Infected computer: can't open applications, internet explorer problems

My computer's been infected with some sort of virus/malware.

I'm not sure exactly what virus I have now, but I can't open any programs, except for Internet Explorer. If I double-click on Word or Excel, it comes up with a this error: "Application not found". However, I can go into my documents and open up a word or excel file and have the program open up that way. But trying to open it through the start menu or desktop doesn't work.

I can open and use IE, but when I open IE, it comes up with a message box every time that says "Your last session ended unexpectedly -- Reopen old session or go to homepage?" And that message comes up every time, no matter if it's the first time I'm opening IE or the 10th. If I click go to home page, it brings me to my home page. But, my homepage is Google and anytime I search for something on Google, if I click the link directly, a spam ad-page will open up in a new window. But, if I right-click the link and click "open like in new tab", I can open the link successfully. This happens for all pages, ESPN, CNN, etc. I can access any web site if I click on it from my favorites tab. Those sites open up fine. The only problem occurs when I click a link from google, it re-directs me to another spam page.

I also can't open the control panel or anything else like that (date/time, calendar, security settings). Every time I try to do that, it says "C:\WINDOWS\system32\rundll32.exe Application not found". I've read things online about the rundll32.exe becoming corrupt from a virus and basically ruining your computer, but I'm not sure exactly what I can do to fix it.

I've downloaded Malwarebytes and when I tried to run it, the box came up that said "choose the program you want to open this file with." It's the same thing that comes up when I try to open pretty much any kind of application, aside from IE. Any type of application I download, this happens to. I can download and save applications to my desktop or wherever with no problem, but when I try to open them, it says I need to "choose the program you want to open this file with" and it lists IE, itunes, notepad, etc. as the programs I can open the program with. So obviously, there's a problem there too, because I can't even run Malwarebytes or any other malware cleaning program. Something is preventing these applications from running.

I should also mention that when I go to the Task Manager (ctrl+alt+del), and look at the processes running, there are like 7 or 8 iexplore.exe processes running when I only have 1 IE window open. These extra iexplore.exe's often have memory usages that run very high. It seems as though some IE things are running even though I can't see them and are eating up memory at the same time. Even if I go through and delete all the iexplore.exe processes, they pop back up just as quickly as I delete them, making it basically impossible to get rid of them all.

I'm stuck because I can't open/run any programs that would seem to help clean up this mess.

I've gone through the READ AND RUN ME and there are several things I can't do.

-I removed all the old Java updates and downloaded the newest versioun, but once again, I can't open/run the program.
-I have some temporary internet files in my recycle bin and it won't let me delete that folder. It says: "Cannot remove folder Dc3: the directory is not empty".
-I downloaded and saved to my desktop CCleaner, but when I try to run it, it says "choose the program you want to open this file with."
-I can't open MSconfig. Even if I type it into Start/Run, it comes up with the "choose the program you want to open this file with".

I've looked through the list of malware you have in the READ AND RUN ME, but none of that shows up in the task manager.

I hope I've given you a detailed enough description of what my problems are. Hope you can help!

 

I've answered your questions below, with my responses in bold.

Thanks for getting back to me and I hope this information can help. Please let me know what to try next. Thanks again.

 

Sorry, for some reason I assumed you were asking if I had run all my virus scans. I did attempt to run all the scans you recommended, but none of them worked.

I couldn't open/run any of these new recommendations either.

I downloaded AVPFind.bat to the desktop, but when I double-click it, it comes up with the "Open With" box and says "choose the program you want to use to open this file". It lists IE, iTunes, Word, Excel, etc. as options. Clearly those aren't going to help.

I also downloaded exeHelper to the desktop and double-clicked it, but I got the same "Open With" box as happened when I tried to open AVPFind.bat. It seems that this box appears whenever I try to run anything I download. It's done it for every program I've downloaded that you (and your site) has recommended. This includes CCleaner, MGTools, etc.

When I try to run the Super Anti-Spyware Oline Scan, it also comes up with the "Open With" box when I click run.

