Can not find ANY .exe files when trying to start Application

GFH · Apr 4, 2011

Morning all,

I had XP Total Security 2011. I believe it;s gone. I ran MBAM and SAS. I also had RKILL running before I ran MBAM.

I rebooted my machine and now whenever I try to start an application I get "APPLICATION NOT FOUND" or on some I get the "OPEN WITH" dialoque box.

If I get the OPEN WITH dialogue I scroll through and select the app name, for example if I want to open FIREFOX I will select FIREFOX. Firefox will then start and attempt to open the shortcut as a file and in this case ask me where I want to save the file.

If I try to start Adobe reader it will do the same thing and try to open the adobe.exe file as a PDF

This happens with anything with an EXE extension.

I tried running SYSTEM RESTORE but I can't get it to run either asks me what program I want to open it with.
ANy hints

dr.moriarty · Apr 4, 2011

Please verify that you have completed the below without having success before we try other steps:

Please download and run the below tool named Rkill (courtesy of BleepingComputer.com) which may help allow other programs to run.

There are 4 different versions. If one of them won't run then download and try to run the other one.

Vista and Win7 users need to right click and choose Run as Administrator

You only need to get one of them to run, not all of them. You may get warnings from your antivirus about this tool, ignore them or shutdown your antivirus.

Rkill.exe

Rkill.com

Rkill.scr

Rkill.pif

If you are having problems running Rkill, you can download iExplore.exe or eXplorer.exe, which are renamed copies of Rkill.com, and try them instead.

Once you've gotten one of them to run then try to immediately run the following.

Now download and Run exeHelper from Raktor

Please download exeHelper to your desktop.

Double-click on exeHelper.com to run the fix.

A black window should pop up, press any key to close once the fix is completed.

A log file named log.txt will be created in the directory where you ran exeHelper.com

Attach the log.txt file to your next message.

Note: If the window shows a message that says "Error deleting file", please re-run the program before posting a log - and post the two logs together (they will both be in the one file).

Now run this: Using Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

Now run this: SUPERAntiSpyware - running & getting a log

Now run this: Using MGtools

Now you need to attach (See: HOW TO: Attach Items To Your Post ) the below logs created while running the above scans

exeHelper log

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware log

SUPERAntiSpyware log

MGlogs.zip - normally it is C:\MGlogs.zip - only attach this log from MGtools.exe DO NOT attach any logs seen in the MGtools folder.

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Can not find ANY .exe files when trying to start Application

GFH Private E-2

dr.moriarty Malware Super Sleuth Staff Member