Shortcuts not working

My desktop, programfile and virtually all my shortcuts

are inopperative as nothing happens when clicked.

Sometimes Windows tells me it cannot run this command
Their normal icon has been changed for the windows

icon.
I installed a program called shorcut doctor... it scans

them all as OK and valid shortcuts!
I have tried tweak ui to repair icons and also

transfered the lnk file from another pc to cure the

problem without any change.
Has anyone got any advice or suggestions.
Thanks
chrysty
greenlodge@eircom.net

 

Try RAV.

 

Thanks Newt

Hi Newt,
Many thanks for your speedy response.
I gave that scanner a go, but nothing turned up.
However, a few days before I ran Spybot as each time I started my pc the microsoft search ran at startup.
Spybot came accross Alexa Related; Spybot sorted that out for me.
Could Alexa Related cause such a mess up with my shortcut links also?
Whilst giving Norton antivirus a trial it found a Trojon a couple of weeks back. I have since reverted to AVG and no longer have any further details!
If you or anyone has any further suggestions I would be very pleased to hear as I miss my shortcuts so much!
Cheers
Chrysty

 

Have you looked thru your event logs for errors or warnings that might be related?

If you go directly to an exe using windows explorer and double-click it, does the app start normally?

If so, I'd try (and in this order with a check between each to see if you are cured)

start~run~cmd and then chkdsk c: /r and the same for each partition on the drive(s)

start~run~sfc /scannow and you'll need your install CD handy for this one.

A repair install of 2K by installing it again over the existing. You will have to re-apply some patches and suchlike afterwards but you shouldn't lose anything from the drive.

As a foot note here - the behavior you describe is very typical of several current and really nasty trojan things. It might be worth the time to try several other online AV scanners to make sure they all say you are clean.

 

Hi Newt Vail
If I go directly to an exe using windows explorer and double-click the does start normally?
Yes, everythingseems to function perfectly except desktop shortcuts, Program files submenues in Start menu. The whole lot of them are all called lnk files. I do not think they should all be calssed as lnk , as my wifes pc is the same operating system and her folder options does not have a lnk file listed even! I know there is a lnk file in the registery.
I tried your three suggestions, but I still have my problem.
I have not yet found out where to find the event logs
lthough I did have a trojon, a few weeks ago, which might well have caused all this mess .
I will check out with more online anitvirus like you suggested,
Cheers for now,
Chrysty

 

start~run~eventvwr.exe

 

Hi Newt Vail,
Thanks for the info on the event viewer.
I ran it and checked through the whole log, but nothing that relevent turned up.
I'll run another online antivirus this evening, to see if it can find anything that AVG cannot find.
Thanks for your help,
chrysty

 

You should have at least 3 event logs. The standard ones are application, security, and system.

A suggestion. If you've look through all of them, you might want to clear them to make it easier to look for unusual happenings in the future. Take the option to save the contents before you clear it and then any time you do the deed again, save to the same name so you'll only have the one, most recent copy.