Can't run ANY browser

Factual Questions
1

I started a thread here a little while ago about malware problems on my daughter’s computer, and got some useful advice. Thanks to everyone who replied. To keep the story short, Malwarebytes was recommended, and it found a lot of problems (like, hundreds). It appears to have fixed them. Currently, neither Malwarebytes nor McAfee reports any problems (not that McAfee did before!), and the machine seems to running noticeably more smoothly.

However, one serious, and, to my mind, seriously weird problem remains. It will not run any browser. (Well, to be accurate, I have not tried every known browser, but it will not run Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Chrome.) When you click on a browser’s shortcut, or even if you dig down and double click on the .exe file itself, nothing seems to happen, or more accurately, the cursor does some of its gyrations for a second or two, and then nothing more. No program window opens (and i can see no evidence inTask Manager of anything relevant running).

I should add that other programs seem to be running fine, including internet dependent ones such as Google Earth and AIM instant messenger.

The problem with Firefox began before the malware removal, and today, following advice I got in the previous thread, I tried completely uninstalling it, along with its profiles, and reinstalling. The installation appeared to go fine, but the program still will not open.

At the time I removed the malware, IE7 was still working. However, it appears that, a day or two after, Windows update told my daughter it wanted to upgrade her to IE8. She let it do so, and since then IE has not worked (i.e., opened) either.

Today I downloaded the full install version of Google Chrome on another machine, transferred the install file to her computer with a flash drive, and installed Chrome. Once again, the installation appeared to go smoothly (though rather more quickly than I expected), but Chrome will not open.

I have also tried using System Restore to roll her system back to a point before the browser problems began, but have had no luck. Although there are earlier restore points listed, attempts to restore to them failed, and the oldest restore point I did get to work did not solve any of the problems (but I think it is later than when she lost IE anyway).

So, it looks as though something is either causing browsers in general to fail to install properly (there are files in the relevant directories, including the main .exe files, but I cannot tell if everything that needs to be there is really there), or else something is preventing them from opening. My guess is that this is some sort of registry problem left behind by the malware, but I have no idea what to do about it. Does anyone else have a clue, or am I condemned to do a complete wipe and re-install of Windows (and all the updates and service packs, and all programs, and. . . . .)?

The operating system is WindowsXP Media Center, and she has automatic updates enabled, so I think it is properly patched.

2

You would probably be best off to save critical data and re-install at this point. On several occasions lately I have found that the various things malwarebytes and other more aggressive virus scrubbers did to kill the virus took pieces of the OS functionality with it as (I’m guessing) the malware attached itself to various parts of the registry and when the malware go clipped so did the function.

If a virus really has it’s hooks into a system I’m kind of giving up on trying to fully recover systems from nasty viruses. In the end if I’m finding if I re-installed the OS I would have saved a ton of time vs the hours and hours spent playing with virus eliminators only to “win” and have a crippled system.

3

And to make it easier, keep your OS partition separate from any data. And back up anything crucial to an external source. (Keep your critical stuff in safe file formats, too.) Look into getting some really strong anti-malware programs.

There are programs that will try and fix your OS, by finding any pieces that are missing. If you went to a site dedicated to this sort of thing, you probably would have been told about them. It’s a Microsoft tool, IIRC.

Still, it’s a good thing you got rid of the malware. There’s no reason you can’t try reinstalling on top of your existing installation, and see if you can get the computer functioning without having to wipe it first. Still make sure you have a backup copy of your critical files, though. You can always reformat and reinstall later if that doesn’t work. But you’ll have to reinstall any programs you want to keep.

I am curious what you had, anyways. Not being able to install browsers can also mean you are still infected.

4

Just saw this part: Do not assume this. The malware most likely had to invalidate some of your updates to be able to spread. Microsoft has a tool to check that, too.

Saying all that, I personally just wound up reformatting and reinstalling. I didn’t use most of my installed apps, anyways. I forgot how fast Windows can be.