URGENT : Running Spybot - Search and Destroy Gives problems.

[Lakshmi Jagarlapudi]

Hi Everyone,

As per some people recommendations, inorder to clean my pc against virus, I
have downloaded and ran
"Spybot - Search and Destroy" program. After it finished its work , it said
it has cleaned so and so.
However to my utter surprise, now I am not able to use my PC at all.
Whenever I try to any program say ,notepad,
I get the message "This file does not have a program associated with it for
performing this action. Create an association in the
Folder Options Control Panel".

This is so shocking that I tried to fix the virus issue and I am not even
able to start anything or even work on my computer.
Can some body really help. I need real urgent help on this.

Any help is highly appreciated.
Thanks very much,

[Lakshmi Jagarlapudi]

Well everybody out there,

Let me tell you,firstly
the spyboy has created a system restore point before it started its
process.
Then gave me a list of all the problems that my PC had.
And then when I pressed the fix button it has "so-called" fixed. However
that fix ,I think,
has screwed some very basic information in the registry. Because of which
even
basic applications(in fact nothing) are not running.

I was so happy that, it has removed so many unnecessary programs and files,
however it has also
tampered with some very basic required files or registry. So finally I have
restored my PC to a desired restore point.

So everyone out there, do you have any further suggestions at this stage.

Anyway, watchout before you use any kind of such programs.

Waiting for all your updates.
Thanks,
"Lakshmi Jagarlapudi" <jlnar...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:GO0Gc.25625$7t3.3559@attbi_s51...

[Chad Harris]

Lakshimi--

As a longtime Spybot user and sometime reader of their forums, the situation
you are describing is not the normal scenario when using Spybot Search and
destroy, unless you got rid of things you shouldn't have. I also think you
should make a habit of going to Lava Soft's site and downloading AdAware.
If you check, there are a number of posts in this group that do a good job
of listing these type links.

First you mention virus,but not which virus. Are you sure you had a
virus, and did you follow the appropriate steps to remove it. Could you
have had something else--a Trojan, a blended threat? Go to an antivirus
vendor's site like Norton/Symantec at www.symantec.com and get information
on the steps to take and removal tools. Spybot is not used to remove a
virus.

These references may help:

How antivirus software and System Restore work together

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;831829&Product=winxp

What do you need to do in Norton AntiVirus™ after using the Windows™ System
Restore utility?

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/8d071816eedd7cac88256c0e005a96e5/2d41ab369c5f04ec882569510073d04f?OpenDocument&src=bar_sch_nam

Cannot repair, quarantine, or delete a virus found in the _RESTORE or System
volume information folder
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/nav.nsf/d4578f66d8f00a0188256d4e006aaa94/5766df37140aed3b8825696500726d13?OpenDocument&src=bar_sch_nam

Also this is helpful on System Restore from Kelly's XP:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_restore.htm

See also and the KBs linked at the bottom:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;302796&Product=winxp

Reference Site for Virus Info"

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/

I'm going to put a nice list here Hilary Karp posted April 24 in this group
and more than once for aids against Spyware, There are a number of
excellent Spybot tutorials on the web if you google or search for them with
any engine:

There are a variety of online scanners and spyware programs you can try:

Virus Scanning:

http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/license.php
http://security.symantec.com/ssc/home.asp
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp
http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp?id=stinger
http://www.mcafee.com/myapps/mfs/default.asp

Spyware Cleaners:

Cwshredder http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/cwshredder.zip
Spybot Search and Destroy http://www.safer-networking.org
Ad-aware http://www.lavasoftusa.com
Bazooka Adware and Spyware Scanner 1.12
http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10247783.html
Spywareblaster www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html
HijackThis http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=3155

hth,

Chad Harris
______________________________________________________

"Lakshmi Jagarlapudi" <jlnar...@comcast.net> wrote in message

news:Rh1Gc.24994$XM6.8049@attbi_s53...

[Kelly]

Answered in another group. Bottom line in part:

EXE and LNK Fix for Windows XP - Line 12
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

To use the Regedit: Save the REG File to your hard disk. Double click it
and answer yes to the import prompt. REG files can be viewed in Notepad by
right clicking on the file and selecting Edit.

