Wondering where the best place to post this little ditty

NO SETUP.EXE program will run on my XP system

My problem is two fold. The most severe is.

1. Setup.exe files will not run on my XP computer
2. The system slows to a crawl when I log onto the internet…yes I still use dial-up

So addressing problem 1 a few days ago I installed the DVD Burner and the 80GB drive into my system (all the technicals are below) The hardware portion went just fine when I went to run the software portion of the install which is an OEMed Nero Ver6. I came to find out that if I ran a file named SETUP.EXE it would return the error

“Windows cannot find [filename]. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start button, and then click Search.”

Ok I thought bad disk I’ll just crawl online (remember dialup) ant get something to play with. The file I downloaded was in self installing zip file. When I executed the file I got the same error message as above. Come to find out one of the unzipped files was named SETUP.EXE. Oh @#%# I said to myself. I did a search for files on my computer called SETUP.EXE. Any one I tried to execute would give me the same error. OK, I thought how in the hell did a virus get on my system. So I set to work trying to figure out who it was that had invaded my system.

First I determined that any other file I tried with the EXE extension worked fine… then some more testing
If I renamed the SETUP.EXE to SETUP.COM the program would run fine unless it called for itself by name……more testing
If I made a copy of SETUP.EXE and renamed it to SETUP.COM and left the new file in the same sub the when the program would make a call to SETUP.EXE if would retrieve the code with no error and continue to install the program.
I ran a complete system scan. Nothing


I HAVE CHECKED 7 – 10 DIFFERENT VIRUSES THAT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH MODIFYING EXE FILES OR FILE ASSOCIATIONS. – NOTHING
I HAVE CHECKED MY REGISTRY UP ONE SIDE AND DOWN THE OTHER ALL THE REGISTRY CHANGES THAT ARE DISCUSSED WITH THESE VIRUSES I LOOK AT EVEN THOUGH THE SCAN COME BACK NEGATIVE. ALL OF THE REGISTRY ENTRIES ARE HOW THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE.

I put this in bold because every time I post it people say virus. I’m running out of sanity here guys. CAN ANYBODY SHED SOME DIFFERENT LIGHT ON THE SUBJECT….THANKS!!

Problem 2: With in the same time frame when I connect to the net with my modem everything else slows to a yield. Let me explain, If I have two instance of IE open before I click dial. They will run just fine after the connection is established. But for about 15 minutes any program I try to run will not start it doesn’t matter if it is a network type such as IE or email or whether it is a local type such as task manager or control panel.
Then about 10 or 15 minutes later BOOM they all open at once…but I’ve been surfing ok wading the web in the mean time with those couple of instances of whatever I had open before I initiated the connection.. That about all I got for that one

Thanks,

Rob

System Model
Dell Computer Corporation XPS-Z

Operating System
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2
Build 2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519 (Service Pack 2)
Processor
867 megahertz Intel Pentium III
256 kilobyte secondary memory cache
Bus Clock: 133 megahertz

Memory Modules
256 Megabytes Installed
'DIMM1' has 128 MB
'DIMM2' has 128 MB


Drives

WDC WD204BB [Hard drive]
(20.42 GB) NTFS 20.41 GB 10.62 GB free
WDC WD800JB-00JJC0 [Hard drive]
(80.03 GB) NTFS 80.02 GB 65.99 GB free


HP DVD Writer 740b [DVD Writer]
SONY CD-RW CRX140E [CDRW]

3.5" format removable media [Floppy drive]

Communications
U.S. Robotics 56K Fax Win [Modem]
3Com EtherLink XL 10/100 PCI For Complete PC Management NIC (3C905C-TX)

Antivirus
avast! Antivirus 4.6.691 [VPS 0542-5] Version 4.6.691
Realtime File Scanning On

Spyware Management
Spyblocker Search and Destroy
Ad-aware are installed

 

Hi Robster Craw, welcome to Wilders!!

Sounds like you are a bit iritated, I would be too.

First, check to see how many running processes you currently have going. Hit ctrl + alt + delete (sorry if you already know how, just in case ) and see if there is anything there it seems out of the ordinary or seems to be using a considerable amount of memory/cpu usage.

Next, something you might want to try is to boot to safe mode (repeatedly hit F8 after you restart, but before windows loads and choose "Safe mode with networking") This will force Windows to only load what it needs to function, nothing else.

Then I would fire up Spybot, change it to advanced mode, click on "Tools" and then on the Startup and this will list everything that starts up at runtime. If there is anything you know shouldn't be starting up, uncheck it. If everything goes to crap due to something you uncheck, you can always recheck it.

You said you did several different scans. I See you have Avast, Ad-Aware and Spybot S&D. Is this all you scanned with or have you tried any other apps?

if you can get to it (maybe through another pc), I would recommend using another AV to scan or get a free copy of Ewido and scan it with that. It is very good at finding things your AV may have missed.

I believe you are on the right track. Try these methods to begin with and we'll help you figure out what's going on.

Good luck

 

Not at all just real frustrated

Everything there I want there nothing that is strange or out of place

Done that Heck I even gave myself the viruses I've been checking for just to make sure my Avast would pick em up. it did just fine...

Scanned with Bit Defender, Nortons, McAfee, and a few other off the wall progs

I will give it a try ..... I've been at this since 10/22 I just want to figure it out now its becoming personal

I did jind one other guy with the same problem...on his new HP E machine...I had just installed a HP DVD writer...we are going to compare notes on software and hardware...I'll let you know what I come up with


Thanks greatly,

Rob

 

Good luck and keep us in the loop.

This will help us to help others in the future

 

We'll keep an eye on what ya'll come up with

 

I suggest Googling "Error 1605". It refers to Install Shield utility and might be your problem solver.