Programs not opening.

[Bean92]

Howdy,

When I booted up my computer this morning none of my programs opened upon start-up. This is also the case when trying to open anything from my desktop or from the start menu. The only programs that open are VLC media player and my anti-virus software. I can also open My Computer and all my documents. Non of my internet browsers work.

I have spend the last hour searching internet forums for people with the same problem and tried the solutions that had been given but nothing worked.

System restore does no open through control panel or through start - accessories. I read that it can be opened through safe mode with command prompt. However, I cannot boot my computer with start mode. (I hold F8 as the computer is booting up.)

My computer did have some serious malware problems yesterday and I did find a trojan. However, I cleaned it with Avast and Malwarebytes and the computer was working fine afterwards.

I do not have the windows XP recovery CD but I could borrow it from a friend but I would rather not.

Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Thanks, Bean.

[peterb]

My first thoughts would be that in clearing out the malware you (or the malware) has damaged a system file. That would not necessarily affect the machine at the time if the code was resident in memory.

I can't offer any specific advice as how to fix it - other than to suggest a re-install. It may be possible to fix without, others may be able to advise you.

BTW - welcome to Hexus!

[Bean92]

Thanks for the welcome .

I managed to open Malwarebytes and from looking at what is quarantined there is a couple of worms in my windows files, trojans in my system32 files and loads of registry keys :|. I guess I should of scanned more often.

Perhaps I could perhaps restore some of the files and see if it resolves the problem? But then I would have to put up with the trojan opening up a Antivirus website telling me to purchase their product :/.

I also went into CMOS and tried to load fail-safe defaults hoping it would do something but nothing changed.

How would I go about reinstalling everything if I cant open anything if that was the only option?

BTW my computer also freezes on shut down so I have to turn it off at the wall.

[peterb]

Get a windows install disk and run it from that. You will need your original licence serial number though - you bought the PC with windows installed, the licence should be fixed to the case of your computer.

[vinnyT]

You've hit on a fairly common pratice with malware coders these days. They often associate their malware code with the OS's system files, with the result, as you have found, on removal the whole OS is borked.

You may be able to repair the damage, if you have a full OS cd boot from this and select repair, it may work but if not, your only course is to format and re-install. Hope you have backups of your data.

[jim]

Just to say, it certainly isn't too late to make backups. Running UBCD4Win or similar should enable you to ship all of the necessary data out to an external drive before formatting.

[Bean92]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I'm not really that bothered about loosing data as there isn't really anything that important. I don't actually have the XP disc yet but I will be able to get my hands on one this weekend.

However, when I press F12 and go to the boot menu when I start up the PC it doesn't let me choose "boot from CD for example". The keyboard stops working for some reason but it works fine if on CMOS and stuff. I don't have the Gigabyte recovery CD either because I'm using my brothers old motherboard and he lost it at uni.

How would I be able to repair/reformat my PC otherwise? If at all?

[jim]

Is it a USB keyboard or PS/2?

[vinnyT]

On my keyboard to enter the bios, I have to press the f-Lock key to engage the f-keys, maybe it is similar on yours.

[Bean92]

Its a USB keyboard but I use a PS/2 adapter thingy.

Is it possible to reformat my PC without using an XP disc?

[Shaunbarlow]

you can see if Spybot- Search & Destroy will download and load, then give it a run to check for any spyware. then run a full virus scan, disk cleanup and maybe a defragment.

If you have any overclocks, reset them to stock.

Also - I think you will need your Disk to reformat, since the reformat wipes your HDD and won't therefore detect any windows files for reinstalling trhe system.

Just remember to back up vital things