Programs & Documents Empty In Start XP

joe berg · Jun 4, 2011

There is someone less computer literate than me ! My cousins laptop is an old Compaq which seems to have got a nasty dose of something. The screen was empty and black. In the start menu all the programs and documents appear to be empty.It would not start in safe mode. I ran Combofix and the result is that I have the blue screen with bare essential icons, recycle bin, IE My Comp My Network places , My Docs (empty ) and a notepad titled "catchme" when opened it reads

File " C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\volsnap.sys" added successfully
File list cleared

The All Programs remains empty

I have tried several restores but none work.

Any Ideas from the Great and the Good ??

Joe

TimW · Jun 4, 2011

I am going to move your thread to the malware forum. Please download and save the below to your Desktop or anywhere else you can find it ( if the Desktop is not showing )

http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/grinler/unhide.exe

Now run it. Now see if you can find your Programs and how are the icons on the Desktop looking?

joe berg · Jun 4, 2011

This is why Major Geeks is the supreme forum. Everything back to normal ( though he has a lot of junk which will have to go ) Thanks a lot TimW

TimW · Jun 4, 2011

You are quite welcome. However, this infection usually comes with other files that need to be removed, so you would be well advised to run out cleaning procedures:

READ & RUN ME FIRST. Malware Removal Guide

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Programs & Documents Empty In Start XP

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TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

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Programs & Documents Empty In Start XP

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TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

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