Applications failing to launch

Hi all, Here is the issue on my Windows 7 desktop 1) Avast found 2 problems during a scan and could not fix them and recommended a boot scan 2) The boot scan completed and the computer booted as normal 3) After the boot no applications can be launched including word, excel, firefox, Avast etc I am using another computer to post this information. Thank you.

Hello maldini and
I'm RedCar92 and my name is Bill, I'll be glad to help you with your computer problems.

• Please observe these rules while we work:
• Read the entire procedure
• It is important to perform ALL actions in sequence.
• If you don't know, stop and ask! Don't keep going on.
• Please reply to this thread. Do not start a new topic.
• Stick with me till you're given the all clear. Malware removal can be stressful but we will clean it.
• Remember, absence of symptoms does not mean the infection is all gone.
• Don't attempt to clean your computer with any tools other than the ones I ask you to use during the cleanup process.

Please be advised, as I am still in training, all my replies to you will be checked for accuracy by one of our experts to ensure that I am giving you the best possible advise, this will be a team effort.
This may cause a delay, but I will do my best to keep it as short as possible.

Please bear with me, I will post back to you as soon as I can.

IMPORTANT NOTE : Please do not delete anything unless instructed to.
DO NOT use any TOOLS such as Combofix or HijackThis fixes without supervision.

Doing so could make your pc inoperative and could require a full reinstall of your OS, losing all your programs and data.

Vista and Windows 7 users:

These tools MUST be run from the executable. (.exe) every time you run them
with Admin Rights (Right click, choose "Run as Administrator")
Stay with this topic until I give you the all clean post.

Hi Bill, Thank you for your reply. I look forward to your first set of instructions. Thank you for your help Andy

Greetings Andy

You may need to download the first item, exehelper, on a good pc and save to a flash disk, then move to infected pc to run.
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.
Post the contents of exehelperlog.txt (Will be created in the directory where you ran exeHelper.com, and should open at the end of the scan)

Next

• Please download aswMBR ( 511KB ) to your desktop.
• Right click the aswMBR.exe icon and select Run as Administrator to run it
• Click the Scan button to start the scan
• On completion of the scan, click the save log button, save it to your desktop and post it in your next reply.

Next
Please download DDS from LINK 1 or LINK 2
and save it to your desktop.

• These tools MUST be run from the executable. (.exe) every time you run them
• With Admin Rights (Right click, choose "Run as Administrator")
• When done, two DDS.txt's will open.
• Save both reports to your desktop.
  Please include the contents of the following in your reply using Copy / Paste:
  DDS.txt & Attach.txt

Logs to post:

• exehelperlog.txt
• aswmbr.txt
• dds.txxt
• Attach.txt

>You may need to download the first item, exehelper, on a good pc and save to a flash disk, then move to infected pc to run. Please download exeHelper to your desktop. Double-click on exeHelper.com to run the fix. Hi Bill, I downloaded exeHelper to a flash drive and then loaded the file on to the problem computers desktop. When I run .exeHelper , nothing happens (similar to every other application I try to launch). Note that I am not in safe mode, just a normal full boot. Andy

Let's try running exehelper in safe mode please.

Let's try running exehelper in safe mode please.

same result in safemode. It will not launch.

So far the only thing that seems to launch is something simple like the calculator.

when looking at the task manager in safe mode, the following 5 Processes are running

csrss.exe
ctfmon.exe
explorer.exe
taskmgr.exe
winlogin.exe


Under the service tab, I would estimate over 90% of the services listed are in the Stopped state (which is probably why nothing will run).

Greetings Andy
Can you tell me what version AVAST you were running when it deleted the 2 files.

Please download DDS from LINK 1 or LINK 2and save as calc.exe it to your desktop. Or if you have DDS.scr on a flash drive, rename to calc.exe and save to your desktop.

• These tools MUST be run from the executable. (calc.exe) every time you run them
• With Admin Rights (Right click, choose "Run as Administrator")

When done, two DDS.txt's will open.
Save both reports to your desktop.
Please include the contents of the following in your reply using Copy / Paste:
DDS.txt & Attach.txt

I can not find the version number of Avast because I can not open the application. Is there some where I can look for the version information? I tried to right click on Avast and look at the properties but could not find any version information there.

=================

I am having problems with DDS. I took the following steps, please let me know where I am incorrect

1) I click on one of the download links you provided
2) It asks me if I want to save the file dds which is of file type scr
3) I change the name to calc.exe and the file type to "all files" and save to my flash drive
4) I copy from my flash drive to the infected computer
5) I run calc.exe from a regular boot (non safe mode) and it then asks me if I want to allow the following program from an unknown publisher to make changes on this computer

Program name: calc.exe.scr

Is that program name correct or should is just be calc.exe?

6) Nothing happens (same symptom as before)

7) Reboot machine into Safe Mode

8) Run calc.exe and nothing happens

Don't worry about version right now, we can deal with that later. File name should be calc.exe no scr at the end. We are trying to make system think this is the Calculator. You may want to rename before putting on desktop.

I have downloaded the file from both links

link 1 file was ddr.scr and I renamed it during the download as calc.exe, and it shows up as calc.exe as an icon but once you go into the properties of the file, it considers the name of the file calc.exe.scr

link 2 file was ddr.com and I renamed it during the download as calc.exe, and it shows up as calc.exe as an icon but once you go into the properties of the renamed file, it considers the name of the file calc.exe.com

It seems like I can't get rid of the extension that the file was originally tagged with.

From the desktop though, it does look like a normal MS executeable icon with the correct name of calc.exe

In either case it will not run on infected computer.

Just to see if the file is correct, can I run it on a non infected computer just to see if it will launch?

Yes you can run on any MS Windows computer with no ill affects. It only collects information, it makes no changes to the PC.

ok the file is fine then. It runs as expected on a non infected machine. When the identical file is copied to a flash drive and loaded on to the infected machines desktop it will not launch..

OK thanks, we are working on it now.

Hi Bill, In case it is of any use, I do have access to the cmd window on the infected computer. I tried to launch the diag calc.exe from the cmd window. It gets to the point where Avast asks if I want to let the program run, but then does nothing after that.