Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

Permission Problem After Uninstalling a Rogue Program

Jul 4, 2012 1:56AM PDT

Hello - I hope someone can help.

I believe I am having user permission issues, which is manifesting itself with 3 symptoms:
1. My Quick Launch icons are no longer visible on taskbar on my desktop, even though I can still see the shortcuts in Windows Explorer.
2. I can't run any programs from the shortcuts via the "normal way" in Start\Programs\... and then selecting the appropriate program to run. But, if I use Windows Explorer to navigate to the appropriate executable, such as Excel.exe, then the program launches.
3. Internet Explorer doesn't work. By that I mean that when I run iexplore.exe, the application opens, but the screen is blank, my homepage (google.com) doesn't load, and all buttons within the app don't work. I need to use Task Manager to shut down IE.

This all started when I downloaded a utility. The program didn't do what I thought it was supposed to, so I uninstalled it. Immediately after the uninstall was when my Quick Launch icons dissappeared.

I have read online (with another PC) that the reason I can run a program from within Windows Explorer, but not from Start\Programs, is because the folder and file permissions have been changed from their proper values. But, I have't found anything suitable that restores these to their proper values, if indeed that is the problem.

To date, I have done the following:
Run Microsoft Forefront scan - no issues
Run MalewareBytes AntiMalware - found a couple of very minor items, but removing these did not help
Rn Combofix - no issues found
Had another user at work log in with his profile, just in case that just my user profile was corrupt somehow. He had the same user issues that I had - even with his user profile.
Tried some misc Registry fixes, but that did not work.

I am running Windows XP SP3 and IE7.

I spoke to a 2nd Level Support person who said they had seen these issues twice before, and both times, the only thing that would work was to reload the machine. I will do this if I have to, but if anyone has any advice before I do this, I will defintely appreciate it.

Many thanks.
Scotty81

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
Did you try a new account?
Jul 4, 2012 2:10AM PDT

The issue of the corrupt profile has dogged Microsoft so long but let's skip the history lesson and read what Microsoft writes on how to fix this -> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811151

I read you tried another profile but what about a new profile?

And then you may have told it but I don't see if you created a new shortcut or checked permissions, ownership of everything. That work is usually too much to ask of the users.
Bob

- Collapse -
Yes, I tried a new user account
Jul 4, 2012 5:58AM PDT

Yes, when I tried another profile, it was actually a new profile. I didn't specifically check ownership and permissions of folders, but I just suspect that this is an issue. For example, if I try to drag a file from the desktop onto the quick launch bar, I used to be able to do that, but now, I just get a circle with a diagonal line through it, the moment I touch Quick Launch bar territory.

If you would like to me to check any advanced items, I can do that as long as you provide a link for instructions.

Thanks,
Scotty

- Collapse -
Sadly I can't do that.
Jul 4, 2012 6:07AM PDT

There are many web pages on file attributes, permissions and ownerships (that's no less than 3 areas to check alone!) and I can't condense a tutorial to fit in this small text box.

Your IT staffer should have this skill from their classes and work experiences. I suggest you use google and the MSDN site if you need to catch up on this area today. Again, sorry but I have yet to find a tutorial that I like on this and prefer to teach this in the classroom.
Bob

- Collapse -
Answer
Bad news...
Jul 25, 2012 1:33PM PDT

Scotty81,

Can't say this is exactly the same thing, but I have been through something very similar to this with my sister-in-law's computer last December.

First off, she had clicked on one of the phony AV scams that told her she had dozens of viruses on her computer. When she did that, she got continuous popups that couldn't be stopped and all of the shortcuts to her programs were changed and moved to a temporary folder (like you described), and her desktop icons were all gone. Sound vaguely familiar?

So, my advice: DO NOT any type of cleanup program that deletes all the temporary files & internet cache on the computer, or you will no doubt have to reinstall it all through Restore or Factory Recovery. Once the cleanup program (CleanUp, CCleaner, etc) deletes those "changed & relocated" shortcuts, you're mostly sunk. Like you, I could also navigate to the directories with the executables and run programs, but the changed/moved shortcuts was just the beginning of the problem...

To me, and I'm not a professional, it sounds like the virus/trojan/malware could have been embedded in the utility file you grabbed off the net, OR you just happened upon one of the false AV alerts about the same time and didn't realize it. Like you, I ran most of the identify/repair utilities out there, and none brought up or effectively repaired the problem. I ended up at bleepingcomputer.com trying to work out a fix, but things just got progressively worse and worse until even her restore points & recovery partition got infected. That took about two weeks of diligent efforts on the part of the BComputer helper and myself. It was a sad result that required me to procure her original HP Recovery disks through the mail and put her right, losing all of her music (Itunes) files, and more... Neither of us was very happy with the result.

My suggestion is to (#1) talk to someone very knowledgeable (local computer tech) about these false AV-type warnings (or your possibly bringing the infected file through your download) and the subsequent relocation of shortcuts, etc. and see if they think your situation is still repairable. The (#2) second thing I might suggest is, if you can't afford / don't trust a local tech, then go directly to either a good known restore point and give it a try, or do a full factory recovery, if you believe the case is already lost. If you have a restore point preceding the incident of downloading the utility that caused the problem, you might get lucky and get your machine back with all your undamaged shortcuts/files on it. The next step would be the factory restore, hoping that whatever the bug is, hasn't unleashed itself on your restore partition as well.

Good luck - hope this helps.