My Computer Icon Vanished...and more

I recently did a lot of cleaning of my PC for malware, spyware, viruses, and more. I have always had a current McAfee subscription, but they don't always catch everything.

I followed all the processes outlined in the READ ME FIRST/RUN ME for malware on this site and it appears to have cleaned everything from my PC, but I think my registry or something has been corrupted.

The "My Computer" Icon disappeared from my desktop and is only visible when you pull up an explorer tree using explorer OR a system folder (anything but My Documents, such as Program Files).

What is also very strange is that the My Computer icon shows in the tree with a plus sign, which when clicked reveals all my drives, BUT... when I click ON the My Computer in the tree, none of the drives show in the folder view window and ONLY in the tree view on the left.

Any thoughts? Suggestions?

In reviewing the system registry for keys with "My Computer" in them, I came across several of them that were in "Lockout Zones," though that may not be the issue, but I noticed that "My Network Places" is NOT in any lockout zones.

Any help or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks,
JP

P.S. I am attaching a JPG of the explorer window that illustrates what I mean about MY COMPUTER's location in the tree AND that highlighting it does NOT reveal any drives in the folder view.

 

Starting your computer is safe mode and the starting it again nomaly solves this problem

 

Guess my issue/problem and/or resolution are anything but "normal" or typical.

I tried shutting the PC down and then starting it up in Safe Mode and then doing a reboot and the problem still exists.

Without a folder shortcut on my desktop that is from the "Program Files" root directory OR without using Explorer, I wouldn't have any other way of accessing my C drive or any of my external drives.

So, it's just a pain in the butt, but not a total show stopper.

Should "My Computer" be referenced in the registry under the "Lockdown_Zones" folder? One of the entries in that folder for "My Computer" is listed as

My Computer [Protected Mode]

When I did a search of entries for "My Network Places," which should have similar entries, none of them were in any "Lockdown_Zones" or in a "Protected Mode" status.

I appreciate the help, but your suggested fix didn't work for my situation.

JP

 

Please finish working through your threads with TimW in Malware Forum. Once you have a clean bill of health and all other issues resolved we can begin to work on any other problems you are experiencing.

Thread closed.