On Jun 28, 9:57 am, "Sue" <s...@wizardclassics.co.uk> wrote:
> Thanks to all for the advice. I am running norton antivirus, but had it
> turned off for a day or so as it interacted with another program i was
> trying to load.
What happens when you try to access the Internet from the afflicted
computer (besides you can't access the Internet)?
A "Cannot find...", "Cannot start..., "Cannot load...". "Could not
run..." Cannot run" "Error loading..." or
"specific module could not be found" message at startup is usually
related to malware that was set to run at startup but
the referenced file(s) has been deleted after a malware scan leaving
behind a registry entry pointing to a file
that does not exist.
It could be from a malicious software removal or an uninstalled
application. The entry may have a curious
looking name since it was probably generated at random when the
malware was installed.
Windows is trying to load this file but cannot locate it since the
file was mostly likely removed during an scan
for malicious software. However, an associated orphaned startup
parameter or registry entry remains and is telling
Windows to load the file when you boot up or login.
You need to remove the referenced entry so Windows stops trying to run
the file. It may or may not be in the
registry. Autoruns (see below) will find the item no matter where it
is.
If you just locate and uncheck the item in msconfig, that disables the
item but does not remove the reference to
the bogus startup item from your computer. The msconfig program is
not a startup manager, it is a troubleshooting
tool. Disabling things in msconfig and thinking your problem is
resolved is the lazy mans solution (or the
uninformed mans solution) and leaves you with a sloppy XP
configuration.
If you are comfortable editing the registry you can search for and
remove the reference from or remove it using a
popular third party tool called Autoruns.
Before making any changes to your registry by hand or with third party
tools, be sure to make a backup of the registry
first. There is no undo or quit without saving option in regedit.
Here is a link to a popular registry backup tool:
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/
Autoruns does not install anything on your computer. It will display
all of the startup locations where the reference
might be so you can disable it or delete it completely. Here is the
download link for Autoruns:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx
Launch Autoruns.exe and wait for it to finish populating the list of
entries.
When Autoruns is finished scanning your system, it will say "Ready" at
the bottom left corner. Autoruns can be a
little intimidating at first if you have never see it before since it
displays a lot of information. You are really
only interested in a couple sections.
The problem item is usually in the usually the system startup or user
startup entries so click the Logon tab.
Scroll through the list and look for a startup entry related to the
file(s) in the error message.
If you don't find it there, look for it in the Everything tab.
Right-click on the offending entry and choose to delete it. If you
are not sure what it is, you can disable it,
reboot and if the issue is resolved, then delete the offending entry.
If you don't see it in Autoruns you may
have to edit the registry and remove the item from the Startup folder
there. Autoruns should display the same
information though.
Since you had or have an infection, follow up with this:
Perform some scans for malicious software, then fix any remaining
issues:
Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware
detection programs:
Malwarebytes (MBAM):
http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS):
http://www.superantispyware.com/
They can be uninstalled later if desired.
Reboot your computer and troubleshoot remaining issues.
