Alright, so here’s the 411. My ex calls me saying her computer is messed up, and I figure it’s just a little thing, but it’s a BIG thing after all.
Upon opening her computer, not only is sluggish to boot, but also desktop is SEVERELY messed up. explorer.exe constantly crashes, sometimes automatically coming back, sometimes not. Been bringing up TaskMgr to run explorer.exe in New Task. Also, the Active Desktop system cannot be restored, which was puzzling because she just uses a std. wallpaper for the thing. I finally manage to download AVG, and scan her computer, and it found 15 viruses. Upon removal and deletion, I am still scratching my head, because it’s still doing the same thing. I run a spyware sweep, delete the many files it has found, and STILL to no avail.
Upon numerous resweeps, regedit tips and tricks, and my extensive Google-Fu, I’m STILL at a loss. I’m quickly becoming frustrated, because her dad has all the CDs that came with the computer, and I have nothing to work with. My next idea was to try and find a registry cleaner, but I’d doubt that do anything.
I’m all BUT short of buying a IDE to USB cable, plugging in the new hard drive I bought, and reformatting her computer, and backing up her stuff, unfortunately I would rather not do this unless it’s the very last and final straw.
Is there anything else I can do that you all know of? I’ve looked through Add/Remove programs, and can’t open IE because of the explorer.exe crashing all the time. I need some serious help.
EDIT: Just an additional thought, booting in Safe Mode and perusing around helps none, and computer cannot be System Restore because she didn’t set any dates.