[Brian]

It all started when Norton Internet Security found two adware files -
ysb and 1st (or is it 'ist"?). The recommendation was to let Norton
delete them which I did. Norton's intrusion detection subsequently
failed to load and the virus scan still found the two files! To cure
Norton I had to reinstall it!

Immediately after that "Add/remove programs" failed. Windows Update
replaced (or renewed?) the installer but an MIS file I needed to
unistall a particular program was missing.

I did a system restore to an earlier point to try and remove the
program (a new video editor from a reputable education software house
in Cambridge UK).

Now I have these symptoms:
System Restore does nothing on first running it. Second attempt and it
opens with a blank screen - completely white.

Windows Update opens with a blank screen - completely white and goes no
further.

Windows search (ALT-F) opens with the explore side (right hand pane)
working perfectly but the left hand pane is blank (plain blue) except
for the dog which is there, large as life.

Search works within an app (eg Word) but not in Explorer.

Media Player 9 won't start ("an internal application error has
occured")

In every other respect, the computer is working perfectly - fast and
efficient. It's a P4 with 1Gb RAM and two hard discs - 160Gb and 300Gb
(Maxtor external USB2).

I have read dozens of articles in Microsoft KB and various forums,
including many by Torgeir Bakken whose replies are excellent (many
thanks). I have tried all of the fixes (proxy settings, etc) to no
avail. I've even tried his IEreg.bat file created in WordPad and saved
to the desktop as a .bat file and executed. All to no avail so far.

I'm about to try a repair installation of XP. What do you think can
have gone wrong? I'd be really grateful for advice.

Thanks,
Brian Smith (Stamford, UK)

[MowGreen [MVP]]

Brian,

Suspect that Norton somehow damaged Windows Script. See if reinstalling
it resolves the issue :
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c717d943-7e4b-4622-86eb-95a22b832caa&DisplayLang=en
Save it, close IE, and then install it. Advise you to temporarily
disable Norton prior to the install and then reenable it afterwards.
To prevent any applications running in the background that can interfere
with the install you can boot to Safe Mode and install it from there.

MowGreen [MVP 2004-2005]
===============
*-343-* FDNY
Never Forgotten
===============

Brian wrote:

> It all started when Norton Internet Security found two adware files -
> ysb and 1st (or is it 'ist"?). The recommendation was to let Norton
> delete them which I did. Norton's intrusion detection subsequently
> failed to load and the virus scan still found the two files! To cure
> Norton I had to reinstall it!
>
> Immediately after that "Add/remove programs" failed. Windows Update
> replaced (or renewed?) the installer but an MIS file I needed to
> unistall a particular program was missing.
>
> I did a system restore to an earlier point to try and remove the
> program (a new video editor from a reputable education software house
> in Cambridge UK).
>
> Now I have these symptoms:
> System Restore does nothing on first running it. Second attempt and it
> opens with a blank screen - completely white.
>
> Windows Update opens with a blank screen - completely white and goes no
> further.
>
> Windows search (ALT-F) opens with the explore side (right hand pane)
> working perfectly but the left hand pane is blank (plain blue) except
> for the dog which is there, large as life.
>
> Search works within an app (eg Word) but not in Explorer.
>
> Media Player 9 won't start ("an internal application error has
> occured")
>
> In every other respect, the computer is working perfectly - fast and
> efficient. It's a P4 with 1Gb RAM and two hard discs - 160Gb and 300Gb
> (Maxtor external USB2).
>
> I have read dozens of articles in Microsoft KB and various forums,
> including many by Torgeir Bakken whose replies are excellent (many
> thanks). I have tried all of the fixes (proxy settings, etc) to no
> avail. I've even tried his IEreg.bat file created in WordPad and saved
> to the desktop as a .bat file and executed. All to no avail so far.
>
> I'm about to try a repair installation of XP. What do you think can
> have gone wrong? I'd be really grateful for advice.
>
> Thanks,
> Brian Smith (Stamford, UK)
>

[Brian]

Hi MowGreen,

I'm really grateful for your reply. Many thanks. By the way, I'm in the
UK, I wasn't actually up at 5.49am!

During the day, I explored the possibility of re-installing Windows,
something I've never done before and was quite nervous about. Talk
about dynamite to crack a walnut! By the time your answer arrived I'd
taken the plunge and done a re-install of XP over the top of the old
and it seems to have cured the problem without needing too much work on
the computer afterwards and without losing any work (I did major
backups first).

I suspect that you may have hit the nail on the head though and it may
be that re-installing Windows Script would have done it. I didn't find
that suggestion when I was trawling the forums. Also, I suppose you
could say that it did work - I just reinstalled it along with about a
million other files that perhaps didn't need reinstalling.

Thanks again and best wishes.

Brian

MowGreen [MVP] wrote:
> Brian,
>
> Suspect that Norton somehow damaged Windows Script. See if reinstalling
> it resolves the issue :
> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c717d943-7e4b-4622-86eb-95a22b832caa&DisplayLang=en
> Save it, close IE, and then install it. Advise you to temporarily
> disable Norton prior to the install and then reenable it afterwards.
> To prevent any applications running in the background that can interfere
> with the install you can boot to Safe Mode and install it from there.
>
> MowGreen [MVP 2004-2005]
> ===============
> *-343-* FDNY
> Never Forgotten
> ===============
>
> Brian wrote:
>
> > It all started when Norton Internet Security found two adware files -
> > ysb and 1st (or is it 'ist"?). The recommendation was to let Norton
> > delete them which I did. Norton's intrusion detection subsequently
> > failed to load and the virus scan still found the two files! To cure
> > Norton I had to reinstall it!
> >
> > Immediately after that "Add/remove programs" failed. Windows Update
> > replaced (or renewed?) the installer but an MIS file I needed to
> > unistall a particular program was missing.
> >
> > I did a system restore to an earlier point to try and remove the
> > program (a new video editor from a reputable education software house
> > in Cambridge UK).
> >
> > Now I have these symptoms:
> > System Restore does nothing on first running it. Second attempt and it
> > opens with a blank screen - completely white.
> >
> > Windows Update opens with a blank screen - completely white and goes no
> > further.
> >
> > Windows search (ALT-F) opens with the explore side (right hand pane)
> > working perfectly but the left hand pane is blank (plain blue) except
> > for the dog which is there, large as life.
> >
> > Search works within an app (eg Word) but not in Explorer.
> >
> > Media Player 9 won't start ("an internal application error has
> > occured")
> >
> > In every other respect, the computer is working perfectly - fast and
> > efficient. It's a P4 with 1Gb RAM and two hard discs - 160Gb and 300Gb
> > (Maxtor external USB2).
> >
> > I have read dozens of articles in Microsoft KB and various forums,
> > including many by Torgeir Bakken whose replies are excellent (many
> > thanks). I have tried all of the fixes (proxy settings, etc) to no
> > avail. I've even tried his IEreg.bat file created in WordPad and saved
> > to the desktop as a .bat file and executed. All to no avail so far.
> >
> > I'm about to try a repair installation of XP. What do you think can
> > have gone wrong? I'd be really grateful for advice.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Brian Smith (Stamford, UK)
> >