No explorer.exe on startup, virus's and other problams.

Associate
Joined
22 Apr 2006
Posts
313
Hi there

A few days ago my PC got infected with some Spyware, AVcare, a bogus anti virus software. I removed it pretty swiftly but after that my PC became slow, constantly crashed and there was always a iexplorer.exe process running that would produce pop ups even though I never use internet explorer.

So i ran some scans and anti Virus and spyware utilities, and after running one, explorer.exe no longer runs on startup, and it can't be opened with task manager either, it displays an error message saying it can not find process.

I've looked around on the net and haven't found any solutions. There was one about deleting a registry entry under localmachine/software/microsoftNT/currentversion/image something something/explorer.exe but that registy entry wasn't there for me so I couldn't do that.

So....

  • Does anyone have any idea how to fix this and get explorer.exe running again so I can access the task bar and other useful things?

However, I've basicaly accepted I'm going to have to a reinstall or a system restore, so if I can't get a Solution to my first problem then...

  • How to I access the system restore wizard without using the task bar? Is there a process I can activate.

  • How do I access my files and folders to copy them over to a removeable hard drive without using the task bar? I have a lot of MP3s and AVI's i don't want to have to re burn.
  • I've read my problem might be a virus, and might be a able to infect MP3s and things so it would basically transfer itself staight onto my clean install or the other PCs in the house if I'm not careful. Is there any truth to this?

Thanks a lot for any help. the only process i know how to run with the task manager is firefox.exe so at the moment any help would be much appreciated.

Regards
Steve
 
Are you able to boot into safe mode?

Personally i'd never be happy using a tainted PC however clean it seems afterwards so I'd boot up using a Linux live CD, copy your data off and format and start from scratch.
 
Start -> Run (or Windows Key + R) and type in 'explorer'.

That will get you explorer back, or new task in task manager, same thing.

Depending on how much data you've got I suggest burning it all to DVD and scanning the DVD's for viruses before

Update and Run MalwareBytes & Avira AV aswell.
 
I can't boot into safe mode but explorer.exe is not working in there either.
I do have a linux installation that I haven't been on in a while, i'll go into that and see If I can get my data back.
I'll see how much data I have, and if burning them onto DVD's is feasible.

Is there any way to to access the system restore thing?
 
Back
Top Bottom