.EXE files don't work after killing virus - Windows XP

Hi, I have Windows XP. Today I got the virus XP Antivirus 2012- don't ask me how.

Anyway, AVG and Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware didn't work to get rid of it, so I downloaded SUPERAntiSpyware. It found a whole bunch of stuff and required that I restart my computer in order to fix things, which I did, but upon restarting, my computer had problems and I had to open it in safe mode and then restart again.

This time, the virus *appears* to be gone, but now I can't open .EXE files (it prompts an "Open With" window). I would do a System Restore, but that prompts that window as well, and I don't know how to access it. Help?

 

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/chaslang/files/EXEfix.inf - Right click, save as. Save to your desktop.

Right mouse click, Install

 

At the moment, I can open firefox by saying to open it with firefox, but my internet now isn't working, and the icon at the bottom right that I usually click on to reconnect disappeared when this all went down, so... yeah....

 

Have you been through the READ & RUN ME FIRST thread on the malware removal forums?

 

I don't believe I have malware anymore. I think what happened was that when the viruses were deleted, other necessary components were deleted as well.

 

I've used http://www.dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm

scroll down to the .exe repair tool

**not a geek expert here - just experienced the same issue helping someone else** I'd still follow the scans and have them take a look - it's amazing how deep some of these viruses and rootkits go....

 

this could work too. both fix .exe file associations.

 

Download DougKnox's EXE fix to the computer you are on now.
Unzip it and you will get an xp_exe_fix.reg file.
Copy that file to a USB flash drive or CD and then put that USB/CD into the broken computer, then from the desktop right-click the xp_exe_fix.reg file and select Merge. Say Ok to warning and your programs(.exe files) should begin to run again.

 

Thank you so much, sach2- it worked! I wish I could thank you a thousand times!

 

Ok, did it but when the computer reboots the exe files don't work again? No virus or malware found on computer. :cry Thanks for any help.

 

I'd suggest running through the READ & RUN ME FIRST thread on the malware removal forums.

 

If you used SuperAntiSpyware then uninstall it. I believe one version has a problem with some XP installations and exe file associations. (My guess is SAS is running at startup.)