Re: wounded XP


"wyocowboy" <wyocowboy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:F1616678-283D-40E6-849C-39B3BFC1A5E1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Customer brought in a XP Home SP2 system that is doing some rather strange
things. For starters, the Start button is missing. The system does respond
to
the Windows key by presenting the start menu, but the only thing showing
in
the left column is All Programs, and the only thing showing in the right
hand
column is My Documents. Where the other common elements should be (Control
Panel, Search, etc), there is nothing but start menu background. Browsing
All
Programs shows most things, minus the icons. In Explorer and Internet
Explorer, File, View, Tools, etc do not appear. Again, there is just blank
background color.

When I try to run any mmc, I get a message saying that "the application
has
failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect" and it
suggests using regsvr32 to register an associated dll, but attempting this
returns the same sort of error message. Attempting to run regedit and most
other applications returns the same sort of error. For applications that
do
run, no button shows up on the task bar.

After running a repair reinstall of xp and finding no joy, I ran a couple
relevant vbs scripts from Kelly'sCorner but these had little effect. I
booted
w/BartPE, loaded the machine's registry and checked some of the applicable
reg fixes from his site and all seems well with respect to that.

The machine had been working fine until the other day when the customer
saw
the screen saver "in use and locked" prompt, hit OK to go back in and
found
that things weren't working.

While in BartPE, I ran hijackthis and did not see anything suspicious
except
for something called HookupFinder. Google did not reveal that this is
malware, but disabling it made no difference. Since AutoRuns won't run on
this machine, I haven't been able to peer more deeply into what is running
behind the scenes.

Anyone seen this before and/or know how to fix it, short of a clean
reinstall?

I would recommend booting to safe mode (if you can) run vcleaner.exe (see
link below). Also run another good antivirus app in safe mode with a deep
scan.

Uninstall the screensaver! Screensavers are cutesy crap that is totally
unnecessary since the evolutionary leap from CRTs to TFT and LCD monitors.

Do a general cleanup (e.g., internet temps, .tmp files, recycle bin, etc.).

Do a repair install of XP if necessary.

Vcleaner
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/28628/lng/us/tpl/v5

Symantec Removal Tools
http://www.symantec.com/enterprise/security_response/removaltools.jsp?src=symsug_us

Mark






.

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