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Rundll32 error

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8 replies

by mckay_w

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Before defragging, i shut down all applications using CTRL + ALT + DEL. in the last couple of days, i have had Rundll32 in the list of apps twice, and when i try to close it, it says its not responding, and i cannot get rid of it.
And defrag will then restart every 3 minutes or so.
there are also some things in this list i have no idea what they are, one for example, is named 'ShowBehind'. anyone know what this is?
is there a way to delete things from the selective startup list via the registry somehow?
I am running W98.
Thankyou.

8 replies

by cg it

First, editing your registry isn't something that should be done unless you have had extensive knowledge of the registry editing process. You may cause more harm (and subsequently have to reinstall W98) than fix the problems you have. First off, W9XO/S's require two programs to run, Systray and explorer.exe. Stopping these programs with CTRL+ALT+DEL probably causes your rundll32 problems (running dynanmic link libraries 32) and subsequently causes a continuous write to disk of programs to update the dynanmic link libraries. This continuous write to disk disrupts the disk defrag utility which has to have the disk idle to complete it's file restructuring.

Programs installed onto you computer (trick by software vendors to get their programs to be used by you) will write a program to your startup file to run the program at startup. Editing your registry to remove them again isn't recommended. you can uncheck the startup box in selective startup list in the system tools feature and then use the registry clean up feature.

by cg it

Note: a third party system utility program like Norton Systemworks can resolve most of your registry, shortcut, ddl problems automatically. I highly recommend the investment in such a program to keep your Windows 9X machine running smoothly.

by mckay_w

Thankyou for your opinion, i am looking into purchasing Norton System Works. We'll see what happens.

by bobho

Hmmm. Showbehind is a command (I believe limited to java) that will show a window behind the current window while browsing the net (which some sites use for advertising). There is also a showbehind.exe that some have found in a folder named sbnet. Either way, my guess is that it is related to some form of spyware. Try renaming the file and see if it affects any other apps or your browsing. If not you should be safe in deleting it.

As for defragging, start your pc in safemode to eliminate allbut the necessary os functions and then do your defrag. After the defrag is complete erboot to normal mode.

by mckay_w

Yes, the .exe file 'ShowBehind' is in a folder named sbnet, Ad-Aware did not detect anything about spyware.
It is safe to delete this?
Thanks. Still having Rundll32 probs.

by rcom

Have you scanned for viruses with recent dat file?

Not to disagree but you can stop systray. If you do ctrl-alt-del and select to stop explorer it will bring up the shut down screen if you cancell that in a few seconds a small window will come upand ask if you want to stop explorer. After selecting yes explorer will restart. At that point running defrag doesn't stop unless there's something else going on.

The file that's running in the backround can be disabled from the startup by running msconfig.exe (start|run, type in msconfig) from there select the startup tab. Just uncheck the suspected name from the list. This is a temp way to disable something, it can easily be undone.

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