So my computer got this pop up called windows antivirus pro, and it caused a lot of pop ups to come up. So i used malwarebytes anti malware to get rid of it. and when i restarted, all my programs needed "open with" to open them.

By the way, my windows os is XP.

what types of files? do you literally mean every file? what about .exe files? for whatever you can, when you do 'open with', select the right program and select the 'always use this program' checkbox.

Every file, even when i try to start firefox.

And even the add and remove programs thing and if i try to system restore it says it too

are you able to get into system restore? does anything work in safe mode?

When i try to get to system restore it makes me click open with... which is not cool.

And if i try to go to anything on my control panel it says

c:/Windows/system32/rundll32.exe

Application not found

if you can get online in safe mode or use another computer go to http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm and click on the exe in line 12 and double click it and say yes. if you cant run it, in the run command (windows key + R or task manager then file then run) type regedit, then file, import and locate the file and run it.

im sure his internet browser are amongst the things that require the open with box. well we can try one thing to try and access the internet. if you go to start and click on run, type in iexplore.exe and see if you can open it up. i doubt it but its worth a shot.

Oh, oh. That is why I do not use private home software for most of my stuff any more.

This is going to sound a bit like beating a dead horse, but:

Save your files onto somewhere, using the Master/Slave pin on your primary harddrive, and another computer.

Reinstall your primary drive with the Master jumper in place. Then go through your system and make records of all your IRQ's, Network passwords, Application settings, and everything that you have to enter manually while preparing a new computer OS plus Application software.

Then reload your OS, and be careful not to do anything with it.

Now, load your application programs one at a time. With each load, do a little test to see that they are working fine. Now if you find one that does not work, skip it for now, reload your OS, etc. Load everything but the stuff that does not work for now. Just to see how much still works fine like always. Go back to the faultive stuff just afterwards once you get everything else working, even if you insist on doing them in order; or if you have to load them in a specific order, do it later. Just do up the necessary stuff until it rightly works then move on to the next thing. You see?

**If it is imperative** that your **program run** that is the faultive normal program, then do not load it, just the stuff that is just before it in your designed loadup order, and just get on the web and find some information on how to load it right. Next if you fail to find the right thing and program is unusuable, start looking for GNU mod's or replacements for it, and if none, then buy a different program that does the same thing. (Better yet, get a trial download that should do the same thing, so you will not get into the same mess twice.)

Now is the last and vital piece of operation modality:
Take your user files for all your OS and Applications that you have just saved onto something, and put them onto your new cleanly loaded Microsoft (r OS running as your computer one at a time in the right one at a time order. In each case, now test each previously backed up (saved ) thing meanwhile to see that it works after the newest change. Like, you probably do not have to use the hacker paradigm of 'check everything.' Since be smart and only check interoperation stuff and big system resource guzzlers. (It could be a buffer underrun, a memory sharing violation, where memory is overwritten. Which is usually only going to happen with a bigger size resource Application or OS function. ) Networks as such can go wrong in funny ways if the incorrect information is entered, so be sure not to be overconfident; so do not forget to take extra care with those settings of the network coming into Application dependencies.

Well, last thing. If you can not get your software to load the easy way, call Microsoft, since they know enough to get you past some of these things, for a hefty price per incident.


It is **so hard** for me to read those white papers and such that they publish for hardware/software, that I have given you this which is the only method that I get by on. I highly reccomend it. Otherwise good fortune to you doing it any other way.

dude i got the same issue the above message is quite complicated jus gimme a method to sort it out in about 2 mins ..! thanx

same issue can one of u give me easy treatment for this solution doesnt let me open any thing jus goes to open with all the time even i am trying to run something using run..! its piss taking man