.exe file associations screwed

Hi Peeps,

Been having a lot of problems with the in laws PC as they keep getting viruses I have had to clean it about three times so far and it has got to the point that the various infections have done so much damage to the OS that it needs wiping and re-installing which I am going to do at the weekend so I am not worried about try to fix what is discribed below but I am curious as to how it may have come about.

They are running Windows Vista and basically the file associations for .exe files have gone screwy. When they try to run some applications they get the "please choose what application you want to open with" box appear with Windows Explorer the only option available. I have done a bit of tweeking and ran CCleaner to try and fix any broken registry entries and now it just says that there is no programme association for .exe and terminates.

There are two strange things though.

1. Internet Explorer would start from the start menu without issue but the desktop shortcut and quick start shortcut would both fail even though they point to the same location?

2. If you right click and choose "Run as Administrator" the programmes run fine?

I have no explanation for point 1 but I suspect that point 2 can be answered if the file associations are stored in the local user section of the registry. ie if you double click the icon it picks up the association from the logged on user, but if you choose run as administrator it uses the associations as defined in the administrator user account?

Like I say I'm not going to try and fix it as a clean install is on the cards but I just want to know why?

Any input appreciated.

 

Hi TimW,

Thanks for the links. There is some good stuff there that I will keep hold of. Unfortunately my sister in law has some bad browsing habbits and like installing alll the smiley add ons and youtube downloaders and other malware laced junk. I have had to clean her laptop twice and the family desktop twice so far. They have had lop infections, coolwebsearch, search assistant and a whole load of other stuff on there. The desktop is running reduculously slow still with no active malware trace remaining (at least avast, spybot and MBAM show as clean) They have also had loads of software installed and uninstalled and a corrupt user profile. Given the length of time it will take to get it back in shape it will be quicker for me to wipe and re-install.

Unfortunately there are no install disks but I think that there is an image on the ghost partition. If I cant get it re-installed Ill post back again.

Thank you