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System restore problem in XP

Lukraak_Sisser

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Aug 20, 2009
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Hi all,

My GF's computer suddenly started developing some glitches, that do not appear to be virus related (at least, Avast finds nothing).
I tried to system restore to see if that would help, but whenever I try to access the Help and Support menu, nothing happens. Attempting to access this menu or system restore from either the normal command prompt, or the safe mode command promt either does nothing or pops an empty window.

I have no claims to being computer savvy, does this sound familiar to anyone and does anyone have a clue on how I should do this? I don't particularly want to reinstall windows and every single program. So I was hoping there is another way :)
 
Sounds like she didn't have system restore turned on. Its an easy mistake to make. When cleaning many viruses/trojans you need to turn off system restore to eliminate the virus/trojan in the restore data. Its easy to forget to turn it back on.

But.. what kind of glitches? There are LOTS of trojans/malware that are regularly bypassed by antivirus programs. You should not rely on just an antivirus; you should use an adware/malware tool, too.

ETA: when friends and family ask for help with strange glitches I almost always end up here: Majorgeeks Malware Removal Guide
 
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Hmmm the glitches mainly seem to be XP related.
As I said, the Help menu refuses to open, as does the system restore, or if they open they only show a blank window
The windows search function shows a window with the little doggy, a blue bar and a white square, but again has lost its functionality. There is no way to actually get it to search.
Some of her programs suddenly stop responding, but I've not been able to find a pattern in that.

The problems persist in safe mode, so I personally am afraid that the registry has screwed up somewhere somehow. I'll give the things shown here a try and I've looked at a few things while here at work, so I can try to play with that.
But I'm afraid I'm gonna have to wipe and re-install.
I woulnd't mind so much, but it also means re-installing the network and the browsers and the.....
Oh well
 
Ohhh.. the search function can also get disabled or corrupted. You can restore that if you have the XP install CDs:
click START-RUN... and type in "c:\windows\inf" and hit enter

This should open the inf folder. Right-click on the file called "srchasst.inf" and select "install". Plug in the XP CD when prompted.

This will install the missing/corrupted file for the search option and it should start working again.

But, I agree - this search problem smells more like a symptom than a cause. There are bits of malware known to disable the search, help and yes the "run" functions. If you try the above and cannot get to the START-RUN... then you can be pretty sure its a malware infection and you should be able to clean it up with the majorgeeks link, above.
 
maduro, wiping and re installing seems more effective to me. Repairing would be my priority if it is a resource that I can't stop. But it seems to be a personal PC. Clean installing is cooler :p
 
Yeah, AD, you're probably right. Ultimately a complete wipe may be quicker and easier.. but where's the challenge? ;)
 
Best to backup any important files and format/fdisk and reinstall. You'll probably save yourself a lot of hassles down the road. Could be many things causing that. Sounds like possibly corrupt files.
 
I know I know, wipe and re-install is probably faster, but these things I could try in the evenings and hopefully have it up and running again.

It failed, there is no detectable malware or virus and those few things I found that play in the registry did nothing either. But thanks for the help.

The problem is that a full wipe/reinstall is not something I want to do in the evening after work when I'm grouchy and impatient, so it will have to wait till the weekend :)
Just installed the stuff she needs to do to make her artwork and websites on my game comp for the time being
 
madurobob said:
Yeah, AD, you're probably right. Ultimately a complete wipe may be quicker and easier.. but where's the challenge? ;)
Click to expand...

If you want a challenge you should install linux dual boot, and use only text mode. That's a challenge :p Now, challenge is tweaking windows for two hours, and deciding to buy a new computer because of it, and then facing twelve hours to tweak W7. Which I plan to do in december :)
 
Arthur Denton said:
Now, challenge is tweaking windows for two hours, and deciding to buy a new computer because of it, and then facing twelve hours to tweak W7. Which I plan to do in december :)
Click to expand...

:) Yikes, over a month advance planning and 12 hours "wet work" - that does sound like a fun challenge!
 
This does sound a bit like a virus I found the other day on a friend's computer.

Malwarebytes found it, iirc, where other programs did not.

Disabling your search and system restore is a sign of a virus. Is the internet browser suffering redirects?
 
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No. At least nothing obvious. There is no real detectable network traffic either. At least nothing that stands out.
IE is actually not working at all, and the media player from windows stopped working too, but firefox and chrome work fine.
I'll give your link a shot, but I'm kinda planning to spend my saturday re installing.
 
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