cannot open 'my computer'

[paglamon]

My friend today suddenly cannot open My Computer,My Documents,Recycle Bin.Cannot run explorer.exe from Task Manager.Tried System Restore to yesterday.System could not be restored to that date. I advised him to perform a full scan with antivirus(he uses AVG Free) ,antispyware(AVG),Stinger,Hijackthis in SAFE MODE. Anything else to be done if the above methods fail?

[Chewy]

Last computer I saw that did something similar had a bunch of malware on it despite having norton's, aol, spybot and everything else running. After 3 hours of trying to fix, including running windows as a repair disk, we reformatted and did a clean install.

[blutach]

Can't open your computer eh pagla? Tried a screwdriver?

Regards

[paglamon]

Can't open your computer eh pagla? Tried a screwdriver?

Regards

Can open mine. But not my friend's. Yep,he seems to have screwed it pretty bad.

[Experi-Mentor]

i know this may sound stupid & i've seen similar before but, does he have admin rights ?

[paglamon]

He does.
BTW,My Computer,MyDocuments,Recycle Bin,Control Panel CAN be opened in SAFE MODE.
Does this imply anything?

[Dan]

I think Chewy hit the bullseye. A clean install is a good thing with a problem like that.

Hmmm, just saw your edit now,lol.

[Chewy]

He does.
BTW,My Computer,MyDocuments,Recycle Bin,Control Panel CAN be opened in SAFE MODE.
Does this imply anything?

sounds like a trojan has taken over admin "rights" and the trojan can't load in safe mode, that
shows promise, might be able to kill it or them

[paglamon]

Hmmm.And who might be able to kill it or them?

[Chewy]

follow each step in order
1.disconnect from the internet(physically, no cables connected)
2. using another computer download trojanhunter and manual dat update
3. install and update dat files however(safe mode or regular mode)
4. do a full scan from safe mode

report back what trojan hunter finds

[paglamon]

Thanks Chewy. Will do as suggested and let u know.

[paglamon]

OK.Did a Full Scan with Trojanhunter(both in Normal mode and safe mode) with latest manually updated rule files.NO SUSPICIOUS ENTRIES anywhere!!!!
So???

[Chewy]

ok, the next most probable scenario in my experience is he's got a software conflict, like 2 av's running, etc.

using msconfig and add/remove programs probably won't fix, usually have to run windows as a repair disk from a boot cd

[paglamon]

Thought so initially.But he has only AVG Free running.
Anyway, I reformatted and did a clean install.That saved MY time.He can now spend HIS time reinstalling his softwares.

[Chewy]

that's why I partition all my system hard drives and tell everyone to put their data on the D partition and I still have to pull their hard drives and extract when they hose their computers

and they complain that the C partition is too small