Member Avatar for cynikal

I can't exactly follow what you say because when i open my Internet Explorer from my desktop, i go to tools and these are my options: delete browsing history, pop-up blocker, phishing filter, manage add-ons, work offline, windows update, fullscreen, menubar, toolbars, windows messenger, diagnose connection problems, sun java console, internet options.

I don't see a "Folder Options", there is a 'View' inbetween Edit and Favorites but that doesn't show anything about folder options either. I have Internet Explorer 7.0

Member Avatar for gerbil

Heya, cynikal... we'll get there....
In a standard windows installation Windows Explorer [explorer.exe] is the user's point of contact with the OS, it is the shell, the outside casing if you like, of your OS and everything else runs inside or around it; it [or a modified replacement] is always running when logon is completed. You can stop it if you wish but then you lose being able to easily interact with the OS... your running programs will continue running, you can start new ones etc but not in the normal way.
When you dclick My Computer you are opening a graphical interface, a window to Explorer. Another window is the taskbar, still another is the desktop. There are other ways of opening a window, and you can open many such windows to it at a time, but there is only one explorer.exe running, ever. These windows provide you with a simple and useful way to manipulate your files, including programs, which all exist and operate independantly of explorer.exe. Where am I going with this...? ...listening to Thea Gilmore's Contessa and enjoying it.... okay, just one of those independant programs is Internet Explorer [iexplore.exe] which is actually more than just a web browser, but here we are not concerned with it at all.... since we normally use Windows Explorer to see our files or operate the OS it is that which we must adjust to control that view; Folder Options is one such control.. and you get to it most simply it via My Computer, Tools.
[if you'd like to play with your OS without the aid of Windows Explorer first ensure that Ctrl+Alt+Del opens Task Manager for you, start some programs such as IE , Word... anything..., , then just use TM to end the process explorer.exe. Voila!! no taskbar! [... or desktop]. But your pgms are still running, and you can use them per normal, you can switch between them etc, but unless you are proficient with cmd.exe you will have trouble manipulating your files, copying etc... starting new pgms. You have lost your point of contact with the OS, the shell. Right, get it back via TM : go File, New task, enter explorer.exe
No damage is done...]
I'm just enjoying listening to my music...

commented: so knowledgeable +1
Member Avatar for cynikal

Ok, wow you know a hell of a lot about computers. So i found Folder Options in my Control Panel and i put a dot or tick in Show hidden files and folders. By the way, what does that do when you show hidden files and folders. Did ComboFix turn that off to not show hidden files and folders?

Thanks again for all your help.

Member Avatar for gerbil

Cynikal, whenever you have a window open which shows your drives and files/folders you should have in the top toolbar Files, Edit... Tools. Anyway, you found the same Folder Options in CP, and that is fine. Combofix does turn it off, a lot of folks like to see them but it depends upon what you do with your sys. In retrospect you personally should probably leave it off. If you look in explorer at C:\Windows you will now see a lot of blue folders - they are some examples of hidden folders, and there are a lot of others now showing below which are not coloured blue. Most likely you will rarely need to involve yourself directly with them; perhaps you should reset that option to not show them. And me? - I know some generalities, a few details.... I know it is not even 1%.. :)

Member Avatar for cynikal

Alright, yea i found the tools when i opened "My Computer" i totally misinterpreted what you had said lol. I turned the hidden files back off, because they were initially off from the begining as well.

So THANK YOU soo much you really helped me out and i learned quite a bit about the registry and some of the processes in removing viruses so next time i can do it a lot quicker, eventhough i hope i don't get anymore viruses lol. See you around you've been a great help.

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