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Resolved Question

XP losing file associations

Aug 13, 2011 1:46AM PDT

System is a Dell Latitude D630 running XP pro with service pack 3.

After catching a virus I cleaned the system with Malaware and Symantec .
All seemed OK until I tried printing and found the print spooler was not running. After getting advice on this forum, this was resolved by loading and running SUPERantispyware. See another thread.


However after running SUPERantispyware I had lost the file associations and couldn't run ANY .exe programs. I dowloaded a fix from Dougknox.com which restores the registry to its initial settings and all seemed fine again.

Except... when I restart the computer I find I've lost the associations again. I then run the fix and all is fine.
How do I get XP to remember the associations ?

Discussion is locked

Hollean has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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That's a sign. Not a good one.
Aug 13, 2011 1:55AM PDT

That some malware is still there or the damage was pretty deep.

Grif has written about this and we often find that we also get to remove Norton then run all the tools Grif notes until it's clean.

Read Grif's notes at 7726-6132_102-5098912.html?tag=posts;msg5099421

Bob

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This may apply
Aug 13, 2011 5:03AM PDT
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It did apply ! Problem seems to be solved.
Aug 13, 2011 5:53AM PDT

Your link led me to a description of someone else having exactly the same problem.

I downloaded the SAS fix which enabled .exe to run but still had the problem reverting on start up.

It was necessary to view the scan log, and restore an item which had been quarantined.

System.BrokenFileAssociation HKCR\.exe

Once I restored that, the exe works again after reboot.

Hopefully this is the end of my woes.
Thanks

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(NT) Your welcome.
Aug 14, 2011 2:29AM PDT
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Most helpful
Aug 14, 2011 7:27AM PDT

Thanks bhringer. it was your reply that led me to the answer. Somehow Bobs reply is identified as the best answer. I don't know how that happened. i must have clicked on something, and now I can't see how to change it.
Muchas gracias.

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Bob's your uncle
Aug 15, 2011 1:34AM PDT

For accuracy and the benefit of othes seeking an answer I suppose it should be changed, not that Bob's answer is wrong, just not necessarily the best answer for your particular issue. Editing by the original poster(yourself)is not allowed. However, since Bob is a moderator perhaps he could resolve this and you could then mark my reply as best answer.