I've downloaded MGTools to my C: drive but when I double-click it, it comes up with the "Open With" box.

Sadly, none of the programs will run, so I don't have any logs to attach. The only thing that has worked so far was ESET's Online Scanner that you recommended earlier and I attached that log in my last post.

Maybe not being able to run any of these programs will help? I hope.

Thanks again for you help. Keep it coming please!

 

1. Task manager opens no problem, but there isn't wscript.exe or autorun.exe running. There are however, several (3 to 4, sometimes more) iexplore.exe running. Not sure if that helps at all, but it started doing that after I started having all these problems.

2. When I enter 'cmd' into the Start-->Run, it comes up with the "Open With" box that says "choose the program you want to use to open this file". So I can't do anything with the command prompt.

3. Command prompt doesn't work.

4. Not sure exactly what you mean by hard disk drive/partitions, but I'm assuming it to be how many drives I have? If so, I have a C: drive and a DVD-RW Drive, which is a D: drive.

5. I've used USB flash drives before, but not particulary often. None in several months at least. But I do have some lying around the house, maybe 1 or 2. When I use them, they come up as Removable Disk E: drive.

Hope that's what you were asking for. If not, let me know.

Thanks

 

I'm running Internet Explorer 8, and as I'm typing this there are 5 iexplore.exe's running under the processes tab in the task manager. Before I even opened IE for the first time after starting up the computer, there were already 2 iexplore.exe's running.

In safe mode with command prompt:

- Typing dir /ah C:\autorun.* came up with this in the command prompt:
Volume in drive C has no label
Volume Serial Number is 10FC-5CE8
Directory of C:\
File not found

- Typing regedit successfully opened up the registry.

- When I typed mb.exe (I re-named MalwareBytes' mb.exe as you recommended FYI) it came up and tried to install it. All was going well until it came to the 'Finishing installation' part. When it said that, something in it froze. I could still move my mouse but I couldn't click anything. I let it sit for about 5 minutes and nothing happened. I CTRL-Shift-ESC to bring up the task manager and I ended the installation process. I tried to run it again, and this time it froze on the 'Extracting files' part. Neither time did it successfully install or allow me to run anything.

- When I typed mgtools.exe, it came up with the "Open With" box and said "choose the program you would like to use to open this file". After I closed that window, this error message came up: "Failed to run GetLogs.bat, working dir=\MGtools (check to see if this file is in the EXE)." So that wouldn't run either.

After I restarted the computer in normal mode, when I logged in, it said that I had a new program installed in the Start Menu, and it was MalwareBytes'. But if I go to click on it to run it, it comes up with the "Open With" box. Also, there are no files or anything saved in the C:\ drive where I told it to save it to during the beginning of the installation.

 

Ran what you told me to do in the Command Prompt. The flist.txt is attached.

Thanks

 

I've read up a bit on the Recovery Console and started going through the directions on the link you gave me.

I have the Windows XP installation CD and I tried to get Windows XP Recovery Console to show up in the start menu. To do this, I followed the instructions and inserted the XP CD and going to Start-->Run and typing D:\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons where D: is my CD-Rom drive. When I do this, it comes up with the famous "Choose the program you want to use to open this file". So, I can't even get Recovery Console installed on my computer.

If there is an alternate way to install Recovery Console, I'll try that. If there isn't, what are my next options?

 

Ok, I don't really have much data on this computer and would be okay with just re-installing Windows XP and starting from scratch.

Is that a realistic option here? And would that cure what is wrong with my computer? I feel like that would be much easier to do from my situation right now.

FYI, my computer came with XP pre-installed by the OEM, so do I not have a product key that is needed to successfully re-install XP? I am currently running XP SP 3, but the re-install CD is XP SP 2. I have the CD of disks and drivers too. Also, I have the Dell CFI CD Restore Disk that came with the computer. Not sure if that would be of any help.

Please let me know which is the best route to take. Like I said, I don't have any problem with re-installing XP and wiping my computer clean to fix this issue. It seems like the easiest route. If doing that will or will not get rid of whatever's infected my computer, please let me know.

Thanks again for everything.