Need help plz...

[dbz_sid]

Hi there, i have a not-so-major prob. but still need advice on it.

One of my friends came over today to use my PC...and installed some antivirus soft. which deleted some of my sys. files including EXPLORER.exe.

Now I'm left without a desktop or a task-bar.Using task manager to open my programs nd stuff.I cant even re-install XP since my CD drive isnt working.
So i was thinking of restoring my system to some older restore point.I wanted to know if it would restore my explorer.exe file? And also...please suggest an alternate solution..if any....

 

[loaderbull]

Hi there, i have a not-so-major prob. but still need advice on it.

One of my friends came over today to use my PC...and installed some antivirus soft. which deleted some of my sys. files including EXPLORER.exe.

Now I'm left without a desktop or a task-bar.Using task manager to open my programs nd stuff.I cant even re-install XP since my CD drive isnt working.
So i was thinking of restoring my system to some older restore point.I wanted to know if it would restore my explorer.exe file? And also...please suggest an alternate solution..if any....

Hi dbz_sid,

First things first, did you have any antivirus software on it to begin with? If not, then i'm going to guess that after the new antivirus software was installed, or during setup, it has performed a quick scan and found that your PC is already infected. Maybe the default action was to delete the file if it cannot repair? I'm not sure.

Which antivirus software is it?

Try booting into safe mode (keep pressing F8 after the bios has flashed up on screen). Then see if your desktop etc is visible.

Have you got Antispyware programs, ie Windows Defender;
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/defender/default.mspx

Spybot;
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

Run with latest definitions and see what they find.

Get back to us with the information asked for and i'm sure we'll get you sorted, there's some clever folk here

ps - if you cannot access Internet Explorer or what ever you use to browse the web, do so on another PC and stick the above programs on a thumb drive if you can get hold of one (or removable storage of some kind).

 

[dbz_sid]

umm...yeah well i didnt have an anti-virus soft. before....nd i deleted this one my friend installed(ESET i guess),after it deleted my system files and wasnt letting my system run.

Now,i dont have my explorer.exe. So i cant see my desktop and i dont even have a task bar.....nd i cant re-install XP since my CD drive isnt workin right now.....

 

[loaderbull]

Your computer was probably infected by the sounds of it. Can you get those two programs i mentioned in my previous post?

Also, has your CD Drive stopped working since this happened, or before?

You need to get rid of whatever has infected your PC. Once that is done, you can try restoring it to how it was.

If you can, download the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool;
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...E0-E72D-4F54-9AB3-75B8EB148356&displaylang=en

When you have downloaded and run all three of those programs, you need some sort of Antivirus software. ESET Nod32 is highly rated, and i can't see that deleting explorer on it's own, i use it and it always asks what to do, quarantine is the usual.

Also, disconnect from the internet once all programs are downloaded (and once Defender and Spybot are updated). Some malicious software reports home and re-installs/downloads itself.

Make sure your firewall is on, 3rd party or XP's built in one.

Are you familiar with msconfig? Start > Run > type msconfig and hit Enter. Go to start up tab and see what is set to start with windows. Anything that you are unsure of post here.

Again, report back with results or questions.

 

[JPRuss]

Just a note on the orginal question.

Restore Points, generally, will not re place exe files, it is normally just a backup of your hardware configuration and system drivers.

Most windows system files are protected by windows system file protector. For example if you tried to delete explorer.exe. Windows grabs another copy and replaces it for you. If this is not occuring, then your cache is probably corrupted as well.

I think you're going to need a working CD ROM drive to do anything else, unless perhaps you have a copy of the Windows CD copied already on your hard drive.