[Johanna1977]

Hello,

I will try to make it short and descriptive as you requested. My friend sent me an HP game via email from her system to mine. When I downloaded it, I wasn't sure how to launch the program, so I clicked on IE. I didn't see the tiny box before it was too late, so now ALL my desktop icons turned to white pages with a blue lower case e. They also changed to this lnk. format I've never seen before. I cannot access any program without going to my C drive. When I first rebooted my computer, the IE screen launched 2 blank screens and two File Security warnings popped up. No matter what I clicked on, they would reappear again and again. I was caught in a loop. I don't know what I did, but I managed to delete the file she sent me, and the boxes disappeared, but while trying to fix it, I may have done something wrong. I randomly clicked on one of my desktop icons and right clicked to 'open with' I chose the folder which had the name of the programs manufacturer thinking this was how to fix it. I guess I was dead wrong. Now instead of the lower case e, I have the logo of the program I clicked on and the program itself launches twice everytime I reboot my computer. I tried 2 System Restore via Microsoft, but they failed. At this point, I'd do anything to get it back to normal again. If this is a difficult fix, please explain what I have to do in lamen's terms. I am not very computer savy.

Thanks in Advance,
Johanna

[helpful]

You need to request this be moved to Security & HJT \ Virus and Other Malware Removal from the thread tools.

I would assist you fixing the LNK and EXE but that is not a good idea as long as your computer is still infected as most viruses are memory resident which can detect the changes you attempting to apply.

This forum has strict policy regarding who can give malware removal advice to ensure your receive the best quality of service. So please wait for someone with a yellow or green shield to assist you as they are the only people on this forum authorized to give malware removal advice.

[dvk01]

moved to vista for looking at as I am not 100%sure this is malware and we need to sort out the .exe association before doing anything else

In any event the malware tools won't run until .exe associations are fixed

[dvk01]

Helful, by all means give advice on fixiing the lnk & .exe associations & tehn we can see if any scanners run taht show any infection or malware problem

[helpful]

Download and extract the following fix's burn to cd or copy to usb stick, floppy disk or another portable storage device.

From the machine that is having the problems, press CTRL-ALT-DEL and open Task Manager. Once there, click File, then hold down the CTRL key and click New Task (Run). This will open a Command Prompt window. Enter REGEDIT.EXE and press Enter.

Click File\Import and import each reg file you extracted

Fixes:

EXE File Association Fix (Restore default association for EXE files)
LNK (Shortcut) File Association Fix (Restores Default Shortcut Behavior)

[Phantom010]

Those .reg fixes are for XP.

For Vista:

EXEFIX

LNKFIX