windows vista blocking all EXE downloads from the net

Hello Major Geekers !!

I am hoping one of you may be able to help me for the sake of my own sanity , as this problem is driving me literally NUTS !! :banghead

Background Info -

I dont usually use "Vista" and on my own "trusty old Pc" ( TOP) i use xp with no problems ,The TOP is away having an upgrade at the moment , so i am using a friends spare laptop. She did mention she had some "software problems" on it and i said i would take a look and install and run new antivirus and clean -up progs for her.

Ive used Vista before , but i find it very frustrating as every single goddamn action i try to perform triggers a "warning" pop up - " confirm you want to do this " ect - ( Arghh!! How patronising and annoying!! ) It slows the whole system down and its just inconvient and annoying when you are quickly trying to get tasks done! Basically , im fine with using Vista but i prefer not to as it annoys the hell out of me.

I am logged in on my friends "administrator" account , and ive tried changing settings so i DONT get the dammed "warning/are you sure you want to do this action/confirm action" messages every two minutes , to no avail ! If anyone knows a workaround to switch off those accursed pop-ups , then your please share the wisdom for the sake of my sanity! :tas


Im nowhere near to a IT expert , but im competent enough, and if I have a helpfull quide or instructions courtesy of MajorGeeks, i can usually solve most things first time. The actual problem i will explain below , it is the first comp/software issue thats had me in such a spin. I have googled and it seems many other people have had the exact same problem , and many different "solutions" are listed on the Microsoft Vista forums , none of those solutions are working for me though . I should add that the built in "windows help" is next to useless ........sigh .....and breath !



The laptop - HP Compaq 6735s
RAM - 1GIG
Processor - AMD sempron ( tm ) SI-42 , 2.10 GHz
OS - Windows Vista home basic , service pack 2
System Type - 32 bit.

Running IE 9 .
Anti Virus is AVG free 8.5 ( although it isnt working)



THE PROBLEM


I noticed that AVG free 8.5 isnt working , when you click on its icon nothing happens , i checked Task Manager and theres no process from AVG even trying to load. I have tried right clicking and using " run as admin" - nothing . So , i went to uninstall it the usual way via control panel/add remove programs. When you do this an error code comes up. I then decided to download "Advance Windows Care" , so i could get the AVG off by forced uninstall , and generally clean up the machine.


This is when i first noticed the main problem - the exe installation fiel downloads as usual , then windows vista does its inbuilt security scan and i then get a pop up at the bottom of the screen that says

"this file contains a virus and has been deleted".

The error message is from windows itself , not an antivirus /security prog. There is a link for "more info" in the error message. It takes me to the "Windows Help" , which is useless as it says " sorry no info avail for this problem" ( or something like that ) .

I tried downloading other programs too

AntiMalware Bytes
Hijack This ( so i could make a log which could help me fix the prob via this forum!)
Google Chrome ( because IE is slow and annoys me as much as Vista does!)
Adobe Flash Player ect ,

The same error message comes up on everything. Im downloading from trusted sites and i also manually added the sites to "trusted" list in the IE options . , , , nope that didnt work!


I then started googling to try get to the bottom of the problem.
There is a thread on Microsoft Vista forums , and various solutions are listed - turn off firewall , turn off AV , try saving file instead of running it , change IE security options down to the lowest setting , turn windows defender off and so on ............Ive done all of those things and they have not worked , as i still cannot save or run any EXE files. Its driving me nuts as any program that might let me scan for problems , i can only get by downloading from the internet!

Oh , theres also an inbuilt security suite from the laptop makers HP. I switched off the all the saftey apps in case it was them that were blocKing EXEs from the the net. ( no - that didnt work either !!)


Anyone got a clue to what the problem is ? This laptop boots up fine and IE is usable , but its so slow , i need to get these new progs on and get a new antivirus ASAP! ( remember - AVG that is already installed is not working , and wont uninstall either )



Sorry this post has been so very long , but i wanted to include all the info in case any small minor detail is relevant.

Im stumped ...I dont know if there is some kind of virus , or if its just Vistas over -zealous security settings at work here.


Any help would be most gratefully appreciated !

 

It might be some sort of virus. It seems unlikely that Vista itself would block downloading exes.

But that aside, try rebooting and hitting the F8 key repeatedly to get the Advanced Startup/Safe mode menu and see if you can boot into Safe Mode.

Try to uninstall AVG from there. Then try to download the AVG uninstaller in Safe Mode and see if it is flagged as a threat. If it downloads run it to completely get rid of AVG.

See if normal mode still blocks exes.

 

Thank you so much Sach2 !!! I shall try this and report back !

 

I finally managed to uninstall AVG in safe mode as you suggested - thanks !

I now have a browser redirect issue , using google chrome , i keep getting redirected to "apibrowserbar,com".

I understand i have to post tat malware forum , so i shall do so now , thanks for your help !

 

oh dear.