Programs won't run - Command Prompt popping up instead!

[GinaM]

Ok.. I initially was having problems downloading a World of Warcraft patch (4.3). In my search to figure out what was going on with that, I discovered that I am not able to open/run some programs. Specifically, anything that I need to install and System Restore. What is happening is when I click to run the program a command prompt window very quickly opens and then closes. I can't even read what is written on it, its so fast. I was able to run System Restore through the command prompt, but it only restored it for 10 days ago and did not fix any of my problems. So.. I am really wanting to know what is going on with not being able to run programs and the command prompt showing up and going away. When this happens I have checked to see if the program is running (using task manager) and they are not running. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[ChaosDark]

Maybe try right-clicking it and select Run as Admin?

 

[richc46]

Traditional signs of potential Virus
Run a full anti virus scan, be sure to update first.
If you can try to download malwarebytes and make a full scan.

 

[GinaM]

Yes, I have tried running as administrator AND malwarebytes is THE program I installed (tried to anyway) and when I clicked to install it...the command prompt showed up and did what I described before. That was actually how I noticed programs weren't opening. I do have Norton and I have run full scans and came up with nothing. I mean it is good that I don't have a virus, but frustrating because I don't know what to do. Thanks for your suggestions just the same

 

[richc46]

Did you try running as administrator as shown above?

 

[MilesAhead]

At this point it couldn't hurt to try this:

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/233243-default-file-type-associations-restore.html

 

[GinaM]

richc46 - Yes, I did. It was the first thing I tried.

MilesAhead - I haven't yet tried that.. I'm off to do it right now!

I just noticed that I have some updates that I haven't installed yet. I am hoping they will actually install. I noticed a couple weeks ago that some automatic updates were being downloaded but unable to install. I have done yet another full virus scan and there was not one thing that popped up. Sigh...

 

[MilesAhead]

It's not a good idea to change a bunch of stuff around in the middle of diagnosing a problem. If something breaks how do you know what to undo? Try to keep one variable in the equation at a time.

 

[GinaM]

At this point it couldn't hurt to try this:

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/233243-default-file-type-associations-restore.html

It worked!! Thank you SO MUCH!! :D

 

[MilesAhead]

Glad it worked for you. That tutorial fix worked for me in the past.

edit: also thanks for the rep.