Cant open certain programs

Hey guys, got a problem which is starting to annoy me and the family. Certain programs wont open on my computer which use to. The two main ones are Adobe Acrobat Reader, and MSN Messenger. Adobe just comes up with a box saying the program has to close with a red 'x' in a circle and messenger comes up with a microsoft box saying it cannot run. With messenger however, i can sign in, but i can't message people and when someone messages me, it says it has to close. With Adobe, it runs through its setup and then says it has to close. To maybe make some more sense of this, i had a true poker online game setup and then i was getting to addicted so i removed it. Computer working fine and then because i was bored one day i decided to reinstall it, and then it says it can not find a connection. I've ran norton, spybot, ad aware, clean up HD, registry cleaner utility, deframented and a thorough scandisk repeatedly, plus clear my temp. files, cookies and history as well defaulted my IE settings. This is on a windows 98 SE. Any ideas, let me know
thanks
jordan

 

registry cleaner utility - some of these have been known to cause the sort of problems you are seeing. Which one do you run? And have you tried booting to DOS and running scanreg /fix?

 

Thanks for the quick reply newt. I'm using Microsoft RegClean - Windows Registry and Analysis Correction. And as for the rebooting into DOS, i'm so scared to do that, cause whenever it goes to DOS, i don't know any of the commands, i don't know how to get back to windows or anything, so i make a point of not getting into DOS mode. If you, or anyone could give me pinpoint directions how to get into DOS mode, use commands that i need to and then run windows after that, i'd give it a whirl, but i am scared too.
Thanks
jordan

 

If we're talking about win98, do you have a faultlog.txt in your c:\windows folder? If so, open it up nad see if there is any details on the two components or drivers these kinds of problems usually have.

If you have no faultlog.txt, when you get these erros do they have a details button you can click on?

In the case of the windows error reporting popup (and/or that little debug thingy) I think this offers show "More details ". Next time you may wish to choose this.

These details will help to ID and pindown the problem.

========
In addition,

You could try an IE repair.
http://home.earthlink.net/~leetutor/FixWin/Internet/ierepair.htm

And/OR
Reinstall (on top of self) or upgrade directx.

 

===Steps to do a dosmode registry repair========

*Click on taskbars "startbutton "

*Click on shutdown "

*click on "restart in dosmode "

Once in dosmode......

Type cd\ and hit the enter key to clear the dos prompt.

You'll see c:\

At the c:\ type scanreg /opt and hit enter

when it is done you will be at the c:\ prompt again

Now type scanreg /fix and hit enter

when you find yourself at the c prompt again

Now type exit and hit enter. Windows will restart.

 

I tried the IE explorer repair, well the restore windows configuration like the webpage says and nothing changed. So i guess i'll try the DOS thingy and see how that works out for me. I'll let you guys know tomorrow, thanks for the help so far, much appreciated
jordan

 

You didn't use the "restore previous configuration" option did you? I was suggesting you do a "repair" of your current Internet Explorer. The link was only to show you the how-to for a repair. The "restore previous configuration" uninstalls your current version and rolls it back to the older previous version you had.

If you used this option (restore previous configuration) you may want to consider going back to "windows update" and updating or installing a newer IE.
Remember to use taskmanager (accessed using a keyboard combination of controll+alt+del keys) to endtask on all unnecessary running applications, particularly any Virus Application, you may have running in the background during update installs/uninstalls.

http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp

I'm sorry for any inconvenience this misunderstanding may have caused you.

Speaking of "Updates ", are you up to date on your updates?

 

No worries about hte confusion Goddezz, everything was still fine, so i tried the repair IE6 and it didn't solve anything. So i did the dos thingy as mentioned, and then tried installing msn again and adobe and they both come back negative. The adobe box saying it had to close has the subject title: "Acrord32" and msn says "messenger has encountered a problem and needs to close" The error signature- appname: msnmsger.exe AppVer: 6.2.0.133 Modname: Unknown ModVer: 0.0.0.0 Offset: 00000017 Don't know if that means anything and there are more numbers and errors if i look further into the report. Could it be the actual programs that are mucked up. Thanks for the help guys, any more ideas?
jordan

 

Oh pooh,

Error in module unknown. I hate this error. Messenger problems are bad enough without having to Tshoot one coming from an unknown source.

