Re: wounded XP

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"Poprivet" wrote:

Mark F. wrote:
"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

You're accepting computers for repair and haven 't run a suite of
disk/virus/malware/hack/health scans?

In order to run an AV/malware/hack scan from within XP, you have to be able
to run an .exe. As I mentioned in my post, most .exe will not run, and
programs will not install. Slaving a drive to another system and running a
scan is a poor substitute, in my experience, because it cannot inspect the
registry of the target OS. The only way I can get an exe to run is if I boot
w/BartPE. I don't know of any BartPE plugin for Autoruns, do you?

I would suggest you farm that out to someone with more knowledge than you
have.

I've been doing this for a living for about 20 years, Pop, I would suggest
that you refrain from making judgements where you are obviously not qualified.

.

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