- Apr 11, 2014
- 11
- 0
- 4,510
Hello everyone, I need help. This PC is running a legitimate copy of Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. It was freshly reformatted 2 weeks ago because of a very similar issue with Internet Explorer.
The issue:
Microsoft Office (all programs), Wordpad, Notepad, and MS Paint (and possibly other related microsoft programs) will NOT launch and causes the computer to completely hang -- to the point you can not right click anywhere, you can not access task manager, and the computer is entirely unusable. I have let it sit like this for 2 hours and it does not fix. It just stalls out.
(Literally, you press ctrl+alt+del and it freezes for 10+ minutes and then tells you Task Manager is not Installed, Windows Explorer is not installed, lol) -- You can't even shut it down by holding the power button..it does not respond. Literally have to shut off the power supply to get it turned off.
Computer is completely fine in all other respects. It is just these programs...for now.
The computer was recently reformatted by myself because this issue was happening with Internet Explorer, and since Skype relies on Internet Explorer, and my gaming relies on Skype, it was a critical need to reformat after spending 48+ hours hardcore troubleshooting the issue to no effect.
I have been using this trio of security programs for many, many years, on multiple PC's. I've never had issue until this month. I use default settings, use Ccleaner as a daily light cleaner, advanced systemcare as a stateful/idle cleaner and "Big" cleaner once a week, and keep my AV/Firewall enabled at all times. I have used this trio on other computers that I've helped clean up and fix for family and friends, and they are all happy with it as well. I practice very safe internet browsing, use a custom hosts file to block access to known bad website, and use Comodo's custom DNS servers. I do not install or play third-party flash games, and use a very lite, strict program list of very well known programs.
The only difference I made in my security routine was updating Comodo to the very latest build and enabling their Auto-Sandbox and Auto-HIPS, to see what that was all about (Have never used these features before..Seemed like a great idea to be more protected and learn more about my security....but it has had a disastrous effect.
I believe this issue was caused when Auto-Sandbox (set to maximum) picked up some Microsoft files for me to review...it sandboxed them and then Advanced Systemcare's scheduled cleaning occured at some point after this event occured and before I had a chance to review these files and pass them through the sandbox.
I believe since Comodo had quarantined these files, advanced systemcare's cleaning somehow deleted or altered leftover files necessary for these effected programs to function. Thus this caused a weird issue where Microsoft Office was considered not installed, yet after un-sandboxing the files, the files were present on my PC and in my registry, but did not show up in my Installed Programs.
Now, I did make the mistake of not having a Windows created Restore point made. I had several made through Advanced Systemcare....Normally this is fine but apparently not here. Using the ASC Restore Point to 7 days before this event occured has yielded no results, and neither has any of the other restore points.
I can't find anything online similar to my specific issue. I'm at a loss personally. I consider myself above-average regarding IT but I am also humble and will state that I'm not an expert nor professional and some things truly are above my head. I appreciate any help you guys can offer and if my solution is to ....begrudgingly...reformat again and NOT enable auto-sandbox / auto-hips....I guess I will have to do that.
The issue:
Microsoft Office (all programs), Wordpad, Notepad, and MS Paint (and possibly other related microsoft programs) will NOT launch and causes the computer to completely hang -- to the point you can not right click anywhere, you can not access task manager, and the computer is entirely unusable. I have let it sit like this for 2 hours and it does not fix. It just stalls out.
(Literally, you press ctrl+alt+del and it freezes for 10+ minutes and then tells you Task Manager is not Installed, Windows Explorer is not installed, lol) -- You can't even shut it down by holding the power button..it does not respond. Literally have to shut off the power supply to get it turned off.
Computer is completely fine in all other respects. It is just these programs...for now.
The computer was recently reformatted by myself because this issue was happening with Internet Explorer, and since Skype relies on Internet Explorer, and my gaming relies on Skype, it was a critical need to reformat after spending 48+ hours hardcore troubleshooting the issue to no effect.
I have been using this trio of security programs for many, many years, on multiple PC's. I've never had issue until this month. I use default settings, use Ccleaner as a daily light cleaner, advanced systemcare as a stateful/idle cleaner and "Big" cleaner once a week, and keep my AV/Firewall enabled at all times. I have used this trio on other computers that I've helped clean up and fix for family and friends, and they are all happy with it as well. I practice very safe internet browsing, use a custom hosts file to block access to known bad website, and use Comodo's custom DNS servers. I do not install or play third-party flash games, and use a very lite, strict program list of very well known programs.
The only difference I made in my security routine was updating Comodo to the very latest build and enabling their Auto-Sandbox and Auto-HIPS, to see what that was all about (Have never used these features before..Seemed like a great idea to be more protected and learn more about my security....but it has had a disastrous effect.
I believe this issue was caused when Auto-Sandbox (set to maximum) picked up some Microsoft files for me to review...it sandboxed them and then Advanced Systemcare's scheduled cleaning occured at some point after this event occured and before I had a chance to review these files and pass them through the sandbox.
I believe since Comodo had quarantined these files, advanced systemcare's cleaning somehow deleted or altered leftover files necessary for these effected programs to function. Thus this caused a weird issue where Microsoft Office was considered not installed, yet after un-sandboxing the files, the files were present on my PC and in my registry, but did not show up in my Installed Programs.
Now, I did make the mistake of not having a Windows created Restore point made. I had several made through Advanced Systemcare....Normally this is fine but apparently not here. Using the ASC Restore Point to 7 days before this event occured has yielded no results, and neither has any of the other restore points.
I can't find anything online similar to my specific issue. I'm at a loss personally. I consider myself above-average regarding IT but I am also humble and will state that I'm not an expert nor professional and some things truly are above my head. I appreciate any help you guys can offer and if my solution is to ....begrudgingly...reformat again and NOT enable auto-sandbox / auto-hips....I guess I will have to do that.
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