While this question would probably be better posted in a Computer-specific help board, this board seems as intelligent and more witty, so I chose to post here.
My problem is that I’d had a virus found by my anti-virus software, cyxbb.exe, which was then deleted. However, when Windows starts, there was a call to open the virus everytime I boot up. So, now that the virus is gone, my computer still searches for the damn thing, which has an error message pop up, saying it can’t find the virus. So, I’m wondering how I can get rid of this message and stop my computer from trying to open up the virus. I looked in StartUp in the start menu, and it wasn’t calling it from there. I’d guess its something to do with system registry, which I wouldn’t go venturing into without more knowledge as to what I’m doing. Thanks to anyone who can help with my problem, as I have just decided to live with it for the past few months. It only detracts seconds of my time, its just rather annoying. I finally have decided to ask for help from someone to get rid of this. Thanks again
We need a little more information to be able to try and help you.
What operating system are you running?
What anti-virus program did you use?
Are you sure about the name of the virus?
Windows 98 SE, used McCafee anti-virus, which I downloaded a free trial of specifically because I ran a Norton online virus scan which found the virus. So, Norton and McCafee spotted it as a virus. The file was C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\Cyxbb.exe, and when I’d tried to delete it without the anti-virus program, it told me that it couldn’t, because the program was already running. So, the thing was running whenever I had Windows booted.
Well, for a simple and safe thing, open a DOS prompt, type “regedit”, and when your registry comes up, choose “Edit->Find” and search for “cyxbb”, and see what you find. Tell me if you find anything, and we can see what to do next.
Name: Explorer
Data: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\Cyxbb.exe
there were a bunch of other things listed too, which I recognize as files that are loaded when my computer starts up, such as my Seti@home client, Tweak UI, a Keyboard manager, Systray, scanregw, etc.
Open up your win.ini file, it should be in the c:\windows folder. One of the first lines should read: Load=. Scroll all the way over and see if there is anything there.
Any of you other computer guru’s reading this please scroll down a little in GQ and see if you can help fix my computer problem :D. Thanks.
no, it just says load= and then it goes to the next line; nothing follows load= at all.
There is a freeware application available called StartUp Cop, which lists every program that loads on boot-up, and allows you disable or remove them individually.
I recently downloaded it myself, because I was having difficulty finding and eliminating an annoying little problem. It worked wonderfully well and I thoroughly recommend it to all.
Get it from this link:
I tried the Startup Cop… Cyxbb.exe is referred as Explorer… Although I’m worried about removing it, because isn’t explorer basically Windows? I draw this idea from the fact that when you hit Ctrl+Alt+Del and close the program Explorer, the taskbar dissapears, any open Windows/Internet Explorer windows close, and then start themselves up again… Is it possible this virus copied explorer and made a corrupted version it tried to load instead or something? I don’t think I deleted a file vital to loading Win98, because I asked several friends who have the same vers. as me to look in their computer to see if they had it and they all said no before I had McCafee delete it…
I have a couple of problems with your problem.
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You sound as if you are in over your head. I suggest you find a real human to stand next to you and work with you.
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Neither Symantec nor McAfee list any virus named cyxbb.exe or cyxbb.
But now that I’ve finished being a snot, go to run on the Start menu and type: msconfig
This program shows you in multiple windows everything that runs at start-up except, I think, what may actually be in the Startup folder. Check each window (autoexec.bat, config.sys, etc) for any references to cyxbb.exe and uncheck the lines. Most likely you will find the last window will have the reference you want to disable. This shows what entries are in the Run folder of the registry. Read the Help section if you have questions. Then re-start.
I hope this is specific enough as I’m doing this all from memory; no Win98 machine here at 3AM.
Try this,
Go to Start>Run and type MSConfig, press OK
Select the start up tab,
In this list the .exe file may be listed, if so uncheck the box next to the item.
Regards,
Well . . .
I only read the first 2 points of GWF Hefel’s Post, sorry.
They do say Great Minds think alike 
Good Luck
msconfig won’t actually get rid of the problem, best thing to do is to edit the registry or get a program such as regcleaner to do a full registry clean and get rid of the offender. regcleaner will take out any registry keys that aren’t associated with somethng anymore.
I’ve never had much success with McAfee and Norton. I recommend downloading cai.com’s InnoculateIT–it’s incredibly stable, has a low footprint and has a 100% hit rate (as far as I can tell 
– it caught viruses that McAfee and Norton overlooked on our systems). It’s also free and updated regularly.
I also like the fact that it’ll clean the viruses up automatically instead of just pointing them out. Highly, highly recommended.
Okay, I tried the msconfig thing and now the message is gone. Thanks to those who have helped.
Better solution is editing the registry and deleting that entry. If you leave it as is, you will be booting in diagnostic mode from now on, and when you change it back to normal, the problem will return.
In regedit:
browse in the tree on the left side to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\RUN
then delete the entry called explorer with the value C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\CYXBB.EXE
It’s not really explorer. It’s a deceptive name to trick people who don’t know any better into not deleting it. What’s under Value is what matters. Name is just a name, and as Shakespeare said, “A virus reference by any other name stinks as rotten.” Or something.