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Thread ID: 25800	2002-10-12 04:58:00	.EXEs don't run any more	TimRyanNZ (2223)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
88536	2002-10-12 04:58:00	Hi there, I found out I had the BugBear virus today which was not picked up by the (old) version of McAfee I was running. I have now disinfected my machine, but in the process somehow managed to "disconnect" .exe and .com files so that when I double-click on them in Explorer, or select them off the Start menu, or if they are set up to run from the Startup folder, instead of them running, I get the "Open With" dialog. Also, they have the default icon in menus and in Explorer. (My operating system is Windows 98) It seems clear to me that the file association has become lost for EXEs and COM files, but I don't know how to "reconnect" it. I CAN ONLY run EXEs and COMs from Start>Run (which explains how I could send this email). Rebooting (twice) did not help. Hope someone has an idea. Thanks, Tim	TimRyanNZ (2223)
88537	2002-10-12 05:16:00	P.S. Yes I have read the FAQ about file associations, and yes I have tried connecting EXE to "Program". Unfortunately "Program" doesn't seem to exist (any more??) on my C drive.	TimRyanNZ (2223)
88538	2002-10-12 05:30:00	PPS no, I don't appear to have "Application" under my File Type Associations. Should I?	TimRyanNZ (2223)
88539	2002-10-12 08:03:00	If others can't come up with a better solution... Reinstall Windows 98. My daughter has crashed her machine a couple of times in recent months with windows refusing to load. Reinstalling fixed it.	Heather P (163)
88540	2002-10-12 08:58:00	Many viruses (virii) change the registry and cause this exact problem . Sircam was one, look on google for the fixes (or on www . mcafee . com, or www . symantec . com) for the registry for it, they may work . If your virus checker let bugbear in, it would have shut down the virus scanning . I had to cleanse a PC last week where this had happened, and 3 different virii were installed while the scanner was down .	godfather (25)
88541	2002-10-12 09:12:00	Yes you are quite right - when I got a virus checker that would remove Bugbear, it also found and removed NIMDA. I'd really rather not reinstall Windows as I have quite a lot of data not backed up (I know I know!!!), but if that's what it takes, then thems the breaks eh! I'll have a look at Google etc first, and see if there is an easier solution. Thanks, Tim	TimRyanNZ (2223)
88542	2002-10-12 09:33:00	The reinstall on my daughter's machine worked well. No lose of data or emails, just a repair. Mind you, the computer wasn't Virus City - just Windows mis-behaving. If the worst comes to the worst - reinstall windows over the existing one, BACKUP data then, if necessary, reformat and reinstall.	Heather P (163)
88543	2002-10-12 09:49:00	Tim, If you are comfortable with the Registry (REGEDIT) then the following information will help. It is what the association for exefile and comfile should look like. NOTE these values are EXPORTED from a WIN98 registry. You could check your values against what is here and modify your registry IF and AS appropriate. Ensure you backup the registry BEFORE making any changes. NOTE2 the @ symbol in the following stands for the DEFAULT value(s). Cheers, Babe. ********************* EXEFILE ********************* REGEDIT4 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile] "EditFlags"=hex:d8,07,00,00 @="Application" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell] @="" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open] @="" "EditFlags"=hex:00,00,00,00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open\command] @="\"%1\" %*" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHan dlers] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shellex\PropertySheetHan dlers\{86F19A00-42A0-1069-A2E9-08002B30309D}] @="" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\DefaultIcon] @="%1" ********************* COMFILE ********************* REGEDIT4 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\comfile] @="MS-DOS Application" "EditFlags"=hex:d8,07,00,00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\comfile\shell] @="" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\comfile\shell\open] @="" "EditFlags"=hex:00,00,00,00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\comfile\shell\open\command] @="\"%1\" %*" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\comfile\shellex] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\comfile\shellex\PropertySheetHan dlers] [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\comfile\shellex\PropertySheetHan dlers\{86F19A00-42A0-1069-A2E9-08002B30309D}] @="" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\comfile\DefaultIcon] @="c:\\windows\\SYSTEM\\shell32.dll,2" ************************************************** **	Babe Ruth (416)
88544	2002-10-12 18:19:00	Its the nimda virus that has caused this problem. Go to the Symantec (http://www.symantec.com) site and read up on the manual removal instructions for Nimda. If Nimda is removed in the wrong order then your .exe files will no longer work till you do some registry editing.	dipstick01 (445)
88545	2002-10-13 04:21:00	> Its the nimda virus that has caused this problem. Go > to the Symantec (http://www.symantec.com) > site and read up on the manual removal instructions > for Nimda. If Nimda is removed in the wrong order > then your .exe files will no longer work till you do > some registry editing. Ah hah that makes sense. I did manually delete a couple of the NIMDA infestations manually before I worked out how to get the software I downloaded to do it automatically. Mind you, I reran the virus checker and it looks like it hasn't managed to totally clean Bugbear. It is still reporting it in one place: Can not Clean [ WORM_BUGBEAR.A]( 1) from C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\lvfagqf.dll I know that "run once" stuff in the registry has been cleaned out tho' because I did that manually, and then the checker re-did that bit. I'll also look at those registry settings Babe Ruth provided. So thanks for your help guys. Tim	TimRyanNZ (2223)
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