It can save you from a dead hard drive too, Acadia.
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| Problem With My XP PRO Computer https://computerhaven.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=476 |
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| Author: | chadslink [ Fri Feb 08, 2013 10:51 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
I have an XP Pro Computer that I use primarily for downloading video files to the temporary internet folder. Windows 7 Pro somehow hides them or does not download or sends them off into space or whatever it does with them. I went to the XP computer last night to download some videos and nothing was working right. This computer had SP3 on it and that is gone. Can it just disappear like that? Whenever I navigate to the control panel>Internet Options>Settings>View files, it wont open the temporary files. I can no longer play videos on it I have not added any programs or removed any programs or made any changes to the XP Pro machine for more than 6 months and it was working fine up untill I gave it a try yesterday. The only change I can see are some updates that Microsoft added in January of this year. It shows a method to remove those new updates by going into the control panel and clicking on Add or Remove Programs but there are no KB files shown in the "add remove programs". I think the whole thing is corrupted. Would you suggest I format the drive and re-install XP Pro as a place to start? |
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| Author: | sboots [ Fri Feb 08, 2013 11:36 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
What do you mean by SP3 is gone? No, it cannot disappear or uninstall. To see installed updates in add/remove programs you need to check a box on the window showing the list that says "show updates" A system Restore might be easier than a reinstall... -steve |
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| Author: | jaylach [ Sat Feb 09, 2013 2:00 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
What kind of video sites do you mean? If you are talking Torrent based sites you are probably infected. |
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| Author: | chadslink [ Sat Feb 09, 2013 4:02 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
jaylach wrote: What kind of video sites do you mean? If you are talking Torrent based sites you are probably infected. I have no idea what torrent based sites are. The videos that I am talking about are all from news stations like the Huffington Post, Fox News etc; and quite a few from you tube. |
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| Author: | jaylach [ Sat Feb 09, 2013 4:28 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
OK, those would not be Torrents. Torrents are usually associated with pirated. If a system restore does not do it, being XP, if you have a retail disk you could do a repair install. |
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| Author: | chadslink [ Sat Feb 09, 2013 5:02 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
sboots wrote: What do you mean by SP3 is gone? No, it cannot disappear or uninstall. To see installed updates in add/remove programs you need to check a box on the window showing the list that says "show updates" A system Restore might be easier than a reinstall... -steve That box is checked Steve but absolutely nothing displays in that window, no programs, no SP3, no updates. I cannot even open any programs by clicking on Start>Open all Programs.....nothing happens. |
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| Author: | dvair [ Sat Feb 09, 2013 3:35 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
Sounds like some kind of root-kit virus. |
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| Author: | MacDuffie [ Sat Feb 09, 2013 3:44 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
You're definitely infected, but you'll probably need to run a exe fix tool. I have a registry file that fixes the exe file association. You're going to have to use that first before you can even run any sort of scanner. I'll send you the reg file in a PM. Save it on your computer, then double-click to enter the data into the registry. |
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| Author: | Escalader [ Sun Feb 10, 2013 12:09 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
chadslink wrote: sboots wrote: What do you mean by SP3 is gone? No, it cannot disappear or uninstall. To see installed updates in add/remove programs you need to check a box on the window showing the list that says "show updates" A system Restore might be easier than a reinstall... -steve That box is checked Steve but absolutely nothing displays in that window, no programs, no SP3, no updates. I cannot even open any programs by clicking on Start>Open all Programs.....nothing happens. You are now burdened with an infected computer. The security setup on your xp has let you down but the cow has left the barn and that doesn't help you now. The sites for news , videos are well know for malware. Does this PC still allow you to come to this forum? or are you on a different PC? What orginal disks do you have for it? Do you have the XP PRO install disk(s) Do you have any backup images of your computer that date back to before this disaster. 1) if you have an image from before that is the easiest way to recover. 2) if not then can you back up any data, my guess is no as you say nothing works 3) if these things are not your forte I would get an expert to make a house call or take it in and get them to restore your system and recover as much data as possible 4) if you do not care for 1 2 or 3 then just restore your PC from the orginal disks. If you are over at wilders I can help you more and they have other experts as well. |
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| Author: | Acadia [ Sun Feb 10, 2013 2:55 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
Hopefully our fearless leader's suggestion can help you, I am not familiar with her reg file. If that does not work usually with a rootkit, if that is indeed what you have, the only thing that can save you is to reformat and start from scratch. Of course if you made a back of your entire c:drive in the past you simply need to restore. I've said this so many times, please forgive me folks for repeating: the number one rule of computing is BACK UP, BACK UP, BACK UP. Backing up can save you from everything except a dead hard drive. Acadia |
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| Author: | MacDuffie [ Sun Feb 10, 2013 3:07 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
It can save you from a dead hard drive too, Acadia.
