help you by Monday, but you could also take it to Geek Squad
or someone else and have them fix it.

-solon fox

 

[Adam Albright]

My wife atempted to install an eGame program disk that apparently did not
work with Vista. Since then We have received error messages that the Vista
program has been altered, the system is running extremely slowly, and can not
print to the local USB Printer and the attempting to open the control panel
result in a window flashing up for a second then disapearing. I have
attempted several of the recommended remedies and still can not get the Vista
program validated again, or print.

Please Help My wife goes back to school tomorrow and needs the laptop.

Dave

The quickest "help" would be to try rolling back to a Restore Point
prior to when the eGame was installed. If that don't work or you can't
because you don't have a early enough Restore Point and you have a
Vista DVD you can try to repair the system using that.

Have you tried booting into Safe Mode with a minimal configuration
then nuking the problem application from Control Panel?

If you really don't know what is causing the sluggish performance I
would download and run AUTORUNS. This is a small, free utility that
gives you a very detailed list of everything that starts up and should
at least give you a clue what is causing the problem so you have a
starting point to work from.

 

[Boklob]

Thanks for your quick reply.

I attempted a system restore and it only went back to yesterday when I
attempted to reload the driver for the local printer.

The answer to your questions
1. I am running Norton internet Security,

2. No Full System Back-ups

3. The program was eGames Colector's Edition 251 from eGames out of
Longhorne, PA. My wife received it as a gift from one of her credit card
companies. The dist shows it is for Windows, 95, 98, ME, 2000 and XP but does
not list Vista.

It looks like I will need to go with the recovery disks that came with the
computer.

 

[solon fox]

SInce you're out of system restores and can't use a full system
backup, then, yeah, I think you're stuck with a Sunday afternoon with
your recovery disks and then updates and installs.

If you can, you might want to burn her documents folder to CD's or
something because you will lose all data. Afterwards, you will want to
run Windows Update and install your old programs too. Sorry to hear
that.

Knowing that you are using Norton and that the games seem to be from a
reliable (if unfriendly to Vista source), I'm thinking malware was
unlikely. Someone at the company might be able to help you, but good
luck with tech support and reaching someone that really knows what
they're doing on a Sunday. I guess, that if it were me, I'd do just
what you're about to do.

Good luck and enjoy your Sunday afternoon! Time to tell the wife to
take care of your refreshment needs while you work. <it's a joke, okay?

;-)

-solon fox

 

[Mick Murphy]

1 Disable Norton, as it interferes with System Restore.
2 Reboot, tap F8 right at Startup and go into Safe Mode
3 Do a System restore there and/or uninstall the Games