Windows 7: No programs open, virus diagnosis help

I have a friend's laptop so please excuse me for not being 100% informed about it. He said a pop up opened while surfing and he clicked not knowing what it was. He is unsure what it said except that he thought it was a Windows fix box and it said something about an .exe file. There are no longer any fake Windows fix boxes popping up. I am looking at the computer now and no program will open. I have tried every way I can think of to open any program with no luck. The computer "thinks" about it for a second but then nothing. No browsers, no antivirus, nothing. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Can you start in Safe Mode? While in Safe Mode, are you able to open any applications (try the typical Windows applications such as notepad or command prompt)?

If so, we should be able to fix the issue if you can use another computer to download software, put it on a usb drive, and move the software to the infected computer.

I can start notepad, wordpad, etc. in safe mode.

Awesome. Alright, can you download the following and put them on USB?

1. VIPRE Rescue - VIPRE Computer Recovery Solution from Sunbelt Software
2. Fakerean removal tool

You want to unzip the first one in safe mode on the infected computer and let it run. That should clean out the virus. You then want to run the second one in safe mode to fix any file system changes done by the virus.

I will try it, thanks for the advice. I'll let you know in a few either way.

No problem. It'll probably take a few hours to run through, but let us know as soon as you have run both and whether the situation is resolved.

Since it sounds like the scan is going to take some time I may finish working on this in the morning and I will let you know the results asap.

IF the above method my friend writhziden has suggested fails...

IMHO by far the quickest & neatest way to have that computer up & running would be to do a clean install.

A clean installation consists of removing all data from the hard disk by reformatting & reinstalling the operating system and programs to an empty (clean) hard disk.

This can be less " messy" than disinfecting a computer to try to remove malware.


REMEMBER > change all passwords...


Clean Install Windows 7

A good suggestion. Just make sure you backup any important data for your friend and get his consent if the clean install is necessary.

I could not even get the VIPRESCUE to open. Thank you guys so much for the advice but I am just going to give it back and tell him to clean install Windows. It is killing me that I can't figure this out though!