Stick in an xp cd and go to run. Type sfc /scannow, wait, and reboot.

Seeing as your start menu isnt working, you will have to do control-alt-delete. Then in task manager you can get into the run menu (file -> run i think)

The xp cd isnt always necesarry but its recommended.

SFC will check for missing or maliciously modified system files.

yeah you can try it. Sometimes it needs the cd, other times it doesnt.

try it and see.

Hi Mods,

I'm in the process of cleaning an infection (Worm.Koobface and Trojan.Mediapass are reported) and have a similar problem. A "misssing DLL32" pop-up appears at booting, although the only obvious problem is that IE7 has ceased working. As a temporary fix I've installed Firefox which seems to be working alright.

However, sfc /scannow runs in a small window with progress bar for about 15 mins and then just vanishes at the end. I do have an XP SP1 install CD but am now running SP3. Does this matter as the PC doesn't seem to access or ask for the disc anyway?

After a reboot I still get the missing DLL report which I'd like to fix (even if I decide to stay with Firefox :-) Any ideas?

Thanks, Alan.

Its supposed to do that.

Hi,

Thanks for your quick reply. But it hasn't fixed the missing DLL32 message. Is it not part of Windows? Is it part of IE so I need to repair/reinstall that to get rid of the message and to run IE? I'd like to get IE working so that I can run the f-secure online scan (which only works with IE).

Rather off-topic, but I haven't yet found one Anti-malware programme that reports both the Trojan and Worm that I listed above, so which should I buy if I have to? Several programmes I've tried didn't find either of them !

Thanks, Alan.

Post an hijackthis log. It may show up in that.

Download HijackThis Executable from here. Save it to your desktop.
Start HJT & press the "Do a system scan and save a log file" button. When the scan is finished a window will pop up giving you the option of where to save it. Save it to desktop where it is easy to access. Open the log file and then go to the format Tab and make sure that wordwrap is unchecked. Copy the entire contents of the file & paste it into the body of your post. DO NOT FIX ANYTHING YET. Most of what is there is necessary for the running of your system.

Hi crunchie,

Yes I had been considering that, but it might take some time (or be impractical) as I've been using the PC for 5 years so the file may be *very* large (the Registry backup file is just over 100 MBytes).

However, I have made some progress: When I imported my IE favourites/settings into Firefox that stopped working as well, but with a report that the proxy setting was wrong. So I switched proxies off and both IE and FF now run. But the "Error loading DLL32" popup still appears at boot. If it's not required for IE either, what's it for?

Now that IE is running I've been able to try the F-secure online scanner (which is also claimed to fix infections) but it ran for about two hours and then it (or the PC) hung, so I've had to reboot. I wonder if it would work better (or at all) in secure mode? (if I can hit f8 at the right time).

Thanks, Alan.

Trust me, the hijackthis log will not be that big