Could try disableing startup apps via msconfig:

To do so:

*click on the taskbar, startbutton
*scroll to and click on "Run "
*Type msconfig
*click on or you should be on the "General Tab" options
*click on the "Selective startup" category and uncheck "Load startup items "

Reboot and see if messenger still fusses.

=========
I'm trying to figure out if your current problems could be coming from background running applications that conflict or do not get along well together. The module "Unknown" is one of the components that is running or is called upon to run when messenger is trying to do what it has been asked to do.

Keep in the back of your mind that this application "startup lists "

http://www.lurkhere.com/~nicefiles/

May be needed to figure out what your startups are.

 

Ya, that was a no go on the "msconfig" solution, weird. Should i download one of those programs from the website you listed goddez? Thanks for your help, i really do appreciate it.
jordan

 

Yah,

Download "startuplist ", run it and let's see what ya' got. Copy and paste the information here.
NOTE* I would suggest the running of "HijackThis" and will probably wind up having to do so, but I'm just about OD'd on these logs and am trying to put this off as long as possible.

I can't suggest "Spybot or Ad-aware" as you have already said you use and have used these but I will say that "Regclean" can be a bit unforgiving on occasion. Do you have the "Undo***.reg stored somewhere on your comp that this program leaves behind so you can undo any changes it made? I believe it is usually stored in the same folder regclean is or was run from. Don't hold me to this statement. It's been a while since I messed with this bugger. You may have to do a "file find" (search) for it.

"WIn98's Tool "System File Checker" or SFC.exe can be ran but only used as a helper tool. You don't want to make any changes it may suggest. If you run it, click the "ignore option" on anything found. Just make a note of the name of any files it says maybe missing or corrupted. Copy and paste them here for advice.

To run SFC: ( ">" means click on or scroll to, depending upon where you are in the steps)

Taskbar>
startbutton>
run_line>
Type sfc and hit enter.

Now on a slightly different plan of attack and knowing that this application and possibly Acroread as well, tend to be Graphic Intensive, Do you have any display problems that you are aware of?...Up to date on your graphics card drivers?...Using at least 800x600 16-bit highcolor? You be surprised on what kind of problems have been cleared up by a Graphics Adapter checkup/update.

Got Powertoys tweakui? You never did answer me on whether you have a Faultlog.txt. Tweakui will have a tab that, when checked/enabled, will make sure this gets used and updated with faulting application errors, when ever possibly. The option setting is on the Paranoia Tab. A little "Problem History" list of past and present "Quoted errors" sure would be nice.

Exiting stage right....
To sum up this episode of the "Can't open certain programs" saga,
1]Are you up to date on win98's updates?
2]Have you gotten the latest virus "dat file update" for your virus program and have you ran a virus check recently?
3]Any other problems running executables such as regedit, sysedit or for that matter, "any other problems ", aside from Messenger or Acroread?
4]While you have stated that you run Spybot and Ad-aware that does not mean that you have allowed it to remove all they found....no...forget that train of thought....let me ask you this:
Did these programs work or have ever worked on your computer? If they did work, was this before running Spybot, Ad-Aware and Regcleaner?

Recapped questions:
5]Do you have the "Undo***.reg Regclean makes (for safety) to enable undoing it's changes?

In case you've forgotten: You may also wish to use or run msconfig again and restore your startup option back to "Normal "

===========
And for something totally different:
I know this post has been ongoing for a couple of days, so while I'm thinking on it, it may be wise to copy your current "Registry Backups" and store these in another folder for safe keeping. If this problem is allowed to go on for more than fIve days worth of shutdown_bootups any option of doing a "Registry Restore" (to a backup that predates the problem) will be gone. That's assuming this problem hasn't already gone on longer than 5 dated days worth of shutdown_reboots.

