Windows Explorer doesn't work properly anymore

[Guest]

After I had an issue with a Trojan horse and some other ugly things (e.g.
...\isrvs\desktop.exe) my laptop (Win XP) boots, comes up with the desktop
background, but stops booting afterwards. No icon are displayed etc but the
message "Explorer.exe detected a problem and must be terminated. Do you want
to send the report to Microsoft" is displayed.
From this point on nothing happens anymore. However, I can still activate
the "Task-Manager" with the keys <Alt><Ctrl><Del> and either reboot or turn
the laptop off. Everything seems to work except that the explorer is not
started properly.
If I boot the laptop in the secure mode (press F8 while booting) I can start
the "Explorer.exe" from the command prompt and the laptop works (in secured
mode).
Any tips or hints how I can repair my laptop without reinstalling the entire
Windows and all the programs?

 

[Kelly]

Would have to see a couple of registry keys via safe mode. That said, run
this combo and then repost:

Run Ad-Aware SE, Spybot and HijackThis:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads31.html

Note: Update the first two programs, once installed, before running.

Free Online Virus Scan
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

Also, make sure that you have stopped System Restore before running the
latter. Good luck!
--
Happy Mardi Gras,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

 

[DanS]

After I had an issue with a Trojan horse and some other ugly things
(e.g. ..\isrvs\desktop.exe) my laptop (Win XP) boots, comes up with
the desktop background, but stops booting afterwards. No icon are
displayed etc but the message "Explorer.exe detected a problem and
must be terminated. Do you want to send the report to Microsoft" is
displayed. From this point on nothing happens anymore. However, I can
still activate the "Task-Manager" with the keys <Alt><Ctrl><Del> and
either reboot or turn the laptop off. Everything seems to work except
that the explorer is not started properly.
If I boot the laptop in the secure mode (press F8 while booting) I can
start the "Explorer.exe" from the command prompt and the laptop works
(in secured mode).
Any tips or hints how I can repair my laptop without reinstalling the
entire Windows and all the programs?

you can also re-start explorer from the task-manager...bring it up, on the
'applications' tab there is a button that says 'new task'. click that,
enter explorer , then press enter. this should re-start the shell.

at this point, it will either crash again, or you will be able to keep
going at which point you can investigate further.

regards,

DanS

 

[Gerry Cornell]

Kelly

Does Urs's computer have internet access? Am I missing something but if
Ad-Aware SE, Spybot and HijackThis are not already on the computer won't
they have to be downloaded to another computer? Same applies to updating
definitions.

Ad-Aware and and HijackThis and definitions will fit onto a floppy but
Spybot would need a CD or pendrive. How about downloading Stinger onto
another computer, putting it on a floppy and running that first. With
that limited virus check and Adaware you might regain access to the
Desktop and the Internet making further cleaning much easier. Urs all
these programmes should be run in Safe mode.

http://download.nai.com/products/mcafee-avert/stinger.exe

Please forgive me for butting in but I had two local cases recently
where getting the tools to the job was a problem.


--


Regards.

Gerry

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA

Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Guest]

Dear Kelly

Thanks for your tips. Actually with the help of HijackThis and a lot of
searching the web I could solve the issue and the PC works again.
Thanks again for your help.
Regards

Urs

 

[KWW]

Question, did that actually occur after automatic updates downloaded the
latest security patches? I have a virus free, spyware free XP Pro system
that did the same thing right after I did the update. Explorer did not
start, however, so it started Firefox to point me to the MS Website with a
statement something like "we don't know what the cause of the problem is,
but it probably can be fixed by downloading SP2..." Given that I had
already installed SP2, I found this mindly amusing. Explorer wouldn't come
up in SAFE mode either.... so I could only run things from the Task
Manager's "New Task" option.

Finally I was able to restore (using command line start) and went to the
point before the last patch.

Note: during the patch install, one of the patches failed (MS.......79, I
believe). All of the other 9 successfully installed.

Glad to hear that you got things running!