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General discussion

Deleting registry value file

Dec 22, 2012 3:09AM PST

I have an Acer Aspire 5610 Laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium. Every time my computer boots up I get this error "Could not load Users\Kevin\LOCALS~1\Temp\1f71ffe60019e08e.exe "

So I found the problem by going to "Regedit" then onto "HKEY _CURRENT_USER" >"Software">"Microwsoft">"Win NT">Current Users>Windows>Load> C:\Users\Kevin\LOCALS~1\Temp\1f71ffe60019e08e.exe I tried deleting this value but all I get is

"Deleting certain registry values could cause system instability are you sure you want to permanently delete this value?"

I then click yes and get "Unable to delete all specified values"

What am I doing wrong? Thanks

Regardless, the fact remains that I have a registry entry pointing to an executable that no longer exists.

Discussion is locked

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Use MSCONFIG, not REGEDIT
Dec 22, 2012 3:23AM PST

Hold down the Windows key and press R. Type MSCONFIG and hit enter. Click the Startup tab. This will show the list of things Windows tries to start when you boot up. You can uncheck anything there but your antivirus program, but try to leave the hardware related things and only remove 2 or 3 things at a time until you find the culprit.
Be glad you were unable to edit the registry. You can easily cause yourself problems that're very difficult to diagnose doing that.

Good luck.

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There's a bit more to this.
Dec 22, 2012 4:54AM PST

Just like NTFS file permissions the registry keys have permissions as well. I see no problem in editing the registry but suggest better tools such as HIJACKTHIS to remove items like this to keep folk out of regedit.

But if you must, be sure to read an article about registry permissions first.
Bob

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Re: executable that no longer exists.
Dec 22, 2012 4:58AM PST

Most likely causes:
1. Left over from an install of a (downloaded) program.
2. Malware that settled itself there (in that temp folder), but was removed by one of your security programs.

Kees

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Re: executable that no longer exists
Dec 22, 2012 12:22PM PST

Could not find in MSCONFIG>startup Sad

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(NT) Is it listed in the HIJACKTHIS log?
Dec 23, 2012 2:01AM PST