Make a folder on your harddrive somewhere and name it what ever will make sense to you, for keeping these copies.

The backups are usually in c:\windows\sysbckup and are labeled rb***.cab. All your going to do is copy and paste these in the folder you've made for storing these.

Well... it looks like I suggested a few things that may keep you busy for a bit, so here I'll be, a-waitin' for your return.

 

Hey goddez, thanks a lot for your time and help, much appreciated. So let me try to answer all your questions:
1) Yes
2) Yes
3) No
4) Yes, everything was working fine at one time, i haven't installed anything new. They've all worked on my computer with no problems.
5) Yes i have the "undo" regclean but it is a whole bunch of folders not just one specific one; there is 25 undos

I don't have a faultlog.txt

Here is my startuplist:
StartupList report, 5/15/04, 7:50:53 PM
StartupList version: 1.52
Started from : C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\STARTUPLIST.EXE
Detected: Windows 98 SE (Win9x 4.10.2222A)
Detected: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)
* Using default options
==================================================

Running processes:

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KERNEL32.DLL
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSGSRV32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MPREXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\mmtask.tsk
C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DDHELP.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\NORTON ANTIVIRUS\NAVAPW32.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\MSN MESSENGER\MSNMSGR.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\INTERNET EXPLORER\IEXPLORE.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\WINZIP\WINZIP32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\STARTUPLIST.EXE

My system file check:
File: setupx.dll
Location: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM

And as for the graphic thingy, i have no idea how to check that, but i have noticed anything different.
Thanks again, much appreciated.
jordan

 

You should run the System File Checker again, and let it replace Setupx.Dll, it is safe to replace that one.
Your startup log is only showing running processes, not what is actually being called upon to start up.

About the Graphics, right click on My Computer and select Properties, click on the Performance tab. Then click on Graphics button, you see the slider, move it over to the left. You'll see the sentence below it change with each setting.

 

Yep,

We needed a copyNpaste of the /full startuplist.log but I should have known better. Nix the startuplist application. HijackThis.log is the better tool between the two. I was just hoping you'd get lucky and stumble on the cure before this was used. May I suggest that you go to the same link previously provided and download and run "HijackThis ". CopyNpaste" the whole shabang here.

It's may also be worth a look at IE's activex, java, Objects or the files that can be found in the "Downloaded Program Files" folder. Do any of these indicate a problem as explained by the this link:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;810978

Please take note that the deletion or uninstall of these is not a problem because when or if they're needed they will be installed once again.

==Just a thought=====
You don't have a "Faultlog "? Do you have Tweakui? Have you given any thought to installing Tweakui and setting the use of a Faultlog?:
http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstat...tworking/nttweakui.asp?SD=GN&LN=EN-US&gssnb=1

==Regclean====
Using the theory that often, what's changed is the root of the problem, and changing it back will fix it. If it can't be changed back, this is at least a place to start or further investigate.

I still think a trial undo of the last reclean edits you did may be worth a shot (are these folders undos dated?)

..Or possibly a backed up registry restore of one that predates regclean's registry pruning, if one is available or was made. With apporpriate steps taken, this is easily done and undone.

 

Ok, i've got to restart my computer as far as the graphics idea goes.
Heres my "hijackthis" copynpaste:

Logfile of HijackThis v1.97.7
Scan saved at 4:51:39 PM, on 5/17/04
Platform: Windows 98 SE (Win9x 4.10.2222A)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KERNEL32.DLL
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSGSRV32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MPREXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\mmtask.tsk
C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DDHELP.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\NORTON ANTIVIRUS\NAVAPW32.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\MSN MESSENGER\MSNMSGR.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\INTERNET EXPLORER\IEXPLORE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\TEMP\HIJACKTHIS.EXE

