Officially on hiatus ... again.

[genlisae]

Until I get my computer situation sorted, which is looking to be round about ... when it is done. :/

I believe (along with general OS corruption, thank you very much various assorted users of my network who keep leaving me fun presents of the infectious, destructive type. This is not the way to convince me let my computer be the assorted media server on the network to save your HD space.) I will need a new CPU as well. It just isn't "acting right".  Which again I saw coming, in the form of an upgrade if nothing else (I don't remember for sure how old my computer is but I know it is first generation dual core and has just had assorted parts replaced around it ... that needs upgrading on principle)

So pretty much I am at the stage where I can still use things like Photoshop and Word, but when I try to load say games, that doesn't go so well with the "missing .dll" and "can not locate .exe" (or the unistall so I can reinstall them! Manual removal results in "Okay, I can't delete the registry key if it is not damn well here to begin with!") notices and the whole 45 minutes to load The Sims  (WTF? Like 2 months ago it was taking 15 and I have NOT increased the amount of CC, I have actually reduced it) and then have it crash after 5-10 minutes is just frustrating, aggravating and as much as I want to just push through it and get the next chapter finished it is taking the fun out of it!



Not gone, just no sims for a bit.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

There's a couple other things that you can still try that might fix it, depending on if you want to put the effort into it.

First, you can try running a full scan of Malwarebytes &/or Emsisoft
http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free
http://www.emsisoft.com/en/
Both have freeware versions that are a lot better at catching viruses than most normal antivirus programs & will make sure that whatever virus was on there has been completely removed. If you're losing folder permissions, it sounds like there might still be an active virus infection. Be careful with these if you run them. They will show the filepath of everything but they've both also had results for files in my Sims download folder. Look at what is being removed before you remove anything.

Second, if you have your original Windows CD (the Windows that's installed on the computer right now), just put it into the drive, open up command prompt (Start Menu/All Programs/Accessories/Command Prompt). Type "sfc /scannow" into the command prompt (minus quotation marks) & hit enter. This will use the files on the CD to attempt to repair any Windows files that have been broken.

Both of these things can take a long time. It depends on whether you want to put the effort in.

It does sound like reinstalling Windows might be the best option for your computer... but if the issue remains you may want to consider doing a full reformat on your hard drive prior to upgrading to Windows 7. Windows 7 will keep the old Windows files in a "Windows.old" folder in your C drive in most cases & depending on what's causing the problem you might run the risk of reinfecting the computer if the issues are not resolved before you upgrade.

Also, sorry about the anon posts but I wanted to provide whatever help I could. Best of luck!

[genlisae.livejournal.com]

Yeah, already been the Malwarebytes route a few times (it always has issues with files in my Seasons install folder. After the second time it removed seasons on me I learned to read the list! lol) it finds nothing at all. I had hoped it would to begin with since all of this started after the "successful" removal of an infection (I don't remember which one) that infected a lot of files and required a bit of running around finding what didn't work anymore (because I didn't know what half of them were and forgot to do something smart like print the list *headdesk* I swear there are times my braindead amazes me!), reinstalling and tracking down bits of programs. I think I missed putting something back as it just seems to be snowballing from there.

I should probably mention I don't have any sort of resident protection. I don't like them. They are usually big clunky and slow and those that aren't end up that way eventually. I do have a more than decent idea of what process run when and do regular checks and run Malwarebytes weekly, so if the virus was still here, I should have seen evidence of it somewhere. Nothing :/

Unfortunately, I don't have the disk (never did thanks to the wonders of "pre-built" systems). Last time I installed was not with the original disk because the system was purchased through one of the big chain stores and Acer doesn't supply physical copies with pre-built systems. The copy I had was then lent to someone else for the same reason and never seen again.

I do appreciate your help, anon or not! (I have no issues against anon :D ) At this point though, you're right, it probably is just easier to reformat. I have back-ups of everything important which I am in the process of double checking and even when counting in putting everything back and setting it all up again ... less frustrating than trying to track down an issue probably caused by one little file getting deleted somewhere I would never even think to look.