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Recently I did fresh install to my computer from the start. I thought it went very well until I found out all the programs from control panel don't work at all. Even display program refuse to work from the property of desktop menu. After trying to figure out for awhile, I found something weird. When I restore my system to specific day, all the programs go back to work. Everything is fine even after installing some programs which I previously installed. But they all stop working when I double click on the drive letter from mycomputer/explorer. It can't even be fixed by restarting. All of them just stop working right after double clicking on the drive letter. I tried restoring several times just to make sure it is the source of the problem. I never experienced this kind of problem before. Can anyone tell me the cause of the problem? I hope it's not a trojan. I just don't want to reinstall my system. :icon_cry:

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Dani AI

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The behaviour describes — Control Panel applets working until you double‑click a drive, then everything breaks until a System Restore — strongly suggests a drive‑open handler (autorun/drive association or a shell extension) is being invoked and altering Explorer’s behaviour. That pattern is commonly seen with autorun.inf malware or a bad shell extension rather than a damaged Windows installation.

Try these targeted diagnostic steps in this order. Boot into Safe Mode (F8 at startup) and double‑click the drive there; if the problem disappears, it points to a third‑party service, startup item, or shell extension. Do a Clean Boot (msconfig) and disable non‑Microsoft services/startup items to isolate the offender. Check Event Viewer (Start → Run → eventvwr.msc) for errors logged at the exact time you double‑click the drive — look for explorer.exe, dllhost.exe or named DLL faults.

Check every drive for an autorun file and inspect any contents before deleting:

attrib -s -h -r X:\autorun.inf
type X:\autorun.inf
del X:\autorun.inf

Run that for each local and removable drive (replace X:). If autorun.inf references an .exe, note the filename and search for it on disk before removing.

Inspect the registry keys that control drive actions and shell extensions (use regedit, export keys before changing): look under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell for values that point to an unexpected .exe. Use a trusted tool to enumerate autoruns and shell extensions (Sysinternals Autoruns or NirSoft ShellExView) rather than indiscriminate “registry cleaners.” In Safe Mode run an updated anti‑malware scanner (Malwarebytes, Microsoft Safety Scanner or your AV) to remove persistent threats.

Caution: registry cleaners like the ones suggested by can do more harm than good if you don’t have a backup. If these focused steps don’t resolve the problem, back up personal data and consider a clean reinstall — persistent autorun infections can re‑infect restored snapshots.

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Member Avatar for sittas87

Hi
sounds like malware,tell me did you do a clean install meaning did you format your whole drive lost all data and started from scratch

Member Avatar for HomerS

I'm suspecting autorun for not showing contents of drives after double clicking on them. There is auto menu item in property menu when I right click on the drive letter.
To answer your question, ya I did. I even deleted partition and recreated it before clean install.

Member Avatar for sittas87

it might be something in your registry,run registry mecanic and regcure

did the incomplete control panel etc accure immediately after format or did it happen a day or so after
??

Member Avatar for HomerS

it might be something in your registry,run registry mecanic and regcure

does it come with window xp professional disc?

did the incomplete control panel etc accure immediately after format or did it happen a day or so after
??

Like I said, all the control panel programs work unless I double click on the drive letter in mycomputer. I can even browse the drive from file tree in left side pane of explorer. It only happens when I double click the drive letter in mycomputer. Thats why I notice only after few days.

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