July 24, 2008 01:49pm pdt

Member Login

Top Experts

Yearly

1IndiGenus 88,221
2rpggamer... 75,395
3war1 8,840
4phototropic 8,225
5Jonvee 7,350
6briancassin 7,150
7-Mystique- 6,500
8younghv 6,470
9johnb6767 6,400
10orangutang 5,675
11rindi 5,630
12Admin3k 5,475
13willcomp 4,600
14r-k 4,440
15Delphineous 3,752

	[x] Attachment Details

Desktop icons very slow to load after malicious software removal.

Zones: Spyware / Ad Blockers, Windows XP Operating System, Anti-Virus

Tags: Microsoft, Windows, XP

I am attempting to cleanse a Dell Dimension 8300 of a spyware infection. I have removed the hard drive and scanned it with AVG anti-virus and AVG anti-spyware, also Ad aware. I also ran SDfix on all of the user names, from safe mode. All of my scans run clean now, and the most noticable infection (desktop hijack) is gone. The only lingering problem I have is, when I boot windows, it takes 3-4 minutes for the desktop icons to load. The task bar loads fine, but if I attempt to use the start menu, windows locks up for approximately 2 min, then gives me the error message "Windows cannot find '(null)'". Immediately after I select "ok" on the error message my desktop icons will load. The desktop has no problem loading in "safe" mode, but in normal mode the icons take forever to load even with "selective start up" selected in msconfig. If anyone needs a hijack this log I will be more than happy to supply one.

Start your free trial to view this solution

[x]

The Solution Rating System

With so many solutions, how can you tell which solutions are most likely to help you and which ones are not? To provide you with a tool to use, we rate our solutions based on various elements that most accurately determine if a solution is a quality solution. To explain what factors affect the solution rating, here are the elements we take into consideration when formulating our solution rating.

The Grade of the Solution
The Zone Rank of the Expert Providing the Solution
The Number of Author and Expert Comments
The Number of Experts Contributing
The Feedback of the Community

Your Input Matters
Because of the way the system is set up, the most important variable in this equation is you. As a member of Experts Exchange, you are able to cast your vote on the quality of the solutions in regard to how complete, accurate, helpful and easy to understand each solution is. When you provide your feedback, each rating is adjusted accordingly. So, if you see a solution that has a poor rating that you think is a good solution, let us know by rating it. As you do, the rating will be adjusted and will become more accurate for other members of our site.

If you have any suggestions that you would like to make for our rating system, please ask a question in the Suggestions Zone of Community Support.

Thank you!

8.5

Question Stats

Zone: Software

Question Asked By: brsprin

Solution Provided By: orangutang

Participating Experts: 3

Solution Grade: A

Translate:

Loading Advertisement...

20080723-EE-VQP-34 / EE_QW_2_20070628