Can't install any software on laptop, as all tab buttons come up blank

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  1. Posts : 8
    windows 7 home premium 32bit
       #1

    Can't install any software on laptop, as all tab buttons come up blank


    Strange one here. My son's laptop has suddenly developed a problem where any thing he try's to install loads up as a blank screen and the TAB buttons are also blank. Even Windows task manager has no information in it and no tab buttons.
    Tried running Malewarebytes, but that gets displayed in a blank window half the size of the screen, with just an X in the corner.

    His AVAST is showing no problems.

    Any other security software I try to load just gets displayed in a blank screen.

    I am trying to install stuff onto a flashdrive, via my PC, and run in on his laptop, to see if this works.

    Registry Mechanic, works, and showed loads of problems, but still the screen was blank, so we just hit the TAB button that we new was repair.

    Still can't get malewarebytes to run - this gets a runtime error (0)

    Any ideas what could be causing this.

    Please note, my son did have his youtube account hacked, and SKYPE stopped working as well.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 1,870
    MS Windows 7 Professional 64-bit SP1
       #2

    Try scanning in safe mode.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 8
    windows 7 home premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Makes no difference. All we have to scan with at the moment is AVAST, and that comes tell me there are no issues.

    Can't install any other software, as install screens are all blank.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 19,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
       #4

    Hi and Welcome to SevenForums,

    There are a few things I think we could try, but lets start with this:

    In Safe Mode, do the following:

    1. Click Start
    2. In the search box, type cmd
    3. Right-click on cmd.exe, and choose the 'Run as Administrator' option
    4. In the cmd window that opens, type sfc /scannow and hit enter.

    Wait for it to complete, and then post the results back here in your next reply.

    Regards,
    Golden
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 8
    windows 7 home premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Cheers for the reply.

    sfc /scannow displayed the following

    verification 100% complete

    Windows resource protection did not find any integrity violations
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 19,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
       #6

    OK. So its a not a corrupt Windows 7 installation then.

    The best bet is to tackle any potential malware/virus infection from outside the Windows environment. Do this by burning this Microsoft scanner to a blank DVD disc, or USB drive, and then booting from it. It will scan the entire machine, and could take several hours to complete. Make a note of any malware it finds - the type it finds will determine how we proceed from here. Make sure the ethernet cable is plugged into the computer when you run this, so it can update its definitions.

    Windows Defender Offline

    If you have trouble getting it to run, post back here, and I'll recommend an alternative.

    Regards,
    Golden
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 8
    windows 7 home premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #7

    Golden,

    Just running a spybot scan from my flashdrive, then off out for a bit, but will do this later on and post back. Cheers for the help.

    Simon
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 19,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
       #8

    No worries - at this point avoid running anything from within Windows on this machine, until we know what going on.

    Make sure your son has changed all his other account passwords on a known clean computer, on account of the hacked YouTube account.

    If he was networked to other computers (e.g. yours) it wouldn't hurt to scan those computers too, using the same offline approach.

    This is a good alternative to Defender Offline if you have trouble running it:

    1. Download YUMI and save it to your desktop:
    YUMI - Multiboot USB Creator (Windows) | USB Pen Drive Linux

    2. Download the BitDefender Rescue CD from here, (and shown below):
    Index of /rescue_cd
    Can't install any software on laptop, as all tab buttons come up blank-capture.jpg

    2. Run YUMI (its a single exe) and scroll to the very bottom and select Try an unlisted ISO and browse to the BitDefender ISO you downloaded in step 2, as shown here:
    Can't install any software on laptop, as all tab buttons come up blank-capture2.jpg

    Click Create. YUMI will install the ISO to the USB drive, and make it bootable.

    Boot from it - then select the Directly Bootable ISO menu option, and then the BitDefender menu option. Once BitDefender starts, the splash screen will stay on the screen for a few minutes and appear to be not responding, be patient - after a few minutes it will start updating, and then start scanning.

    Regards,
    Golden
    Last edited by Golden; 14 Aug 2012 at 09:59. Reason: add Yumi steps
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 8
    windows 7 home premium 32bit
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Just got round to creating a boot disk. Been a bit busy. Booted from CD, as is it did not like my flash drive, even though I formatted it. It went straight into a quick scan, no options offered. Is that ok, or does it have to be a full scan?

    quick scan finished and there were further options for 'full scan'

    doing this now
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 19,383
    Windows 10 Pro x64 ; Xubuntu x64
       #10

    Thats fine - let it finish scanning, the post back what it finds.
      My Computer


 
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