vista defender pro messed everything up please help

mreid10 · Mar 31, 2010

Okay so i really messed up my laptop tonight. Somehow I downloaded Vista Defender Pro and it totally messed everything up. I wasn't allowed to go online cause the virus blocked it so i couldnt download spyhunter. I read up on being able to do it manually and i deleted a few registry keys and now i can't open ANY program, I cant even go back to regedit to put the information back in for each registry that i deleted. Everytime i open a program or IE it says "This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association in the Set Associations control panel." I have no idea what this means but i tried searching the set associations control panel and couldnt find anything, please help!

tom982 · Mar 31, 2010

You haven't told us what OS you are running? Before we try more complicated methods, can you run system restore?

tom982 · Mar 31, 2010

Here are a few idea's for you: First, boot into Safe Mode With Networking. That sometimes keeps malware from protecting itself. Then, if you have an anti-virus, make sure it has the latest virus definitions and run a full scan with it. If you don’t have one, many people here swear by Malwarebytes (it’s free). I suggest you also download Ad-Aware Free and Spybot S&D (they’re free), install them, update them and run full scans with them in Safe Mode With Networking. Also, turn off System Restore to evict any copies of bad stuff that might be lurking there. To get into Safe Mode with Networking: 1. Log out and reboot your machine. 2. When the machine starts the reboot sequence, press the F8 key repeatedly. 3. Select Safe Mode with Networking from the resulting menu. 4. Login. If the malware has changed your password, try logging in as Administrator. By default, Administrator has no password. 5. The machine will continue booting, but the Windows desktop will look different. 6. When you're finished doing what you need to do, log out and reboot back into normal mode. Another trick that may enable anti-malware and/or its installer program to sneak past the malware is to change the name of the anti-malware program itself. The names of the files and their locations differ between anti-malware programs, but the procedure is always the same: 1. In Windows Explorer, find the folder with the anti-malware. 2. Change the name of the program (it always ends with a .exe) to virtually anything else, but keep the “.exe” part. 3. Run that. Note that even if the anti-malware programs get rid of the malware, they may not be able to reverse the effects. Search the Web for possible fixes. Update and run full scans regularly, not just when you think you already have malware. Good luck. Ad-Aware Free (free): Ad-Aware by Lavasoft - Antivirus software, free spyware removal, firewall Spybot S & D (free): The home of Spybot-S&D! MalwareBytes (free) Malwarebytes (If the program doesn’t run, changing its filename from mbam.exe to something else ending in .exe has sometimes proven effective.) AVG anti-virus (free): AVG Free - Free Antivirus Download Avast! (free): http://www.avast.com/ Kaspersky (free trial) (Seems to dislike installing on any machine with just about any other decent anti-malware, including some firewalls.): Free Anti-Virus Products & Free Trials - Kasperky Lab United States

tom982 · Mar 31, 2010

Here are a few idea's for you: First, boot into Safe Mode With Networking. That sometimes keeps malware from protecting itself. Then, if you have an anti-virus, make sure it has the latest virus definitions and run a full scan with it. If you don’t have one, many people here swear by Malwarebytes (it’s free). I suggest you also download Ad-Aware Free and Spybot S&D (they’re free), install them, update them and run full scans with them in Safe Mode With Networking. Also, turn off System Restore to evict any copies of bad stuff that might be lurking there. To get into Safe Mode with Networking: 1. Log out and reboot your machine. 2. When the machine starts the reboot sequence, press the F8 key repeatedly. 3. Select Safe Mode with Networking from the resulting menu. 4. Login. If the malware has changed your password, try logging in as Administrator. By default, Administrator has no password. 5. The machine will continue booting, but the Windows desktop will look different. 6. When you're finished doing what you need to do, log out and reboot back into normal mode. Another trick that may enable anti-malware and/or its installer program to sneak past the malware is to change the name of the anti-malware program itself. The names of the files and their locations differ between anti-malware programs, but the procedure is always the same: 1. In Windows Explorer, find the folder with the anti-malware. 2. Change the name of the program (it always ends with a .exe) to virtually anything else, but keep the “.exe” part. 3. Run that. Note that even if the anti-malware programs get rid of the malware, they may not be able to reverse the effects. Search the Web for possible fixes. Update and run full scans regularly, not just when you think you already have malware. Good luck. Ad-Aware Free (free): http://www.lavasoftusa.com/ Spybot S & D (free): http://www.spybot.com MalwareBytes (free) http://www.malwarebytes.org/ AVG anti-virus (free): http://free.grisoft.com/doc/2/lng/us/tpl Avast! (free): http://www.avast.com Kaspersky (free trial) http://usa.kaspersky.com/downloads/

tom982 · Mar 31, 2010

Sorry about the text, it was broken up as i wrote it, but it went into one paragraph when i posted it

tom982 · Mar 31, 2010

Or you could try this:

File association fixes for Windows Vista

This will reset the .exe extensions file association to the default.

richc46 · Mar 31, 2010

From our highly respected tutorial collection, we have this information:

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/69758-default-programs.html

tom982 · Mar 31, 2010

But if you've actually read the link that you have posted, it doesn't have a valid way to reassociate .exe files.

mreid10 · Mar 31, 2010

okay ill try that out thanks.

mreid10 · Mar 31, 2010

okay so i tried the association fix that u posted and that worked. So now I can actually use my antiviruses, which i am running right now and it seems to be going okay. thanks a bunch for your help

Ashvin Busviah · Mar 31, 2010

there is a tool on quick heal anit virus that can remove that.. you target the defender and it remove the virus
Quick Heal AntiVirus 2010 32-bit - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

tom982 · Apr 2, 2010

No problem, glad I could help you out. If it is not too much to ask, and if you feel that I have helped you in a sufficient amount of detail, could you add to my reputation please? It is the small icon that looks like weighing scales in the top right hand corner of the reply box.

Thanks

vista defender pro messed everything up please help

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