Windows 7 64bit - 32bit programs corrupted

[SadPanda]

Hey guys,

I'm in a very desperate situation... I have an Alienware M17x with as many upgrades as I could have got.

I use my computer for work, and i have to be up in 5.5 hours to get a lot of stuff done..

Today, something strange was happening with IE8, where google results would open in some weird redirect program. So, I installed Adaware Free edition. I already had Spybot S&D installed, so I ran a full AVG scan, a full Adaware scan, and a full S&D scan.

I found a few Pieces of malware, which Spybot fixed. adaware and AVG found nothing.

Everything was fine, until I rebooted this evening. Upon rebooting, i got a brief 'adaware startup scan' thing, and removed some file inside my Diablo II directory.

Upon reboot, nothing loaded- no AVG, nothing. I researched for about 4 hours, and found one guy who had some incompatibility issue with AVG and S&D... I then found that i couldn't open the Uninstall Programs link!

I tried it in safe mode, but nothing would uninstall. I deleted the folders, as much as I could, then deleted all Lavasoft registry entires.

Didn't change anything!

I have a chkdsk /f /s running, and will let you all know if it works... If you have any ideas, PLEASE fill me in!!

Thanks so much,

Sad Panda

 

[Lomai]

Hi

Welcome to Seven Forums
Have you tried system restore to revert to an earlier date before you started having these issues?

Regards

 

[SadPanda]

No..... I turned system restore off as soon as I set my computer up, for performance....

 

[richc46]

Download and run malwarebytes. Run full scan after update.
Then report results.
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
If you do have a redirect virus, it is important that you remove it as quickly as possible. Worse case scenario, you may have to reinstall the OS.

It does sound like the virus/malware has caused damage. Lets see what malwarebyts shows.

 

[SadPanda]

I can't run ANY 32 bit applications, and this includes 32bit EXEs that Download through IE64bit.

Is is so retarded. I know that I'm going to end up reformatting today, even though this HAS to be a corrupted registry entry or something....

 

[SadPanda]

PS- I also can't run any 32 bit apps in SafeMode.

The chkdsk /f /s didn't help.

Trying to reinstall windows overtop of itself, but even this seems to be hanging.

Pat

 

[richc46]

Do you know how to do a reset to factory specs?

 

[SadPanda]

I don't know... Do you mean to reinstall win over top of itself?

THANKS for your help, man.

 

[richc46]

Give me the make and model of your computer
EG.
Dell xps420

 

[SadPanda]

Alienware M17x.

I googled the factory reset thing, and it sounds like you're talking about some Dell function that uses the emergency partition to re-cast an image.

I'm not interested in reformatting, and the 'factory settings' thing isn't feasible because the first thing i did was reformat and repartition the dual 500gb drives into a RAID 0 when I bought it.

I will reformat later today, as It seems like that is my only option.

Sad Panda

 

[richc46]

Yes many companies, not just Dell, have that partition. If you formatted, it will be gone.

 

[pparks1]

No..... I turned system restore off as soon as I set my computer up, for performance....

Sad....All too common of an answer. I wonder how much performance you gained along the way...since you could really use the feature now.

 

[SadPanda]

I wonder too; I never really benchmarked it.

All reformatted and ready to go...

 

[MacGyvr]

I hope you won't turn off system restore this time. It's not worth it.