Weird Symptoms persist

Hello,
I followed the guide to get the computer back to operational, and in safe mode, was able to find and eliminate alexa and the elitetoolbar, or so I think. One symptom that is still present is the window for the folder view options never populates. I follow these instructions:

Windows XP
- Right Click Start.
- Select Explore
- Select the Tools menu and click Folder Options.
- Select the View Tab.

When the View tab displays, it is blank, as in empty, completely white. So I can't know for sure that all files are displaying and therefore able to be scanned.

Also, when I would open My Computer and hit the Search toolbar, the frame on the left side of the window would populate with a NetZero search window to search the web, not the computer!?!? After running the processes y'all recommend, now the left frame is blank.

Any ideas, or further info or data I should provide?

Thanks!

 

Thanks chaslang, the laptop is at home, but I'll run the HijackThis procedure during lunch and post the results.

Yes, I am able to log in with Admin priviledges.


If it matters (in this forum anyway), the Outlook Express on that machine has become corrupted, or some of the .dbx files are, and without being able to view all system and hidden files, I can't even back those up for any OS-related maintenance....but we'll get to that soon enough, thanks again.

 

here is the log......

I also noticed that the Recycle Bin is no longer on the the desktop...

thanks

 

>>But did you have Admin priviledges before when trying to configure viewing of hidden files?

yes

>>Have you been experimenting on your own and having HJT fix lines?

yes, before I found this site I ran HJT, used a couple of on-line analysis sites, and fixed some of the lines. I also ran WinPatrol to stop some of the startup stuff, pokapoka.exe, etc.

>>Or is this HJT log edited?

no

>>Or are you using HJT's filter to filter lines?

no

>>Was the log from Safe mode?

no

>>Also did you do something to corrupt or try to uninstall Internet Explorer?

no, IE seems to work (launch, surf) just fine.

>>may be corrupted!

maybe so, weird things like the programs submenu under the start menu just says (empty), even though I can navigate through MyComputer to the programs, and they are all there.


Even now, when I run HJT, and check the boxes next to those items, the button for 'fix checked' never 'enables' so I can perform that action!?

thanks for the help so far

 

HJT was not configured correctly to backup, now it is. No backups to choose from, and I didn't keep record of what actions I took.

WinPatrol disabled.

New log attached.

Thanks for the help.

 

there are no other folders/directories within the HJT directory.....I've always had it in a folder within Program Files directory. ??

did the regfix you described, ran HJT again, log attached.


I was able to finally get OE working correctly, and have backed up all the mail and address books. That was the only thing on the machine I still needed to backup.

I can always do a clean install of XP at this point if that's easiest, but I'd like to get this diagnosed if possible.

 

alright, got that one done, new HJT log generated after scanning....

at this point, the only weird things (that I know of) are:

the start menu programs tab still says "empty", even though, if I right click on the start menu and select 'explore', I'm able to see all the program directories and the shortcuts. When I switch to XP start menu (I still like the "classic"), and hit "All Programs", nothing pops up or out or anything.

when I navigate to Folder Options and select view, the window of choices (like show hidden files, etc) does not populate. If I randomly click the mouse within that window, the 'apply' button goes active, but I don't select it.

when I go to start menu and hit search (btw, from what I can tell, everything else works under the start menu except for the programs tab), the window now comes up with the normal 'computer-based' choices to search, and the little dog appears. Right when a lot of this started, the left hand pane would populate with a netzero websearch window, and go online. Even though I can enter files and search the local drives, as soon as I hit search I get a small error box with a yellow triangle/exclamation point, and nothing else happens.

those are the main anomolies at this point.

 

I made a new admin account and logged in, same symptoms were there for that user as well.....really weird. I don't doubt that I screwed things up with the HJT actions I took.....

I don't see anything peculiar running that would block the reg changes, my user account does have admin priviledges.....

I'm gonna run XP setup and see if that takes care of the remaining things...all the data is backed up and safe.

I really appreciate all your help and ideas. Thanks.