--
All the Best,
Kelly

Microsoft-MVP Windows® XP
2004 Windows MVP "Winny" Award

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

Taskbar Repair Tool Plus!
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

"Lakshmi Jagarlapudi" <jlnar...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:GO0Gc.25625$7t3.3559@attbi_s51...

[Lakshmi Jagarlapudi]

Guys,

Instead of trying to define what is a virus or spyware etc etc..., the
bottomline is that there is a nagging problem in the PC. And Spybot has
detected that when I ran it on my PC. And spybot told that it can fix the
problem, I dont care whether it is a virus or spyware or something else.

And in "so-called" fixing it , it accidentally changed something in the
registry. And this happened not just once but twice. I had to restore my
system twice.

So I would rather put a pull stop to whether we should run spybot or
not.(because it has detected a problem). I would concentrate more on why it
has tampered with registry. Hope I am very clear atleast now.
And if a anit-virus program can fix the problem , I would appreciate if
you can suggest a link where i can download
the program and run it. Or do I have to buy it? I would appreciate any
pointers.

Thanks,

"Kelly" <ke...@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:eFmBk3mY...@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

[Kelly]

You need to pay better mind to what you allow to be fixed. Just as you
should better pay mind to what you allow to accept into your system. I
haven't had the need to run any of these programs on my system. My
children's, yes and more than once from the chat rooms they use daily.

Back to "so-called" fixing it as you stated, the selections are there for
you to "agree" for removal. Several that are listed are a part of Windows
and should not be checked for deletion. Again, if you are going to reply on
a third party app to clean your system, get more familiar with the registry,
Windows keys and paths before "allowing" the cleaner to remove them.

--
All the Best,
Kelly

Microsoft-MVP Windows® XP
2004 Windows MVP "Winny" Award

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

Taskbar Repair Tool Plus!
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

"Lakshmi Jagarlapudi" <jlnar...@comcast.net> wrote in message

news:_wfGc.29470$7t3.4288@attbi_s51...

[Maverick]

i *agree* with lakshmi completely. There *is* a definete problem with
spybot. Agreed that it tries to remove all malicious adware and spyware
but, at the same time, it is doing some really harmful changes with
registry. In my case, it brought my system to such a stage that
scheduled tasks wont run, no program wud install, and nothing, no
setting we changed in our xp environment will be permanent. In simple
words it just junks the registry and in turn, the system. Even restore
point it created was not visible. So, it doesnt matter what we agree to
remove from our system, it disturbs the registry on its own.And what is
required is the solution to this problem !!

Kelly wrote:
> You need to pay better mind to what you allow to be fixed. Just as
you
> should better pay mind to what you allow to accept into your system.
I
> haven't had the need to run any of these programs on my system. My
> children's, yes and more than once from the chat rooms they use
daily.
>
> Back to "so-called" fixing it as you stated, the selections are there
for
> you to "agree" for removal. Several that are listed are a part of
Windows
> and should not be checked for deletion. Again, if you are going to
reply on
> a third party app to clean your system, get more familiar with the
registry,
> Windows keys and paths before "allowing" the cleaner to remove them.
>
> --
> All the Best,
> Kelly
>

> Microsoft-MVP Windows® XP

> >> Microsoft-MVP Windows® XP

[Shenan Stanley]

Maverick wrote:
> i *agree* with lakshmi completely. There *is* a definete problem with
> spybot. Agreed that it tries to remove all malicious adware and
> spyware but, at the same time, it is doing some really harmful
> changes with registry. In my case, it brought my system to such a
> stage that scheduled tasks wont run, no program wud install, and
> nothing, no setting we changed in our xp environment will be
> permanent. In simple words it just junks the registry and in turn,
> the system. Even restore point it created was not visible. So, it
> doesnt matter what we agree to remove from our system, it disturbs
> the registry on its own.And what is required is the solution to this
> problem !!

Seems to be a problem with the particular machine, not the software.

I have ran Spybot on thousands of different configurations, some with as
many as 100 utilized applications on them and had no problems. Some of
these systems could have as many as 100 different users in a given day, many
times that in a given week, doing whatever they wanted on the Internet. I
have removed hundreds of entries at a time on other machines where it was
the first time running Spybot..

The only problems I have ever had were not with Spybot removing the bad
entries, but the applications/associations having been modified/corruputed
by the spyware/adwaremalware previously and "masking" this by probably
performing those functions until they were removed - then the corrupted file
(by the malware) became obvious.