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.hotmail.com/
O2 - BHO: NAV Helper - {BDF3E430-B101-42AD-A544-FADC6B084872} - C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O2 - BHO: MyWay Search Assistant BHO - {04079851-5845-4dea-848C-3ECD647AA554} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\ADOBE\ACROBAT 6.0\READER\ACTIVEX\ACROIEHELPER.DLL
O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSDXM.OCX
O3 - Toolbar: Norton AntiVirus - {42CDD1BF-3FFB-4238-8AD1-7859DF00B1D6} - C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~1\OFFICE10\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: Related (HKLM)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Show &Related Links (HKLM)
O16 - DPF: {9F1C11AA-197B-4942-BA54-47A8489BB47F} (Update Class) - http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/CAB/x86/ansi/iuctl.CAB?37923.7378356481
O16 - DPF: {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} (Shockwave Flash Object) - http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab

And i'll go ahead and clean up that Setupx.dll file

thanks guys
jordan

 

BTW, it is not good to run HijackThis from the C:\Windows\Temp folder, as it makes backups of everything removed and is a good idea to be able to access them for some reason, although the following I suggest to remove you do not want anyway.
The only thing I see to remove is this.

O2 - BHO: MyWay Search Assistant BHO - {04079851-5845-4dea-848C-3ECD647AA554} - (no file)

By the way, you should go back into Msconfig, and enable Scanregw.Exe, it makes daily backups of the registry, your log shows absolutely nothing starting up. If you use any power management enable both PowerProf entries, and put Systray back.
Your MSN messenger starts up because hotmail is your IE's start page.
I am wondering how your Norton is starting up, as your log shows no 04 entries, these being the windows startups.

 

Wow!

Thats got to be about the cleanest leanest hijacklog I've seen.

We're fast running out of the usual cleanups, repairs and side issues. It may be time to look over others personal experiences so you can run through some of these that you may not be aware of or have not tried:

Forum with at least 10 pages of fellow users experiences with problems and fixes that worked for them:
http://www.bigblueball.com/forums/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=24&sortfield=lastpost&sortorder=0&whichpage=1

Some windows-help.net past posts and fixes, Googled, by the way. This is a new pleasure I am thorughly enjoying!
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=site:www.windowsbbs.com+msn+messenger

It looks like it's time to review:
http://messenger.msn.com/Help/Issues.aspx

http://messenger.msn.com/Help/

Some of these trouble shooting tips may work for ya':
http://help.msn.com/EN_US/HelpWindow_msg.asp?INI=Messengerv62DL.ini&H_VER=1.7 (See the trouble shooting section)

I noticed known issues and a recommendation to uninstall any third-party plug-ins or add-ins for messenger. Exactly what these are.. I'm not sure but perhaps you do.

And once again:
It may also be worth a look at IE's activex, java, Objects or the files that can be found in the "Downloaded Program Files" folder. Do any of these indicate a problem as explained by the link provided in previous thread above?

 

Hey you two, thanks for all the help. I still can't message though. However, in my first post i mentioned that msn wouldn't minimize, well something that you mentioned fixed that, so thats a plus. I've uninstalled both adobe and msn. I guess if you two have ran out of ideas i'll sign up to bigblueball.com and see if anyone else has had this problem. Thanks for all the help though.
On a side note, i'm doing a 15 day trail with Zone Alarm pro and it says that 715 intrusions have been blocked since it was installed. Does this mean that my computer was being hacked severly? And if that is hte case, could that mean that i have hidden spyware and hijackers that spybot and adaware and norton don't pick up? Anyways, thanks again
jordan

 

I had trouble for a while getting messenger to connect through my firewall. It was allowed in the Firewall's programs list but was still blocked. I put it in the trusted zone and it seems to be working OK. Try removing it from the programs list and then fire it up again. When prompted for access, make sure you check the remember box. You might also have to allow it as a server.

Getting to where that's not an unusual amount of blocked incomings. You log is clean enough, I would say there's little to no chance of any baddies lurking.