[JCalahan]

This morning my computer started running very slow, and I restarted it as I usually do in these situations. However, when Windows started up, my desktop would not open and I received an error message that says "EXPLORER.EXE-unable to locate component WININET.dll was not found Re-installing the app.may fix this."

I cannot start Windows in Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking--but I can start Windows in Safe Mode with Command Prompt. Once when I rebooted, my OS suggested I run chkdsk, and it found lots and lots of corrupted files and indexes. However, when it finished, the same situation existed--no change.

I found previous forum topics that dealt with this same issue, and I was able to run a copy of Smitrem.exe from a CD on the affected machine via the Command Prompt--however, after having run the Smitrem, the situation is the same. I cannot access the Smitrem results .txt file to post it without some help (I'm not that good with the Command Prompt commands).

Not sure what my next move is. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Advertisements]

I would try a repair install.

Troj/Zlob-AO likes to hook itself into WININET.dll, so once you do a repair install (if that fixes the boot problem), please post up in the Malware forum to get rid of any nasties you may have on your system.

[diabillic]

I would try a repair install.

Troj/Zlob-AO likes to hook itself into WININET.dll, so once you do a repair install (if that fixes the boot problem), please post up in the Malware forum to get rid of any nasties you may have on your system.

[JCalahan]

I replaced the wininet.dll file and now Windows starts but the desktop keeps restarting every few seconds. From all that I can tell, this is definitely a virus/malware problem, so I've started a new thread in the malware forum.