Solved Strange Vista Issue, Can Anyone Help

Hello,

I am having some very strange problems with my Dell Inspiron 1545 running Windows Vista Home Premium SP2. A few nights ago I ran a routine Windows update. It installed, successfully, a selection of updates as I shut down the PC. Normal. I rebooted the computer the next day. This is when the problems began. Firstly, it took an extremely long time to boot, it took in excess of 15 minutes to boot when it normally takes 2 or 3. Thought on that was, O.K, it’s done an update and taking a while to boot. Fair enough. Upon further inspection, things were not right. By the start icon I normally have 4 quick launch icons, show desktop, windows aero windows switch, Firefox and vlc media player. They were not there, just an empty space. Second, I have Object Dock and CrystalDiskInfo set to boot at start up, they did not. Thirdly, and most weirdly, my start up photo had changed. On the log on screen it was correct, the robot. On the start menu it had changed itself to a flower, the vista default. Changing it in control panel has no effect on either image, control panel just defaults back to the flower the next time I open it. I also did a system restore, which took over half an hour to open, and bullguard system scan and the scan came up clean and the system restore did nothing. Just as typing this post, I noticed my accessories folder in the start menu has vanished in the menu and some of the icons on the start menu have changed. The accessories folder is viewable when I delve into the Windows\Start Menu folder. None of these problems are major on their own but it makes me wonder what has happened deeper in my system, to the registry etc.

The screen shot for windows update shows the updates as ready to install but this is only because I have done a restore and not updated again. Before the restore, I checked to see if they failed installation. They all succeeded according to windows update.

Slightly unrelated, since this issue arrived, I have noticed a very faint buzzing/beeping coming from the laptop that I had never noticed before and applications seem to be taking an age to open and crash regularly.


Thank You

Hello, strange indeed, to confirm no malware are involved, use Malwarebytes . free version , of course and have it run a scan, If no malware are involved, let try a SFC scan now function. Use these two links. How to use Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware to scan and remove malware from your computer
How to use the System File Checker tool to troubleshoot missing or corrupted system files on Windows Vista or on Windows 7

Hi,

Thanks for the very quick reply. Going to run a Malwarebytes scan tonight and see if that returns anything. Will let you know the results as soon as I get them.

Hello,
I have run Malwarebytes, which found 2 pieces fo malware and repaired them, rebooted and there was no change. I also ran the SFC checker and that found corrupt files. I managed to create a log but am unsure on what to do next. It shows you in the microsoft instructions but I am unsure fo which files I need to restore and how. I don't quite understand the log file and the instructions on the microsoft website you gave me. I have attached the logs from the SFC checker and Malwarebytes.

Could you give me some guidance on what to do next. Thanks!

View attachment sfcdetails.txt

View attachment mbam-log-2011-11-12 (08-41-20).txt

Okay, I looked at the details for the SFC scan, do this, run that 2 more times. then post me the 2nd results please, The files it shows may or may not be able to be repaired, i want to make sure before we do anything else.

OK, run sfc 2 more times, here is the last log file.

View attachment sfcdetails3.txt

I checked again inside control panel at my user picture and tried changing it again. This time however, it changed succesfully and the impage in my start menu has changed as well. After unhiding the Appdata folder completly, the missing files/folders in my start menu have returned to normal. However, I would still be interested to konw if that sfc log has returned anything odd. Thanks for your help.

EDIT - I also closed/reopened the quick launch toolbar and my icons have returned and my startup programs have returned. It seems to have somethings to do with the fact every item in my appdata folder had got hidden. This resulted in the start menu not being able to find the startup folder and thus the program did not start. The quick launch bar also couldn't find the icons in the app data folder. The sfc checker must have solved the user picture thing though.

Yes, SFC did fix some files, however, your log showed some not, Restart computer and run SFC, then restart and run SFC , post those results and let us see what did not get fixed. Restarting allows the fixed files to take effect of what SFC fixed.

My comuter seems to be acting normal now but here is the sfc log. Is there anything that I should be worried about according to the log. If not you can post back saying so and mark this thread as solved as my system is behaving normally.

View attachment sfcdetails.txt

Just one issue.. here is how to fix it . Re: How to fix tcpmon.ini file in Windows
The only solution according to me to fix the solution is running Windows scanning service. First insert your OEM Windows disc. Then click on Start > Run. In the box type sfc /scannow. Press enter. A Windows scanning service will popup. This will scan your entire hard drive for damaged and corrupted files. Windows disc is necessary to replace the old file. Run it and restart your system.

Other than that, you are good to go. Your hard drive does not have a good file for it to fix it for you.

Ok, will do. Thanks for all your help.

Your welcome, i feel good when i am able to assist someone, Stay safe and make restore pts, and keep your backups fresh, You never know when you need them. Have a good day .