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| Author: | jaylach [ Sun Feb 10, 2013 10:24 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
This is meant for CH staff! Question... I KNOW that it will not help in this case as the OS is XP but say it was Windows 7. We that are concerned with and follow system restore also know about 'Previous Versions'. Since this struck me I'm almost tempted to create a virtual instance on Windows to try. What do you think would happen with an infected Window 7 system that still had a functioning system restore... then go to the Windows folder and do a previous version to before the infection???? I have very strong doubts against but it seems an interesting thought. |
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| Author: | MacDuffie [ Sun Feb 10, 2013 10:28 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
Previous version on the Windows folder? I thought that was a per file thing, not a folder thing. |
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| Author: | jaylach [ Sun Feb 10, 2013 10:37 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
You can also do 'previous version' on folders. I have tested this but only in a data situation... OK, just wind to Windows Explorer and right clicked to Properties for my Windows folder. Under Previous Versions below is what I see. Attachment: windowsfolderpreviousversions.jpg [ 78.82 KiB | Viewed 34351 times ] |
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| Author: | MacDuffie [ Sun Feb 10, 2013 11:30 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
Wow... that's incredible! Wish I'd known about that before. "Previous Versions" disappears in Windows 8. |
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| Author: | dvair [ Sun Feb 10, 2013 11:41 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
On mine the only options are copy and open for C:\. The restore button is greyed out. |
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| Author: | jaylach [ Sun Feb 10, 2013 11:49 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
It IS pretty cool. The only thing I ever did with it was to create a folder and then save a Word file, also copied a few other things to give a little bulk. Totally deleted the Word file and dumped it from Recycle. There was no longer any reference to the file to do a file level previous version. I did a previous version on the folder and it was back. It DOES seem as though it could be of interest in relation to corrupted files in the Windows directory. As a note of interest... Previous Version in any form only works as long as System Restore is enabled. They are related. The abilities of Previous Version can also be seriously compromised if the drive space allocation default for System Restore is made smaller. |
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| Author: | jaylach [ Sun Feb 10, 2013 11:55 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
That's a bummer! Just looked again and grayed out on the Windows directory here too. Guess it's not going to work on a system folder, data only. Since Previous Versions can also be pulled from backups, not just system restore, I wonder if it would make a difference if I had my image drive connected. |
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| Author: | chadslink [ Mon Feb 11, 2013 5:47 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
Escalader wrote: chadslink wrote: sboots wrote: What do you mean by SP3 is gone? No, it cannot disappear or uninstall. To see installed updates in add/remove programs you need to check a box on the window showing the list that says "show updates" A system Restore might be easier than a reinstall... -steve That box is checked Steve but absolutely nothing displays in that window, no programs, no SP3, no updates. I cannot even open any programs by clicking on Start>Open all Programs.....nothing happens. You are now burdened with an infected computer. The security setup on your xp has let you down but the cow has left the barn and that doesn't help you now. The sites for news , videos are well know for malware. Does this PC still allow you to come to this forum? or are you on a different PC? What orginal disks do you have for it? Do you have the XP PRO install disk(s) Do you have any backup images of your computer that date back to before this disaster. 1) if you have an image from before that is the easiest way to recover. 2) if not then can you back up any data, my guess is no as you say nothing works 3) if these things are not your forte I would get an expert to make a house call or take it in and get them to restore your system and recover as much data as possible 4) if you do not care for 1 2 or 3 then just restore your PC from the orginal disks. If you are over at wilders I can help you more and they have other experts as well. Hi Escalader........I do have the Microsoft Windows XP Pro CD for this computer and I think my only way out of this is boot from the XP Pro CD and do a clean install. There is really nothing on this XP Computer worth trying to recover as I use it only for downloading videos to the temporary internet folder. The only programs installed are for playing videos as I sometimes like to see the video before I delete it from the temporary internet files. Anyway, sometime tonight I am going to give it a go and see what happens. |
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| Author: | chadslink [ Wed Feb 13, 2013 12:49 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
sboots wrote: What do you mean by SP3 is gone? No, it cannot disappear or uninstall. To see installed updates in add/remove programs you need to check a box on the window showing the list that says "show updates" A system Restore might be easier than a reinstall... -steve I used my Windows XP Pro CD and did a clean install of Windows XP. Now everything displays in the Add Remove Programs Window whenever I check the "show updates" About 87 updates plus at the very bottom "Windows XP Service Pack 3" is back. I ran a scan using Avast. It tested 6.4gb of data and it does not show any infected files so it looks like I am good to go. |
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| Author: | MacDuffie [ Wed Feb 13, 2013 1:41 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
Good. That's the safest way to go. |
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| Author: | andsome [ Wed Feb 13, 2013 5:43 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
Acadia wrote: Hopefully our fearless leader's suggestion can help you, I am not familiar with her reg file. If that does not work usually with a rootkit, if that is indeed what you have, the only thing that can save you is to reformat and start from scratch. Of course if you made a back of your entire c:drive in the past you simply need to restore. I've said this so many times, please forgive me folks for repeating: the number one rule of computing is BACK UP, BACK UP, BACK UP. Backing up can save you from everything except a dead hard drive. Acadia Could not agree more. There are free programs, but I prefer ACRONIS with a large plug in hard drive. |
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| Author: | MacDuffie [ Wed Feb 13, 2013 12:17 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
And I had nothing but trouble with Acronis. Oh well. |
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| Author: | jaylach [ Wed Feb 13, 2013 9:57 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
I am totally happy with the image backup in Win 7, haven't really tested Win 8's yet... Will do an image with 7 before I get around to testing 8's. Anyway one of the best image backup programs I ever used came with Nero's burning Ultra package. The 'lite' packages had image backup called 'Back UP' but it totally ... put in your own derogative statement... However the Ultra package included an image backup system called BackItUp. At the time I was using Nero I was also a beta tester for Norton. I probably used Nero's BackItUp 100's of times with never an issue or failure. It was/is a pretty nice image backup, sort of miss it a bit. |
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| Author: | JoanA [ Thu Feb 14, 2013 12:24 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Problem With My XP PRO Computer |
I remember the Nero's BackItUp I had it when I was running XP but never actually used it. I've had Acronis for several years. |
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