missing 1/2 of my 'programs' list in 'start'

[billward]

semi-literate user here....
#1
caught what looked like a bug, today--from an emial, I'm guessing-- everything slowed down until it virtually stopped and I manually powered down/into safe mode to work on it. It cost me an entire am to run thru all my virus 'catchers' (and came up with exactly NOTHING to show for it!!) whatever it was has, I guess, been erradicated, as everything feels back to normal.
everything looks ok(except a couple of desktop icons were rearranged--but that can/does happen anyway). As I said--every looks/seems to be ok.
However when I went into 'start' all the info that should be showing on the left side of that 1st page is blank! all the names on the right seems ok/present. AND when I go to 'all progs' there are no "obvious' omissions(not that I'm sure I'd recognize that one!)

any great ideas as to where all those entries went AND how to get them back???

#2
I've been using comodo bkup(goes off like every night and is NOT an online bkup) and NOW, when I actually need it to get the 5/12 data, I cannot access it(but that's grist for a later discussion!!!!)...so there are, apparently, for all intents/purposes NO backups to pull from. it only tells me "unabgle to open bkup file"... no matter which entry I highlight.

This was(supposedly) setup by the tech that did the work on this new box so it 'should' have been ok(NOT!!!). any insight into what I can/need to do to get the backup part to work properly for the restore part CAN work? or am I just not figuring out what it's really telling me to do?

thanks for any info.

 

[Britton30]

Welcome billward. I will assume you don't have a physical Windows 7 disk since you have a HP computer. Does your system have a recovery option? This will restore it back to factory condition, which I assume you don't want.
You might try to go to the programs' exe files that are missing and right click/pin to start menu and see if that works.

 

[gregrocker]

Run Malwarebytes to see if any infection remains. It may already be too late to save your installation but you can try once it's clean by running SFC -SCANNOW Command, or...

Copy out your files to quarantine to scan repeatedly before reimporting, then run factory Recovery from boot or Recovery Disks: HP Backup and Recovery Manager

If Recovery won't run and you didn't make the disks, order them from HP tech Support or find a Win7 installer for your version to clean reinstall with the Product Key on COA sticker: Reinstalling Windows 7

 

[whs]

#1) those are just shortcuts (probably only from temporary recent programs) that you can easily replace. Just go into All Programs or Program files and pin the .exe of those programs to the start menu.

#2) no idea regarding Comodo. The problem with all those automated backups (including the Windows facilities) is that you do not know what they are doing. I suggest you plainly copy your files from time to time to an external drive. Then you know how to deal with them. For that I would use: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/516-context-menu-add-copy-folder-move-folder.html

 

[billward]

thanks for the responses!

remember that I said everything seemed ok??? well, seems that when pc doesnt have anything to do for a time(period unknown) it freezes up! have had to 'hard kill' it 3x since the orig post. I only had a 5min screen blank (where ever that resides--cant seem to re-find it right now)......well this certainly wont do!
guess its into the shop tomorrow.

 

[gregrocker]

Run through these basic troubleshooting steps.

What were the results for each of the previous suggestions given?

 

[billward]

hey rocker... thanks for the great info...unfortunately, for me, most of it is beyond my ken...just know enough about what i'm doin to get me into deeeep do-do

 

[fimble]

Suggest you Download TDSSKiller and run it in Safe Mode to rule out a prevalent RootKit that is doing the rounds.

 

[gregrocker]

hey rocker... thanks for the great info...unfortunately, for me, most of it is beyond my ken...just know enough about what i'm doin to get me into deeeep do-do

This is how you learn. Ask back any question on how to do the steps given. Most have illustrated tutorials in the light blue links.

 

[billward]

fimble...
why, when the TDSSKiller inof says safe OR normal modes, did you pick safe?????????? what would the difference be?

it also says 'utility automatically selects an action (Cure or Delete) \"--what does it do thru 'cure"?

if I read it right, it also tells that it has gui AND can also use the cmdline--why would anyone use the cmdline interface when gui is provided??? as they invoke the same software is there any benefit to it?

 

[fimble]

In Safe Mode, if there is any nasties in there, theoretically they wouldn't be running.

The command line option is there because often the rootkit this deals with will eventually close down access to your "Normal Mode" and your "Safe (normal) Mode".

it also says 'utility automatically selects an action (Cure or Delete) \"--what does it do thru 'cure"?

I'll be honest, I don't know!