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Every shortcut on my desktop lost its personal graphic. Word 2007 has to be associated with Winword.

C

Cymbal Man Freq.

Flightless Bird
Every shortcut on my desktop lost its personal graphic.

Word 2007 has to be associated with Winword.exe everytime.

Even my Roxio Creator icon when clicked has to be reassociated with it's exe
program. There is a real bug going around when 2 separate machines from
different households get some of the same .exe problems the same night.



I don't have McAfee, I have Norton 360. This stuff crept up on me in the
last few hours. I don't have any critical updates waiting for me when I shut
down next time.
 
C

Cymbal Man Freq.

Flightless Bird
"Cymbal Man Freq." <disasterpastor45@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:uw0zzBr4KHA.5548@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Every shortcut on my desktop lost its personal graphic.
>
> Word 2007 has to be associated with Winword.exe everytime.
>
> Even my Roxio Creator icon when clicked has to be reassociated with it's
> exe program. There is a real bug going around when 2 separate machines
> from different households get some of the same .exe problems the same
> night.
>
>
>
> I don't have McAfee, I have Norton 360. This stuff crept up on me in the
> last few hours. I don't have any critical updates waiting for me when I
> shut down next time.
>


It seems like almost all if not all of my .exe file associations have
totally lost it. No regular program will start up properly.
 
C

Cymbal Man Freq.

Flightless Bird
Fix for .exe & .lnk failure

I tried this fix and it fixed my .exe dislocation but my icons are not yet
fixed with their original designs. Maybe a reboot will fix that?
********************************************************

http://securitygarden.blogspot.com/2006/12/ad-watch-setting-can-kill-lnk-and-exe.html

Since Lavasoft's Ad-Aware SE was released in August, 2004, licensed users of
the Plus and Professional software have had a problem when using the
Automatic setting with the election to "Lock executable file associations"
in Ad-Watch. With that setting, Ad-Watch automatically blocks registry
changes to the file associations when new software is installed or updated.
The unfortunate result is the loss of the use of, at minimum, the .lnk and
..exe file extensions. (The LNK/.lnk extension is for shortcuts.) This can
also occur with the "Lock executable file associations" setting and the user
allows Ad-Watch to block the changes.



Having provided help with this problem several times recently, I have
decided to address the problem and solution here. To start, realize that
Ad-Watch is doing precisely as the user settings are designated. With that
understanding, comes knowledge of the correct steps in the future.

From the Ad-Aware SE Help file:

"You can lock the startup sections of your registry, block possible and
actual browser hijack attempts, block suspicious processes, lock executable
file associations, Block malicious cookies, block Pop-ups, and uses the all
new CSI technology to protect you from unknown variants as well. Even if
Ad-Watch is turned off and something DOES install onto your system, it will
recognize it and will kill the process as soon as it has seen it when turned
back on." {Emphasis added.}

The above-described automatic action will occur only if you have Ad-Watch
set to Automatic. When the Automatic setting is turned off, Ad-Watch will
prompt you to accept or block the change. Although it may seem "painful"
responding to numerous prompts when you are installing or updating software,
it is important to realize that we are each ultimately responsible for our
computer, not Lavasoft, Microsoft, Zone Alarm, McAfee, Norton, or any other
software program, whether it be licensed or freeware. As a result, turning
off "Automatic" will not only keep this from happening again, it will also
make you aware of changes being made to your computer's registry while you
are installing software.

Note: If you are NOT installing software and Ad-Watch pops up with a
warning, check it out carefully because in that situation you may not want
to allow the change!

In the event you have lost use of the .exe, .lnk and other file
associations, there is a solution that combines the Windows XP File
Associations created by Doug Knox with a script created by "Appetiser", a
co-member of the former Team Lavasoft at the original Lavasoft Support
Forums. This script has been used countless times with complete success.



IMPORTANT NOTE
The following instructions are provided "AS IS"
with no warranties and confer no rights.


To make things easy to navigate I would suggest creating a new folder called
C:/regfixes. Then browse to Doug Knox web site and download all the file
association fixes from for file types you are having problems with to the
C:/regfixes folder. The following are the most common files needed. Select
any others from the website that you need.

COM File Association Fix
EXE File Association Fix
LNK (Shortcut) File Association Fix
REG File Association Fix


You may also want to review the following additional references:

a.. Kelly's Korner, HOW TO: Specify the Program Used to Open Certain File
Types
b.. Kelly's Korner, Line 146, Retrieve the Class Name for a File Extension
c.. Microsoft Knowledge Base Article, HOW TO: Specify the Program Used to
Open Certain Types of Files in Windows XP
Instructions:

First, make sure "Automatic" is turned off. Right mouse click the Ad-Watch
icon in the system tray and select "Restore Ad-Watch". At the bottom of the
Ad-Watch window make sure automatic is not checked; i.e., it is a red X.





Next, you will need to restore the .exe file association.

a.. In Notepad create a new file and copy/paste all the text below:
' VBScript to restore .exe file association with Windows XP
Option Explicit

Dim strComputer
Dim objRegistry,objDictionary

strComputer = "."
Set objRegistry=GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" &_
strComputer & "\root\default:StdRegProv")

Set objDictionary = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
objDictionary.Add "HKCR",&h80000000

