extentions are changed from .exe to .lnk How can I reset that?

Viruses and worms
1

Since one week al my program extentions for example word.exe and outlook.exe are changed in word.lnk Now i can’t open any programs anymore by clicking on them. I can redirect by going to my documents and open a word file then it wil open without problems. Can i reset this without format c: ???

Please help me…

I use win XP home

Erik7

2

Lets try this first

Please download Deckard’s System Scanner (DSS) and save it to your Desktop.
[*]Close all other windows before proceeding.
.
FIRST
.
Make sure that DSS.exe is located on your Desktop.
Click on your START button, then choose Run. A little box will appear.
Now copy and paste all the following in bold (including the “” marks) into the run box and click OK.

“%userprofile%\desktop\dss.exe” /daft

This will start DSS in a different way. A small window will appear.
Click on the Scan button.
If it finds faulty file associations, they will appear in red beside a checkbox. If this occurs, just place a tick in the boxes in question.
Click the Fix button.
Re-scan and save a logfile. By default, it will save as daft.txt.

THEN

[*]Double-click on dss.exe and follow the prompts.
[*]When it has finished, dss will open two Notepads main.txt and extra.txt – please copy (CTRL+A and then CTRL+C) and paste (CTRL+V) the contents of main.txt and extra.txt in your next reply.

3

It doesn’t work for me…

Win can’t open the following file dss.exe … If you want to open this file win want’s to know in which program ít’s written. Would you like to search te web or search in a list ( free translate from dutch to english !)

DSS.exe is on my dektop and i did what you told me to do step by step. I can’t open any program anymore not even system recovery

%SystemRoot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe
%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%

Gr Erik

4

If the previous command opened DSS so you could fix the file associations, then try this to get DSS to run. Copy and paste this line into the run box

[/b]“%userprofile%\desktop\dss.exe” /config[/b]

When the dss interface opens, click Uncheck All, then click Select All. Now click Scan.

5

Hi Erik7,

If that won’t work for you, download this tool to fix it for you:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/fileassoc/xp_exe_fix.zip

polonus

6

I hope you don’t mind my stepping in here.

Eric7, if you have Lavasoft’s Ad-Watch installed in your computer, you are another victim to befall the frustrations of the Ad-Watch Automatic setting. See Ad-Watch Setting Can Kill .LNK and .EXE File Extensions. The instructions incorporate the advice provided by Polonus to use Doug Knox file associations fixes.

If this was caused by Ad-Watch, please read the instructions to the end for the reminder to accept the changes when prompted by Ad-Watch. Then, turn off the automatic setting!

7

Hi Corrine,

Thanks for just providing this additional information and seconding the proposed solution, you are welcome,

polonus

8

Hey Thanks,

It was adwatch i think… Now I followed the security garden tips but still not everything is working as before.

Could you help me a little bit more?

Erik 7

9

I finally was able to open run: and execute: system restore or recovery to a previous date, it worked…

Thanx to all…

Erik 7

10

Erik 7, I hope that you have followed all my instructions and changed the Ad-Watch setting from Automatic. Otherwise, you are likely to face the same problem yet again – definitely not a pretty situation.

11

Hi Corrine,

I am sure Erik7 did follow up all of your instructions, I have it at the back of my head now too for when I might come across this again in some particular situation. Software incompatibility can do a lot of things on an OS or inside a browser, you do not reckon with. Remember the days of Win98 SE where the situation was much worse than now with Windows eXPerience , and in Vista, while actually it never totally disappeared, these issues I mean,

polonus