Computer problem help me please.

Kadoken

Ok, so a month ago, I had this virus that disquised itself as a anti-virus program. Well, for some reason, that thing is gone, and I can use the computer. The thing was that it blocked every single website that I tried to get on, saying it had a virus. Well, its gone now, but I have a new problem. Whenever I try to open something up, it says "select the program you want to open this with" instead of just opening it like it should. I can't download anything and I can't open up any of my games or programs. I have Windows XP, but I can't find the startup disk that I hear is important. Basicly, what I want to do is just restart my computer to how it was before, with the default programs and such. So, if any of you can, please help me.

Iconoclysm

You're going to need that startup disk I'm afraid. Try phoning the people who made, or sold you, the PC, and they may be able to send you a duplicate for $20 or so.

corky842

They're also available from Microsoft.
Look under "Replacement OEM or system builder software media" and "Media replacement for users of system builders' computers"

Kadoken

Well, I've had two friends do this twice before without the disk I think. I think I'll call them, just didn't think of this before.

Kadoken

Whelp, just talked to one of them, say they can fix it next weekend. Thanks for the advice anyway. One more question, is it possible to find a new PCI motherboard and a 3.0+ processer for a Dell Dimension E310?

DiscoZombie

I had the same virus just yesterday. Is it ave.exe? You don't need to reformat or anything. Yes, it changes your registry so you can't run any programs, or so that all your programs link to the virus executable. However, one thing that worked for me is if did Start > Run... and ran "command", I could still do stuff from the DOS prompt. so I found my web browser that way, started it up, got trend micro house call, ran that, ran malwarebytes, ran my normal antivirus, ran spybot search and destroy, ran everything I could think of until I was sure it was squashed.

Here's a site that helped me:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-antivirus-vista-2010

specifically, download and run FixExe.reg to restore the ability to run executable files without having to manually edit the registry.

Here's the link directly to that:

http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/reg/antivirus-vista-2010/FixExe.reg

MY question, is how the hell did I get that virus in the first place? I don't visit suspicious websites, I have an up-to-date antivirus, a router, a software firewall, I don't run any downloaded executables without virus scanning them, I rarely download anything in the first place, I have google chrome instead of IE... how much safer can I be?

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

Some manufacturers (dell, for example) keep a small partition of your hard drive reserved for purpose of saving factory settings. If you bought from a major manufacturer you can probably do this (and might have been how your friends previously rolled your system back without the OEM disc.)