nesty avs.exe virus screwed up my OS

[shreeit]

Hi:

I got AVS.exe malware. I deleted that file. but now none of my *.exe file works. when I try to run any *.exe file, it ask which program to choose to run like any other extension? any easy remedy? if I reinstall OS (WinXP pro) am I loose all other programs and/or data?

Thanks

shreeit

 

[Raduque]

My mother got hit by that one recently. I killed the process and did a system restore, but she runs Vista.

You're going to have to do it a little more involved:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe]
[-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\secfile]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\secfile]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe\shell\open\command]
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\exefile\shell\open\command]
@="\"%1\" %*"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe]
@="exefile"
"Content Type"="application/x-msdownload"

Copy all the text from inside the quote box, paste it into a notepad file and save it as "fix.reg" You'll have to do this on another computer.

 

[shreeit]

I got simila fix from other place but my issue is how can I run this fix. I can't open explaore.exe or any other *.exe. I have this file in my jump drive but how can I run it?

 

[bruceb]

Do it this way:
From this link:

http://www.supertechtips.info/fix-windows-file-association-problems.html

EXE File Association Problem

This is the most common file association problem in Windows XP. You’d know you have this problem when you try to open a program and Windows tells you that it cannot open the program because it doesn’t know what program created it and prompts you to manually look for the program. A probable cause of this is a virus which modifies the Windows Registry such as the SirCam virus or a *Nhatquanglan Virus.
How to fix this problem
To try and fix it yourself, you need to download and merge this zip file which contains the settings to correct the EXE file association problem - extract and save it on a folder. Remember the folder because you’d be going back to it later on.
But because your EXE file association is corrupted in the first place, you’d be having a hard time importing the REG file that follows because you won’t be able to start Windows XP’s Registry Editor (because it is an EXE).
To work around that, you have to launch the Registry Editor through the command prompt which you open up through the Task Manager. Here are the steps:

1. Open up Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del
2. Click on File, then, while holding the Ctrl key, click on New Task (Run&#8230😉
3. This will open up a Command Prompt. From there, you can open up the Registry Editor by typing “regedit” (without the quotes).

With the Registry Editor open, you can now import the REG file which you can use to fix the EXE file association problem. Click on File, then Import - and look for the REG file you have extracted (the xp_exe_fix.reg file).
Windows XP will now tell you that you have successfully imported the file. Restart your PC and hopefully you have repaired the EXE file association problem you were having. With the problem gone, you can now download, unzip and merge the registry patches.

 

[Raduque]

Bruce, that's not going to work either. The command prompt will call the file to open it, but Windows still won't know what to do with it.

For the OP: http://www.raduque.com/fixexe.reg right click, save as. Make sure it still has the .reg extension and run it. When it asks you to merge it, click "yes" or "ok". After it says it was successful, reboot and you should be back in business.

 

[bruceb]

That link in my post, was showing how to get around a "Can't run .exe" issue which the OP is having. The directions specify how to fix this when virus does something so you can't run .exe .. he can try your method, but from the other posts, I do not see it working. Time will tell, when the OP updates us.

 

[thirtythree]

This is essentially the same thing others have posted, but here is the Microsoft support page on fixing it. It requires you to manually edit regedit (just one value).

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555067