WTF??? Getting error message in Windows desktop... "Trial version of Delphi's trial version expired." HELP!!!!!

jinjen

Senior member
Mar 23, 2000
614
0
0
Masters,

Whenever I am in windows desktop (XP home) and click on either 'my computer',
'control panel' or 'internet explorer', etc., I get an error message that reads:

"This module was compiled with a trial version of Delphi. The trial period has expired."

Thus, I am not able to access my computer or the internet. (but i can access programs
such as MS word or excel)

I called Dell tech support, and the rep tells me that I may have somehow inadverdently
downloaded or installed some sort of program from Delphi which in effect freezes
Windows when the Delphi software expires. After unsuccessfully trying to identify the Delphi
program, the rep suggested that I reinstall Windows.....UUURRRGGGG!!!!

The remedies we tried in vain were:

1. Remove softwares that I didn't use or couldn't identify (from safe mode)
2. Going back several dates for system restore

Is anyone aware of this Delphi problem? I don't want to go through the hassle of reinstalling Windows and lose/backup all my programs and drivers/files.

Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Firus

Senior member
Nov 16, 2001
525
0
0
Google is your Friend:

Problem:

My computer was working just fine until recently. All of a sudden, whenever I try to open My Computer, Control Panel, or Internet Explorer, I get an error, "This module was compiled with a trial version of Delphi. The trial period has expired." What's going on? I've never installed anything Delphi related on this machine.
Answer:

This problem shows up because someone used a trial version of the programming tool Delphi to write some software. They then published that software and it ended up on your computer. Now that this person's trial period of Delphi has expired, so has the software on your computer. Unfortunately, this software appears to be what is called a "Shell Extension," which is a piece of software that Windows loads and talks to whenever you click on a file, open Internet Explorer, and in some other situations as well. We have been able to determine which program is causing this error, however we are still not quite sure how it is finding it's way onto customers' computers.

Note: If you believe that this an application you should not remove please use your own judgement of what you should do.
To remove this software, open up Control Panel via the Start Menu. Some users have reported that the error prevents them from doing this; in this case you will need to boot your computer into Safe Mode. To do this, reboot the machine and press F8 as it is starting up. You will be presented with a list of options, one of which is "Safe Mode." Once you have the Control Panel open, select "Add/Remove Programs." You will see a list of applications installed on your machine. One of these should be called "CPR." Remove this application with the Add/Remove Programs window, and you should see these errors go away. The users that we have spoken to have all reported that this CPR application was not something they intentionally installed, and have not reported any negative side effects from the removal of it.

On rare occasions, using Add/Remove Programs is not enough; a reference to this software is still left on the machine and the error will persist. In this case, you need to delete the offending software manually, and you will need to log back into Safe Mode to do it. Once in Safe Mode, open the Start Menu and select "Run?" In the Run dialog, enter "cmd." This will take you to a DOS window. Navigate to the c:windowssystem32 like so:


cd \windows\system32

and then remove the file manually by typing


erase cpr.dll

Reboot into normal mode and you should see the error go away.


This was taken from http://bdn.borland.com/article/0,1410,31856,00.html