[labyrinthine]

Recently I've been having a whole slew of problems on my laptop (Toshiba Satellite A105) which is running Windows XP Media Center. I think they began around the same time that I uninstalled a bunch of games and other programs I'm no longer using, and I wonder if it is possible that some essential file got deleted in that uninstall, making a whole bunch of seemingly unrelated problems all happen together. I've also entertained the possibility of it being caused by a virus or other malware, but I haven't found anything yet. (More on that later.) I'm hoping someone here might be able to tell me if there is a link between the problems that I'm having:

• I can't access "Properties" on My Computer. I right-click and choose properties, the mouse pointer icon becomes an hourglass for a second or two, and then it's back to the arrow. Ditto if I click on "View System Information" under "System Tasks" in the left bar of the My Computer window.
• I can't download or upload email attachments (e.g. reasonably sized PDFs or .doc files) or download other files from the internet (e.g. a printer driver from HP). I've tried this in Firefox and in Google Chrome. Sometimes I can get a download to complete (usually after restarting the program, after it hangs during the download the first time and goes nonresponsive) but I wonder if even these files may be error-ridden because...
• I can't seem to install things by clicking on .exe files. I wanted to run AdAware but noticed my copy was hopelessly out of date, and it was having trouble downloading updates (see above), so I tried to download and install the latest version with all the current definitions. No dice. It gets partway through the installation and just sticks there forever. (That same little piece of paper moving endlessly between two folders...) I've also had AIM freeze up right after I log in -- maybe this should be its own bullet point, other people see me online but I just have a big white rectangle instead of a buddy list -- so I tried to download and re-install AIM, and that failed too. For what it's worth, I downloaded that HP printer driver onto another computer, wrote the files to a CD, and tried to install from there (both from the CD and moving the files to the desktop) and that failed as well, so maybe the download process isn't necessarily making corrupt files, but it's some problem in the computer's actual ability to install things. I can't tell. I did install Civ IV from CD just fine, and I'm not sure how that would be different.
• I just noticed that the icon for my hard drive in the My Computer folder has changed to one of a software box with a CD next to/in front of it. I am pretty sure this is not the default, and I can't seem to find a place in the Properties menu to change it back, so I doubt I changed this accidentally. Spooky!
• In general, programs are becoming nonresponsive much more frequently than they used to. This has happened with Adobe Reader a few times, just regular MS Explorer (not IE) windows when I am looking at documents in folders, AIM, Firefox and Chrome nearly every time I try to upload or download a file and sometimes when I try to play an embedded video.

I did run a virus scan (McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.7.0i) and it turned up nothing. Like I said, I haven't been able to run AdAware -- though I suppose I'll run it now even though the definitions are over a year old. Also, please note that these are only the things I've noticed to be weird. That might be why I'm having trouble finding clear connections; there might be some more obvious trend if I knew what all the problems were. Please let me know if you have ideas for how to fix these issues, or if there are other diagnostics you'd like me to do. Thanks in advance for your help!

[johnebadbak]

sounds like the executables are (exe) files are damaged.if it was my machine a reinstall is the way i would go..definitely a virus attack i would say.

[Holger_1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McAfee_VirusScan

In tests by Virus Bulletin and other independent consumer organizations, McAfee virus scan has not fared well, frequently failing to detect some common viruses.

Get a better antivirus program and run a scan. I recommend Nod32 4 http://www.scanwith.com/download/NOD32.htm

[labyrinthine]

Thanks for your thoughts. I tried to install Nod32, but of course it didn't really work -- thanks to the download/install issues I described above. ><

I know that there are some antivirus programs that scan through your browser, so I'm going to try one of those now... any suggestions about which of those are good vs. a waste of time would be appreciated!

[labyrinthine]

I ran HouseCall from Trend Micro USA, which is one that actually allows you to use Firefox instead of IE for a browser-run scan. (IE wouldn't load at all. It just happened the same as my first bullet point above, and iexplore.exe would sit apparently worthless in the Task Managers process list.) It found the file hktl_hidewin.aa and deleted it, and now I can see My Computer properties, chat in AIM, and open Internet Explorer (not that I really want to). I'm in the process of trying to download and install some things to check that too, and if that works, I'll mark this thread solved.

[labyrinthine]

Just kidding. After finding IE, AIM, and My Computer properties to work, I installed the Windows updates that had downloaded while I was running the scan, and on restart I couldn't download an email attachment, and I checked again to find IE, AIM, and My Computer properties not working again.

I ran HouseCall once more and it only found internet cookies. Still couldn't open IE. I'm rerunning it now, because it recommends that you re-run it any time it finds something, but I doubt anything will change and am looking for other options. I'd really like to not have to wipe my hard drive and reinstall Windows. I'm also worried that I would accidentally back up and copy back whatever the problem is.

Any suggestions?