Call RegAddString( "HKCR", ".exe", "", "exefile")
Call RegAddString( "HKCR", ".exe", "Content Type",_
"application/x-msdownload" )
Call RegAddString( "HKCR", ".exe\PersistentHandler", "",_
"{098f2470-bae0-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}" )
Call RegAddString( "HKCR", "exefile", "", "Application" )
Call RegAddBinary( "HKCR", "exefile", "EditFlags", "38,07,00,00" )
Call RegAddString( "HKCR", "exefile", "TileInfo",_
"prop:FileDescription;Company;FileVersion" )
Call RegAddString( "HKCR", "exefile", "InfoTip",_
"prop:FileDescription;Company;FileVersion;Create;Size" )
Call RegAddString( "HKCR", "exefile\DefaultIcon", "", "%1" )
Call RegAddString( "HKCR", "exefile\shell", "", "" )
Call RegAddString( "HKCR", "exefile\shell\open", "", "" )
Call RegAddBinary( "HKCR", "exefile\shell\open",_
"EditFlags", "00,00,00,00" )
Call RegAddString( "HKCR", "exefile\shell\open\command", "",_
Chr(34) & "%1" & Chr(34) & Space(1) & "%*" )
Call RegAddString( "HKCR", "exefile\shell\runas", "", "" )
Call RegAddString( "HKCR", "exefile\shell\runas\command", "",_
Chr(34) & "%1" & Chr(34) & Space(1) & "%*" )
Call RegAddString( "HKCR", "exefile\shellex", "", "" )
Call RegAddString( "HKCR", "exefile\shellex\DropHandler",_
"", "{86C86720-42A0-1069-A2E8-08002B30309D}" )
Call RegAddString( "HKCR", "exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers", "", "" )
Call RegAddString( "HKCR",
"exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\PifProps",_
"", "{86F19A00-42A0-1069-A2E9-08002B30309D}" )
Call RegAddString( "HKCR", "exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHandlers\ShimLayer
Property Page",_
"", "{513D916F-2A8E-4F51-AEAB-0CBC76FB1AF8}" )

Function RegKeyExists(rootkey, keypath)
Dim arrValueNames, arrValueTypes
If objRegistry.EnumValues(objDictionary(rootkey), keypath, arrValueNames,
arrValueTypes) = 0 Then
RegKeyExists = True
Else
RegKeyExists = False
End If
End Function

Sub RegAddKey(rootkey, keypath)
objRegistry.CreateKey objDictionary(rootkey),keypath
End Sub

Sub RegAddString(rootkey, keypath, valuename, valuedata)
If Not RegKeyExists(rootkey, keypath) Then
Call RegAddKey( rootkey, keypath )
End If
objRegistry.SetStringValue
objDictionary(rootkey),keypath,valuename,valuedata
End Sub

Sub RegAddBinary(rootkey, keypath, valuename, valuearray)
Dim arrValue(),arrHexValue,i,HexVal

arrHexValue = Split(Trim(valuearray),",")
i=0
For Each HexVal in arrHexValue
Redim Preserve arrValue(i)
arrValue(i) = "&h" & HexVal
i=i + 1
Next
objRegistry.SetBinaryValue objDictionary(rootKey),keypath,valuename,arrValue
Redim arrValue(0)
End Sub

a.. In Notepad, select file, select save.
b.. Under "Save In" use the pull-down menu and select C:/regfixes
c.. Name the file xp_exe_fix.vbs
d.. Under "Save as type" use the pull-down menu and select "All files"
Run the script and restore the registry keys associated with the exe file
type.

a.. Navigate to c:/regfixes and right mouse click on xp_exe_fix.vbs and
select Open.

Note: If you are running Ad-Watch, you must accept changes while this
script is running in order to update to the registry.
Now the .exe file association is restored you will be able to run
regedit.exe. Work through the file association fixes that you downloaded
above from Doug Knox's site.

a.. Press start, select run and enter the text: cmd
b.. Click OK, this will open a command window
c.. At the prompt in the command window enter the text in bold (please
note the spaces in the command text)

regedit /s c:/regfixes\xp_com_fix.reg

Note: adjust the path as appropriate to where you unzipped the reg files
a.. repeat the regedit command for the other reg files you may have:

xp_regfile.reg
linkfile_fix.reg
etc.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~



Reminder:

With Ad-Watch it is vital you accept any changes that may be alerted by
Ad-Watch when merging these files.



~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~



Note:

If your EXE file associations are corrupted, it can be difficult to open
REGEDIT, or to even import REG files. To work around this, do the following:

· Press CTRL-ALT-DEL to open Task Manager

· Click File, then hold down the CTRL key and click New Task (Run).

This will open a Command Prompt window. Enter REGEDIT.EXE and press Enter.
(Thanks to Nigel Andrews for this tip.)





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
J

John Wunderlich

Flightless Bird
Re: Fix for .exe & .lnk failure

"Cymbal Man Freq." <disasterpastor45@gmail.com> wrote in
news:#JfE28r4KHA.4888@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl:

> I tried this fix and it fixed my .exe dislocation but my icons are
> not yet fixed with their original designs. Maybe a reboot will fix
> that? ********************************************************
>


Your best bet to restore things back to normal is to do a System
Restore to a time before your problem occurred.
Start->Programs->Accessories->Systems Tools->System Restore

HTH,
John
 
C

Cymbal Man Freq.

Flightless Bird
Re: Fix for .exe & .lnk failure

"John Wunderlich" <jwunderlich@lycos.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9D638449F9153wunderpsdrscray@138.125.254.103...
> "Cymbal Man Freq." <disasterpastor45@gmail.com> wrote in
> news:#JfE28r4KHA.4888@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl:
>
>> I tried this fix and it fixed my .exe dislocation but my icons are
>> not yet fixed with their original designs. Maybe a reboot will fix
>> that? ********************************************************
>>

>
> Your best bet to restore things back to normal is to do a System
> Restore to a time before your problem occurred.
> Start->Programs->Accessories->Systems Tools->System Restore
>
> HTH,
> John


A reboot fixed my icons. Restore wouldn't fix this problem IMHO.
 
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