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Some Programs missing after Upgrading Kaspersky

Hi there, this is a weird one...

A customer rang and told me he was having isses with kaspersky - the licence had failed. I remotely connected to his laptop and tried to reactivate his Kaspersky 2011 internet security. This failed so I tried an application repair. This also failed so I uninstalled and reinstalled it. I left the customer installing it and he said there was no problem.

He called me back this moring to say that a number of applications no longer worked.

He dropped the notebook off this after noon and a number of applications seem to have 'vanished'. The shortcuts are still there albiet the icons had become a generic type. I looked in the programs folder and many program folders are missing. These include IE, all the Windows Live software, and windows uiliilities - calander, defender, movie maker, windows gallery etc etc  all the HP utilities, etc. Interestingly, outlook is still there and works. I tried to run word and the system said it had to configure office, sat there doing that for about 5 mins then had to reboot.

I have tried a system restore and as usual, vista couldnt do it.

I did not that in the restore points after Kaspersky was reinstalled, there was a windows update.

The system is a HP DV6000 Notebook, Vista fully patched and SP'd. I have no reason to suspect there is any MALWARE in the system. Until the kasperskjy licence problem, the customer said the system have been running fine.

Before I Run a system recovery, is there any advice out there and also, it would be good to have something to tell the customer other than "I dont know what caused it"


Regards Jason
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nobus
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Gene_Cyp

Internet literature seems to suggest Kapersky behaves like this on a lot of systems, mostly systems running a virtual machine (esp Macs running windows as a VM).

The issue points at kapersky (or maybe windows ;) ).

Try uninstalling it completely, fix windows and then proceed to install it again. As for the customer feedback, just explain that kapersky and MS windows  don't always play ball together.
Is it Vista 32 bit or 64 bit? which version of vista?

From your symptom, the user profile has been corrupted and if system restore does not work, you might need to backup all user data and restore the OS from the HP recovery partition and install back all applications.

It is a nightware for both you and the user.
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HI Guys... thanks for the comments.

Nobus... Not sure if the Kapersky faq applies. The version I have here is INternet security. Also, the problem I have is not just modified apps but the application folder and files are completley missing from c:/Program Files.

Gene... what you say is not wrong but as a kaspersky resellor, I have never seen this happen before. It's pretty much as you say with the customer, "dont know what happened but Kaspersly and or windows had a major 'wobble'".

jackieman... 32 bit. Im not sure how creating a new user prof would make any diff as the apps have dissapeared from the actual programs folder - all gone. Out of interest I did creat a new user prof - no diff.

As far as the OS is concerned, it runs fine. Everything runs fine except the apps I mentioned. It's almost like someone has come along and deleted the respective folders from c:/Program Files.

I have started the sfc scannow, I will advise if this helps but with the missing app files and folders I cant see them coming back. I am guessing I either manually reintsall each component or run a system recovery.


Cheers Jason.

Have you checked Kapkersky's quarantine for the programs?
http://www.ehow.com/how_5843972_use-quarantine-kaspersky.html
Run system restore
START | rstrui
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hi jcgriff... as staded in my orig post...

"I have tried a system restore and as usual, vista couldnt do it.

I did not that in the restore points after Kaspersky was reinstalled, there was a windows update."

cheers
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Hi guys...

After the scf... the software seems to be working. Thier default Icons have not come back. Thats a good and surprising result - thanks jackieman.

When the scan finished, it said there where some corrupted system files that could not be repaired. I wonder if I sould pursue that any further???

I could not find the kaspersky quarantine.

Although the problem has not been completley resolved, the closest fix came from jackieman for the sfc scannow suggestion. Fixed a number of things.
Glad to know your feedback.

sfc /scannow is the basic tool to fix problem.

Try the following to rebuild the icon cache. Do create a system restore point first before trying the below.

The icon cache can be cleared by deleting the hidden file named IconCache.db in the following location:
%userprofile%\AppData\Local

Note: %userprofile% represents the path to user profile folder.
Rebuilding the Icon Cache Database

1. Close all folder windows that are currently open.

2. Launch Task Manager using the CTRL+SHIFT+ESC key sequence, or by running taskmgr.exe.

3. In the Process tab, right-click on the Explorer.exe process and select End Process.

4. Click the End process button when asked for confirmation.

5. From the File menu of Task Manager, select New Task (Run…)

6. Type CMD.EXE, and click OK

7. In the Command Prompt window, type the commands one by one and press ENTER after each command:

    CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local
    DEL IconCache.db /a
    EXIT

8. In Task Manager, click File, select New Task (Run…)

9. Type EXPLORER.EXE, and click OK.

Source: http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/how-to-rebuild-the-icon-cache-in-windows-vista/

Glad to know thaty you have solved the problem. Cheers.

If you are free, have a look of the link below for solving the problem of "corrupted system files that could not be repaired".

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/86959-access-vista-install-dvd-files.html

There are no 100% fix. So, the golden rule is BACKUP, BACKUP and BACKUP.

BACKUP the user's data, BACKUP the OS disk image and BACKUP all sources of application installers. You may never know when you will encounter another strange problem that could not be solved by system restore.
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hey thats awesome! thanks for the additonal info.