dll problem

Good morning all

My first post - sincere apologies if this question is being asked in the wrong place.

I switched on the pc this morning and was confronted by the following:

"The application of DLL C:\WINDOWS\system3\tyhqot.dll is not a valid Windows image. Please check this against your installation diskette"

This happens when I click any icon on my desktop (except for Explorer and standard Windows icons). Programmes work fine once I click off the error message, but obviously something is wrong

Ran AVG anti-virus scan and a Malwarebytes scan too. Nothing came up.

Nothing on the internet either, so I am stumped. Running XP (if that makes any difference).

Hopefully someone has an idea, or can point me in the right direction.

Gratefully

CK

 

Greetings, ck1brum.

Have you tried booting into Safe Mode, see if the issue persists? If a Safe Mode boot is clean, then some 3rd-party program is calling for the .dll. You could run msconfig, clear all of the Startup items, and then selectively reenable to try to find the culprit.

If a Safe Mode boot still presents the same symptom, and if you have your Windows disk available, then I'd suggest running a System File Check - a good tutorial is located here.

 

I may have found a simpler fix - this MS KB article suggests:

1. Click Start, click Run, type C:\Windows\system32, and then click OK.
2. Right-click the tyhqot.dll file, and then click Rename.
3. Type tyhqot.dll.old, and then press ENTER.
4. Restart the computer.

Upon restart, Windows should replace the .dll if it is a valid system file, and you shouldn't see the invalid image error.

If your symptoms remain or if different symptoms present, then try the msconfig and SFC suggestions if you haven't already done so.

Like you, I could not find any information about the file. Because of that, I doubt that this is malware related, but I'm hoping one of the Malware Forum gurus will look at the file, see if they recognize it.

EDIT: One more shot - since the issue presented so suddenly, some event must have occurred. If all of the above steps don't work, you might try a System Restore to a recent time before the error. Also, check your Event Viewer for any obvious flags at or near the time of the first error message.

 

Hi ck1brum and Caliban,

I'm not a malware guru, I only started getting serious about running an antivirus a few years ago, but my one infection was a random string of letters with a .dll extension located in System32 folder that ran at startup. (the random string of letters makes it impossible to google)

I'd seriously consider doing the Read and Run Me in the malware section and posting there.

 

Always a good suggestion.

 

Hi all

Thank you for your advice. And yes, I'd done some of the processes in the Read me section. Not all of them though

Renaming seems to have worked. Thanks for all your help!

CK

 

Glad you got it, ck1brum, and thanks for the feedback. :major