Archived from groups: microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion (
More info?)
The number of anti-malware apps that are among the missing makes me wonder if some
spyware or trojan is at the source of the disappearances. If I am reading your
reply correctly, you are saying that you had all the listed programs installed, and
now the files and folders are all gone, and you did not uninstall them....correct?
You might want to start off by reinstalling those anti-spyware apps and checking
your system with them, from Safe Mode.
If it is not a malware issue, and you are sure that no one else has uninstalled or
deleted the missing programs, you should check the integrity of the drive, using the
drive manufacturer's diagnostic bootdisk maker to make a bootable floppy for testing
the hard drive.
Try cleaning your system of trojans with the standalone app Sysclean:
- Create a new folder on your Desktop or the C: drive and name it Sysclean.
- Go here and download sysclean.com and the pattern files to the Sysclean folder:
http://www.trendmicro.com/download/dcs.asp
http://www.trendmicro.com/download/pattern.asp
- Unzip the pattern files from their .zip file into the Sysclean folder.
- Restart your computer in Safe Mode.
- Go to the Sysclean folder and double-click sysclean.com to start the scan.
When the scan is finished, use Notepad or Wordpad to look at the log it created. You
may need to locate the files it named there to manually delete them, if sysclean did
not delete them itself.
Following that, while still in Safe Mode, use your anti-virus app to run a
full-system virus scan. Make sure you have already updated it while you are in
normal mode.
Download these apps, install and update them while in normal mode, then run them in
Safe Mode:
CWShredder, the CoolWeb removal tool, available here:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3019.html
http://aumha.org/downloads/cwshredder.zip
Close all browser windows and open apps, start CWShredder and click the Fix button.
Ad-Aware SE free Personal Edition (To update it, start it and click its 'Check for
Updates' link in the app to install updates). Use it to scan your system, and
remove what it finds.
Ad-Aware SE personal edition:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download506.html
Install, update and run SpyBot Search & Destroy, scan your system, and then remove
the items in RED only.
SpyBot S&D:
http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=download
When removing spyware, it is a good idea to download and store LSPFix ahead of time,
in case you need to fix your Internet connectivity when done. Some spyware will
break your ability to connect when removed.
LSPFix:
http://www.spychecker.com/program/lspfix.html
http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/lspfix.html
If problems persist, download, unzip, and run Hijack This from one of these
locations:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html
http://computercops.biz/downloads-cat-14.html
http://www.spywareinfo.com/downloads/tools/HijackThis.exe
Unzip to a folder other than your Desktop or the Temp folder, doubleclick
HijackThis.exe, and hit "Scan".
When the scan is finished, the "Scan" button will change into a "Save Log"
button.
Press that, save the log somewhere you can find it (Desktop, My Documents, or
similar).
Most of what it lists will be harmless or even required, so do NOT fix anything yet.
Copy the log files and paste them into a new post at ONE of these forums:
http://forum.aumha.org/viewforum.php?f=30
http://forums.spywareinfo.com/,
http://castlecops.com/forum67.html
In your post, please state your problem clearly and what you've done so far to fix
it.
The folks there will tell you what to remove.
See the "housekeeping" you should complete before you post your log:
http://aumha.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4075
A tutorial for using Hijack This is located here:
http://tomcoyote.com/hjt/
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
"Mcd" <jmcderm3@tampabay.rr.com> wrote in message
news:uxGV2VpeFHA.1036@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> "C:\Program Files\TweakIE 3.1\TweakIE.exe"
> "C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-aware 6\Ad-aware.exe"
> "C:\Program Files\Bazooka Spyware Scanner\spywarescanner.exe"
> "C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\SpybotSD.exe"
> "C:\Program Files\KaZaA Lite\Kazaa.exe"
> "C:\Program Files\Jardinains!\jardinains.exe" C:\Program Files\Jardinains!\
>
> These are several examples. I see that they are all within the "Program
> Files" folder. When I open this folder, I don't see any of these programs
> there. I'm pretty sure nothing has been deleted or moved, though.
>
> Thanks again, Todd Mcd
>
>
> "glee" <glee29@spamindspring.com> wrote in message
> news:OGf9wooeFHA.3848@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> > For troubleshooting, choose one of those non-working shortcuts that have
> the generic
> > Windows icon: right-click the icon, click Properties on the menu that
> appears, and
> > look on the Shortcut tab. In the Target line, what is the path? You can
> copy and
> > paste the path from that line, into a reply to this message. The path
> will name the
> > folder and file the shortcut is *supposed* to be pointing
> to.....apparently it is
> > not there, and we need to determine if it is missing, or just moved, and
> why.
> > --
> > Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
> >
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
> >
> >
> > "Mcd" <jmcderm3@tampabay.rr.com> wrote in message
> > news:OaibJNoeFHA.3712@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> > > Seemingly all of a sudden, I cannot locate or run a lot of programs I've
> > > installed. When I try to open, I get that box that has what looks like a
> > > flashlight searching, and says missing shortcut. On all the programs
> that
> > > this happens on, the icon for the program has changed to a white box
> with a
> > > blue border on top (I think this is normally how program icons look in
> > > DOS!?)
> > >
> > > It's as if I've lost a hole lot of shortcuts. All the programs that
> still
> > > have their normal icons work properly. The ones that have the problem
> all
> > > have that white/blue window icon wherever there is a shortcut to that
> > > particular program.
> > >
> > > I did recently install a security update from the Windows upsate site,
> but I
> > > don't think this is when the trouble started.
> > >
> > > Thanks for any advise, Todd Mcd
> > >
> > >
> >
>
>
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram