I've run into an issue that I believe was related to a VirtualDNS.dll virus, but it may not be since the HJT log that I posted in another section came out clean. When I got hit with the virus, the most obvious thing that got affected was that my MS officeXP Pro Shortcut toolbar disappeared. It is set to load at bootup and I have been unable to after multiple reboots and every manual execute command that I can think of or find online. When I boot, the little window appears indicating that it is loading the shortcut toolbar, but then nothing appears.
I've run and "cleaned" my system of the VirtualDNS virus, but since I couldn't reinstate the toolbar, I decided to repair, then uninstall office and reinstall. No luck! I came to assume that when an uninstall is initiated, there are registry settings that remain. I reinstalled it into the same folder name as before and when I rebooted, the toolbar never came up. then when I opened outlook, I got the license accept window, but all my contacts, inbox and email settings were intact.
In the end I took a gamble uninstalled again then I exported, then deleted the microsoft/office folders in the local machine and user key in the registry. Lastly, I reinstalled Office into another folder name altogether and after I rebooted, I clicked on the toolbar in the start menu and it came up. So far it is running as it should.
I've got 2 questions...
1. Does anyone know why the toolbar would fail to appear properly like that?
2. Is there any way to uninstall Office TOTALLY so if I reinstall into the same folder name, my email, inbox, calender and such do not appear as if nothing ever happened. I understand that it saved me some time to retype all the settings and import all the contacts, but if there was a problem within that data, it would just continue for the new install.
Thanks.
Jerold
I've run and "cleaned" my system of the VirtualDNS virus, but since I couldn't reinstate the toolbar, I decided to repair, then uninstall office and reinstall. No luck! I came to assume that when an uninstall is initiated, there are registry settings that remain. I reinstalled it into the same folder name as before and when I rebooted, the toolbar never came up. then when I opened outlook, I got the license accept window, but all my contacts, inbox and email settings were intact.
In the end I took a gamble uninstalled again then I exported, then deleted the microsoft/office folders in the local machine and user key in the registry. Lastly, I reinstalled Office into another folder name altogether and after I rebooted, I clicked on the toolbar in the start menu and it came up. So far it is running as it should.
I've got 2 questions...
1. Does anyone know why the toolbar would fail to appear properly like that?
2. Is there any way to uninstall Office TOTALLY so if I reinstall into the same folder name, my email, inbox, calender and such do not appear as if nothing ever happened. I understand that it saved me some time to retype all the settings and import all the contacts, but if there was a problem within that data, it would just continue for the new install.
Thanks.
Jerold