own
11-05-2002, 09:12 PM
My girlfriend's parent's computer is having problems. I suspect it's a virus. Since I live about 15 miles from them, I just wrote down as much info as I could since I couldn't relay back n forth with problems.
Ok, first thing, when windows ME first boots it has one error message that says "Money Express is unable to start.". Another one says "Windows encountered an error accessing the registry. Windows will repair the registry for you and restart the computer." When you hit Ok, it restarts the computer, and just does the same thing over and over everytime you restart. The only way to get into the computer without shutting down is Cntrl alt delete and shut down the registry scanner thing.
Here are some other things that are happening. Everytime you run Internet Explorer it says that it isn't set to default and blah, even though there is no other internet browser on the computer. Even if you change it to default, the next time you run it, it says the same thing. Now, when inside Internet Explorer, if you just click on any text box to enter info(like the google search box, or like the box that i'm entering this text into now) it pops up with this error - "Explorer has caused an error in MSHTML.DLL. Explorer will now close." and then it closes IE.
Ok, here are some more things. When you click on the start menu in the bottom left it just freezes into the clicked position and doesn't open. When you enter the Program Files or Windows folder the only thing it shows is a couple %THESDIRNAME%'s. When you try to run Windows Media Player it says "An internal application error has occured."
When you try to run Windows Update, nothing happens at all. And if you go to the microsoft website and try to go to the windows update page there, it is blank. Also, the following programs won't open - System Information, or System Restore. And when you run Norton Antivirus 2002, it gives the error - "Norton Integor can't innitialize current frame class".
Oh, and also when you try to run Microsoft Works it says "Works can't access one or more required files."
I have no idea if they downloaded anything recently that infected their computer, they said they didn't, but her younger brother might have... also it could be through email or something. And the only changes I know for a fact they made recently with their computer is they installed a new stick of RAM. I didn't think that the RAM would be causing all these software errors though.
If it was my computer I would just format and reinstall everything, but since it isn't, is there any other way to fix this problem which is easier then having them back everything important up? Doesn't matter either way, I just wanted your input on what happened to this system, and what are some ways to fix it.
Thanks.
Ok, first thing, when windows ME first boots it has one error message that says "Money Express is unable to start.". Another one says "Windows encountered an error accessing the registry. Windows will repair the registry for you and restart the computer." When you hit Ok, it restarts the computer, and just does the same thing over and over everytime you restart. The only way to get into the computer without shutting down is Cntrl alt delete and shut down the registry scanner thing.
Here are some other things that are happening. Everytime you run Internet Explorer it says that it isn't set to default and blah, even though there is no other internet browser on the computer. Even if you change it to default, the next time you run it, it says the same thing. Now, when inside Internet Explorer, if you just click on any text box to enter info(like the google search box, or like the box that i'm entering this text into now) it pops up with this error - "Explorer has caused an error in MSHTML.DLL. Explorer will now close." and then it closes IE.
Ok, here are some more things. When you click on the start menu in the bottom left it just freezes into the clicked position and doesn't open. When you enter the Program Files or Windows folder the only thing it shows is a couple %THESDIRNAME%'s. When you try to run Windows Media Player it says "An internal application error has occured."
When you try to run Windows Update, nothing happens at all. And if you go to the microsoft website and try to go to the windows update page there, it is blank. Also, the following programs won't open - System Information, or System Restore. And when you run Norton Antivirus 2002, it gives the error - "Norton Integor can't innitialize current frame class".
Oh, and also when you try to run Microsoft Works it says "Works can't access one or more required files."
I have no idea if they downloaded anything recently that infected their computer, they said they didn't, but her younger brother might have... also it could be through email or something. And the only changes I know for a fact they made recently with their computer is they installed a new stick of RAM. I didn't think that the RAM would be causing all these software errors though.
If it was my computer I would just format and reinstall everything, but since it isn't, is there any other way to fix this problem which is easier then having them back everything important up? Doesn't matter either way, I just wanted your input on what happened to this system, and what are some ways to fix it.
Thanks.