--
<- Shenan ->
--
The information is provided "as is", with no guarantees of
completeness, accuracy or timeliness, and without warranties of any
kind, express or implied. In other words, read up before you take any
advice - you are the one ultimately responsible for your actions.

[Chad Harris]

Lakshmi--

 

Kelly put this really well with Spybot.  Knowing what Virus you have to contend with is the integral part of the bottom line.   You should understand what you're telling Spybot to destroy.   So you need to care whether it is spyware, a virus or something else.  That's not difficult and it's necessary.    One way to know what you are getting rid of is to google it unless you are absolutely sure you know what it is.  And one more caveat without preaching, if you aren't sure  what's going to happen, set a Restore Point--that might have given you a way to quickly reverse what's going on.  That can be an insurance policy for you that takes a couple mouse clicks.   System Restore had an access problem to restore points prior to XP SP1; hopefully it was  ID'd and fixed with SP1. Setting a restore point before doing getting rid of something or doing something consequential is an under-used reflex.

 

You have to evaluate what it finds and decide whether you want to delete it, and sometimes this can be tricky, but most of the time it's obvious and there are plenty of resources within SB and on the site to ID what it's found.   You can always google/search engine to context these items further.  Before you place something that could be useful to you like Spybot S&D  in the "screws me up" category, take the time to read the Help Tutorial (most people don't; far and away most people don't touch Help and Support in Windows XP; and most people don't read the Help on the applications they download and often the ones they buy) and check the forums on the site, and also it has many useful features over on its 'taskbar' on the bottom left--often underused, missed and ignored--"Settings and Tools. Click on these different settings after reading Help and Customize it the way you want.  Tools>Process List and System Startup does a better job of contexting/defining your processes than Task Manager  and msconfig does.  The Uninstall information can also come in handy, particularly because uninstalling is not always a clean problem free process.

 

You might want to look over the Spybot forums and Spybot tutorials here--they may make it a friend instead of something that bugs you or you feel is messing with your registry. 

 

http://forums.net-integration.net/

 

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/index.php?showtutorial=43

 

The reason to care whether "it" or "them" is spyware, a Trojan, a blended threat or whatever, is simply because sometimes viruses and Trojans or blended threats can require special tools and proceedures specific to them and you aren't going to get rid of them or get your machine back unless you use the right one and follow the steps needed.  MSFT has highly increased the profiles of helps to get rid of viruses and links in the last year with their increased emphasis on security.  You might want to be familiar with the tools they have available at

 

http://www.microsoft.com/security/default.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/security/home/

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/default.mspx

 

If I thought I had a virus, I would be going to an Antivirus site to read the info on removing it.   Trend, Kapersky, Symantec (Norton Home and Small Business), AGV (Antivirus Company Sites) are all places to start.  I'd upgrade Windows to SP2 for it's added  Security features now or when it releases soon.

 

hth--best of luck in getting your system going well.

 

Chad Harris

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

"Lakshmi Jagarlapudi" <jlnar...@comcast.net> wrote in message news:_wfGc.29470$7t3.4288@attbi_s51...

[Kelly]

Well said Shenan and Chad.

--
All the Best,
Kelly

Microsoft-MVP Windows® XP

2004 Windows MVP "Winny" Award

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

Taskbar Repair Tool Plus!
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

"Shenan Stanley" <news_...@hushmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23AXfds5...@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

[Pookyjnz]

You can use 'Restore' to put your computer back to the way it was before you
used spybot. Access it through: Click Control Panel, Performance &
Maintanance. At the top left of screen click "System Restore".
This will not take off without you. It's a choose and click thing once you
start into that.
Spyware programs aren't perfected as of yet. It will come up with
'possible' spyware programs. But there is no 'list' that one can look up and
see what to delete or not. Your best bet is a firewall and virus program.
Kim Kommando techie recommends 'Zone Alarm' fire wall. And 'AVG' virus
program. And the best part is they are Free! They work well together.
However, she also recommends you turn off the default firewall that is now in
SP2. As they will conflict. I get her daily news tips and kool sites. It
has lots of info if you're not familiar with a lot of techie info. Look her
up on the net and subscribe.