Apoint.exe? Windows Defender won't load.

Rust

Yesterday I got a message saying "apoint.exe was unable to load dll". I know apoint.exe applied to my laptop's touchpad, but what it also seems to have done is prevent Windows Defender from loading. At all. It simply fails to initialize without even giving me an error message. I haven't downloaded anything recently; this more or less came out of the blue.

I checked the apoint driver and found that it's not even digitally signed. Is this thing some sort of a virus? How do I get Defender to start up again?

LewieP

possibly obvious - have you tried a system restore to when it did work?

I assume you are in XP?

Rust

LewieP wrote: »

possibly obvious - have you tried a system restore to when it did work?

I assume you are in XP?

I am, but the system restore thing is new to me. How do I do that?

LewieP

Rust wrote: »

LewieP wrote: »

possibly obvious - have you tried a system restore to when it did work?

I assume you are in XP?

I am, but the system restore thing is new to me. How do I do that?

from memory (I am in ubuntu atm) start menu -> accessories -> system tools -> system restore.

Then follow the on screen instructions and pick a date that the problem wasn't existing at. You will loose some things (like installed apps) but all saved data will be retained.

I find for a lot of problems where something completely random has broken, it's the simplest way of fixing things, although maybe wait to see if anyone who knows more about this kind of thing can come up with a better solution.

Rust

System restart didn't work, but I fixed the Defender problem by uninstalling/reinstalling it.

The apoint.exe thing, however, persists. And that bothers me because I really don't even have any idea why it borked in the first place.

Peewi

Have you tried reinstalling the driver for the touchpad? You should be able to find it on the website of the laptop's munafacturer.

Rust

Well, if it worked for Defender...

I'll give it a spin.

Rust

What the hell. This one doesn't load either.

I don't even use my touchpad, I don't see why it's got to give me all this trouble.

edit: A-HA! Managed it. The menu came back and that bloody trackpoint's been disabled.

Thanks for the replies.