Problem with System Restore

Recently I installed Norton 2006 AntiVirus on my computer. However, for some reason the program did not install correctly. Since then, I have removed the program from my computer but now I am having some major issues with my system restore and my internet explorer. First of all, I can not use the system restore feature at all any more. WHen i open the system restore program, the window is completly blank with no options to select. Initially I thought I had a virus or something, so I decided to run an online virus scan from tred micro. That was when i realized that my internet explorer was not working correctly either. Even thought i can view most web pages, at time I am unable to select certain links. Sometimes i even get a "400 Bad Request" message from IE that I tried to troubleshoot in several different ways and was unsuccessful. Since internet explorer is integrated into the windows operating system, the only conclusion i can come to is that after installing norton, it caused some sort of malfunction. I have also tried installing a new version of IE but I am again unable to do so because it says a new version of IE is already installed. Please HELP!

 

I'd probably start with the instructions on the following page to see if repairing IE solves the problem first:

The Elder Geek on Windows XP > Repair Internet Explorer 6
http://www.theeldergeek.com/repair_ie6.htm ​

If you're still having problems, scroll down two-thirds to three-fourths of the following page to "Windows Installation CD - Repair Current Installation" and follow those instructions (with screen-shots):

The Elder Geek on Windows XP > Accessing The Different Methods of Repair Available in Windows XP
http://www.theeldergeek.com/repairing_windows_xp.htm ​

 

Hello lakerfan,

After following the repair of XP procedure that SpywareDr linked you to, disable System Restore, reboot, and re enable. That'll clear SR's corrupted files and create an initial restore point.

Regards - Charles

 

In a case such as this would it not have been better to do ( if possible ) a System Restore before removing the new software ?

I know it might involve a bit of manual deleting folders and running things like RegSeeker to help cleanup up the Registry. But I think ( but not 100% sure ) that would be better. Just need to check to be sure what folder the new software is located in first.

I ask this because I see evidence very poor installation of the program and un-installer ( if it was used ) talking out things it should not have.

I suggest ( or ask about ) this due to the fact that I have found over the years that a poor install results is a poor un-install.

This one reason why I manually check and may even manually make a restore point before even attempting to install new software just to be sure.

BillyBob

 

Try this. Click start>run and type the following lines one at a time and click ok after each one. Then see if it works.

Note the space after regsvr32.

 

lakerfan--If NAV 2006 was the cause of the problems, and you uninstalled NAV 2006 from Control Panel|Add/Remove Programs, some bits may still be left behind. Use SymNRT
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...ew=docid&dtype=&prod=&ver=&osv=&osv_lvl=&seg=
I think you have nothing to lose.
However if that does not help, you may have some virus or spyware if you are not being permitted to use security oriented programs or visit security oriented sites.
Can you run an online scan from
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp
http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan.htm
And do you have any spyware detector installed?
AdAware
http://www.lavasoft.de/support/download/
SpybotS&D
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
And also install SpywareBlaster
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
You do not scan with SWB, but you have to keep all three programs' reference files up to date.
And you should have these programs (or at least one of the spyware detectors) on your PC in any event.

 

Another possible cause for being blocked from sites - an altered Hosts file.

The Hosts is in \Windows\System32\drivers\etc\ Click on Hosts, opens with Notepad.

The defualt file should look like this:

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost


Regards - Charles

 

lakerfan--charlesvar's post raises two issues.
1) I should perhaps have suggested you also install MS AntiSpyware. It is beta, but seems an excellent program. It does not conflict with other antispyware programs and also alerts you if a change to HOSTS has been made.
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
2) The HOSTS file will indeed block access to sites. However, the HOSTS file quoted by charlesvar is the HOSTS.sam file, which is only a sample(hence the extension .sam) of what a HOSTS file might look like and does no blocking.
The HOSTS file which blocks access is called just HOSTS--no file extension. Do you have such a HOSTS file? It also can be opened with Notepad.
It should have a list of sites preceded by 127.0.0.1.
If a virus or other malware has created such a file, the sites listed will include the URL's of many common antispyware, antivirus and antitrojan sites-- "good guy" sites. A normal HOSTS file (which you or malware would have to create--it is not a default file) would rather show the reverse--a list of URLs of malware sites.
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

 

Thanks!

Thanks to all the replys and the help. After trying a couple of the suggestions, the advice that Zander gave worked. Everything is up and running now. IE works fine as well as my system restore. Thanks again.

 

Thanks for letting us know.