[nycharlie]

I'm posting here after a long-string of correspondence with Daemon over in the malware removal forum; we've successfully cleared my computer of viruses, but I still have problems accessing applications.

My main problem is that my desktop is a plain blue field -- that's it. All shortcuts and icons are gone, and to open any application, I need to hit [ctrl] [alt] [esc], hit the "new task" button, and browse for the app through that. As far as I can tell now, with the continuing exception of the desktop display, Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer, the Start Menu, and the Control Panel, everything else seems to be working fine.

When I type "Control" into the New Task window, the hourglass cursor appears for a few seconds, the toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen, and then it promptly disappears again. I've tried to click on the start menu button for that small period of time where it's on the screen, but either I'm not fast enough or it isn't registering.

These problems have been in place since I restarted my computer immediately after being infected with Spy Falcon. I hadn't taken any steps to deal with the virus -- other than trying to uninstall Spy Falcon -- prior to restarting my computer and finding the desktop display missing.

At that time, my desktop background was still what I had selected, but after running antivirus software that reset the desktop background to a blue field, which it has been ever since. I'm not sure of what to enter at the command prompt in order to try to pull up all the other Windows utilities, so I can't really say what's been knocked out beyond that.

I found the "How to repair Windows XP" link: my computer came with Windows pre-installed, with a few discs from the manufacturer included. They include a "System CD" and three "Recovery CDs." I'm not sure if this is the standard issue warning for all XP Pro discs, but when I put the disc into the drive, it doesn't give me an option of repairing or selectively re-installing certain parts of the OS; all it does is say, "DON'T continue unless you're sure you know what you're doing!" As I am not sure, I haven't continued.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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Hi nycharlie...

This could have been caused by a number of things. We'll try a couple of the most common fixes and see what happens.

Start the machine and open Task Manager. Click on New Task and type regsvr32 /n /i:U shell32 (Note the spaces)...click "Ok".

Any change?

wannabe1

[wannabe1]

Hi nycharlie...

This could have been caused by a number of things. We'll try a couple of the most common fixes and see what happens.

Start the machine and open Task Manager. Click on New Task and type regsvr32 /n /i:U shell32 (Note the spaces)...click "Ok".

Any change?

wannabe1

[nycharlie]

Thanks for your help, wannabe1. I cut and pasted the regsvr32 command into the "New Task" window, but nothing has changed. I did it once with Firefox open and Firefox froze up; I got the hourglass cursor -- could move it with the mouse -- but no go on any other commands. So I shut the computer down, restarted, and re-entered the command. Hit ctrl-alt-del to get to the restart option, but when I hit the "Shut Down" button, the computer froze up again. Haven't tried anything since then.

[wannabe1]

Ok....Strike one!

Download the attached zip file and extract the file to your desktop. Right-click the extracted file (fixdesktop.reg) and choose "Merge". Accept the change and reboot.

How about now?

wannabe1

Attached Files

•  fixdesktop.zip   579bytes   1662 downloads

[nycharlie]

Hmm, nope, still nothing.

[nycharlie]

I've been poking around a little bit online, and I suspect that at least part of my problem may lie with my wininet.dll. I'm using Windows XP (with SP2 downloaded and installed), and my symptoms are identical to this guy's: http://www.geekstogo...pic=101248&st=0. My computer was infected via an eMedia Codec trojan, resulting in an infection with a file called Downloader.zlob.hr being detected and deleted; I understand this malware sometimes messes with the wininet.dll -- learned that here: http://www.liutiliti...ibrary/wininet/.

Again, I'm hesitant to start messing around in my registry on my own, but thought I'd see if this shed any light on the problem. Thanks!

[wannabe1]

Click Start then Run...type sfc /scannow (Note the space between sfc and /) and press "Enter". You will be asked for your installation cd, so have it handy. Wait for the scan to finish (this might take up to an hour). When it's finished, click Start then Run...type chkdsk /r (Again...note the space) and reboot when prompted (type Y and press Enter). This will run on boot-up so restart will take a while...be patient.

[computerwiz12890]

If sfc /scannow and chkdsk /r don't work, try this:

Download Dial-a-fix from http://fileforum.bet...ll/1131569373/2

When you download it, double-click on it to extract all of its files. Then open the folder it creates. Double-click on the file called Dial-a-fix.

Check the boxes next to these items (in order from Top-left to Bottom-right):
Install Windows Script Host
Install VB6 runtime
Install VC6 runtime
Empty temp folders
ActiveX controls/codecs
Programming cores/runtimes
Explorer/IE/OE/shell/WMP
Object Linking libraries (OLE)

After all those are checked, click on GO at the bottom. When it is done fixing, restart your computer and see if it is fixed.

Edited by computerwiz12890, 13 March 2006 - 12:38 PM.

[nycharlie]

Okay, tried sfc /scannow and chkdsk /r and still no change. I don't know if this is a good sign or a bad one, but the computer never requested the installation CD. Now I'm on to Dial-a-Fix. Fingers crossed . . .

[nycharlie]

I've successfully run all the Dial-a-Fix remedies, except for the Explorer/ IE/ OE /Shell / WMP category. There, the program just gets hung up on shell32.dll and stays there for hours, trying to register the dll. I checked the "Debug Mode" box and it actually said that the shell32.dll was successfully registered, so it could be a problem with the one immediately following that one, the shimgvw.dll. Any idea what's causing this? Thanks.

[computerwiz12890]

It may have been deleted. I searched on google and this is what I found about it:

shimgvw.dll is a library which contains COM functions used for image rendering.

So...I think it would be easier to do a Windows XP repair. Apparently you're missing critical files, or they have become corrupted.

You will need an XP CD in order to do a repair. If you're not sure how to do a repair, check out the following link: http://www.geekstogo...ws-XP-t138.html

If you have problems, here is an alternate way to repair XP:

Alternate XP Repair Method

Windows XP repair feature won't delete your data, installed programs, personal information, or settings. It just repairs the operating system. After running XP Repair you will need to install all Windows Updates:

Microsoft Update

Edited by computerwiz12890, 14 March 2006 - 07:47 AM.

[wannabe1]

Before you run the Repair. try replacing just that file.

Download the attached zip and extract it to C:\Windows\System32

Then try the Dial-a-fix again.

Attached Files

•  shimgvw.zip   172.53KB   602 downloads

[nycharlie]

Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is, my computer is up and running again, and all seems well. The bad news is that I had to reformat the hard drive to get it to this point. Not the end of the world: I backed up all of my documents, but have spent much of today putting all the software back where it belongs. Thanks anyway for all your help!

[computerwiz12890]

Well...that's one way to solve the problem.

Glad you got it fixed.

Edited by computerwiz12890, 15 March 2006 - 07:00 PM.