Hi. This happened today. It might be a virus but i'm not sure.
Some of my registry keys were changed today. I got a report from my lavasoft ad-watch asking if i would allow those changes to be made. I'm always very careful with that, but since i wasn't even online at that time and i didn't open any suspicious file for a long time, i allowed it. This problem didn't happen right away, but things are probably related. After some time, while i was changing my iconset with a program i've used for a long time, the computer crashed and i got the blue screen saying something was wrong with the win2k file (i'm not sure, i don't quite remember), and the system would have to reboot. The next time i turned the computer on, this was like this.
I can't open .exe files directly, but i can open them if i click in editable files. For instance, i can't open Microsoft Word clicking on it, but i can open a .doc file. I can't open Internet Explorer, but i can open it if i click in a .htm file. It has nothing to do with the shortcuts because if i go to the program's folder and click directly on the .exe file, it doesn't open anyway.
I have tried everything, I've googled for more than an hour, and i was able to find a solution. I got a registry key from microsoft that fixes it:
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe]
@="exefile"
"Content Type"="application/x-msdownload"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe\PersistentHandler]
@="{098f2470-bae0-11cd-b579-08002b30bfeb}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile]
@="Application"
"EditFlags"=hex:38,07,00,00
"TileInfo"="prop:FileDescription;Company;FileVersi on"
"InfoTip"="prop:FileDescription;Company;FileVersio n;Create;Size"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\DefaultIcon]
@="%1"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open]
"EditFlags"=hex:00,00,00,00
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open\command]
@="\"%1\" %*"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\runas]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\runas\command]
@="\"%1\" %*"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\DropHandler]
@="{86C86720-42A0-1069-A2E8-08002B30309D}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHan dlers]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHan dlers\PEAnalyser]
@="{09A63660-16F9-11d0-B1DF-004F56001CA7}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHan dlers\PifProps]
@="{86F19A00-42A0-1069-A2E9-08002B30309D}"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHan dlers\ShimLayer Property Page]
@="{513D916F-2A8E-4F51-AEAB-0CBC76FB1AF8}"
It didn't work in the beginning because of one single key that couldn't be edited: the [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe] was empty and even if i changed it manually, it wouldn't work, it would keep being empty. So i found a twisted solution: i deleted the key and created a new one. And it worked. I could finally click on my icons, shortcuts or applications, and they would open normally. But if i rebooted the computer, the whole thing would be like in the beginning, the problem would remain. This is the way it is now. I have to repeat the proceadure every time i start my computer.
There is a weird detail: sometimes, when i turn the computer on, right before the "welcome" message, i get a huge dialog box saying only "?a" with the ok button and the close button. If i click the close buton nothing will happen, so i have to click ok to keep going. This doesn't happen every time, but almost.
There's one more thing. My KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre nt Version\Run key is totally empty. I had a bunch of programs that should run with the system and they're no longer there.
I use Kaspersky Anti-virus 6 and Lavasoft Ad-aware and none of them detects any virus or spyware.
This is really messed up and i have no idea what i can do. If someone could help me i would really appreciate it. Thank you.
