I have a Sony Viao Pentium 4 running XP Media (SP2) and it has worked without issues for about two years. The short version of this is that when I click on most, but not all, exe programs I see a dialog box pop up stating, “This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action. Create an association in the Folder Options control panel.”
The long drawn out history is this: I had Norton Internet Security 2006 and I was prompted to upgrade to 2008. During the upgrade process I had to download and install for some reason, a Visual C++ package, vcredist_x86.exe which is digitally signed by Microsoft. After a couple of reboots and such it appeared that Norton Internet Security 2008 had installed successfully. I then performed a complete scan where a couple of items were found. It quarantined them and off I went. Afterwards I powered down the machine and went to bed. I woke up the next morning, turned on the PC and noticed that the parental portion of Norton didn’t come up (my son’s PC). After a few minutes I also noticed Norton didn’t show up in the system tray (along with several other items that normally do) nor was Norton running when I opened the Task Manager window. I then tried to click on some of the icons on my desktop and any one I double clicked on I received the message stated above.
When I go to Folder Options in the Control Panel I view the File Types tab, everything looks correct as compared to my fully functioning second PC running Windows XP Pro. All the icons on my troubled PC look normal but when I click on it I receive the stated message above. For the record, only a couple items in the Control Panel can actually run a program. About 90% of them give the error message above.
I also looked into the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/software/Symantec I do see many items so it appears that Norton is still installed but I wouldn’t swear by it.
Before you ask, Norton has been extremely unhelpful in this scenario to the tune of not even returning my emails after the initial exchange but they sure accepted my money… They did send me a link to download a removal tool, which I did, that is supposed to remove all traces of Norton (if it were a bad install) so I can start the process over but guess what, when I click on it to execute it I see the dialog box stated above.
One last clue. When I click on Start I can mouse over the Firefox "tab/icon" and when I click on it Firefox starts up and runs. If I use the Firefox icon on the desktop or in the quick startup menu I get the error stated in the first paragraph. Very odd... Other programs that are shown when I click on Start don't work so it's a hit and miss kind of thing. Sorry about the long email but I figured my diatribe might reduce the number of return questions...
Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope!
Any help would be greatly appreciated and please let me know if I need to give you any more information.
The long drawn out history is this: I had Norton Internet Security 2006 and I was prompted to upgrade to 2008. During the upgrade process I had to download and install for some reason, a Visual C++ package, vcredist_x86.exe which is digitally signed by Microsoft. After a couple of reboots and such it appeared that Norton Internet Security 2008 had installed successfully. I then performed a complete scan where a couple of items were found. It quarantined them and off I went. Afterwards I powered down the machine and went to bed. I woke up the next morning, turned on the PC and noticed that the parental portion of Norton didn’t come up (my son’s PC). After a few minutes I also noticed Norton didn’t show up in the system tray (along with several other items that normally do) nor was Norton running when I opened the Task Manager window. I then tried to click on some of the icons on my desktop and any one I double clicked on I received the message stated above.
When I go to Folder Options in the Control Panel I view the File Types tab, everything looks correct as compared to my fully functioning second PC running Windows XP Pro. All the icons on my troubled PC look normal but when I click on it I receive the stated message above. For the record, only a couple items in the Control Panel can actually run a program. About 90% of them give the error message above.
I also looked into the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/software/Symantec I do see many items so it appears that Norton is still installed but I wouldn’t swear by it.
Before you ask, Norton has been extremely unhelpful in this scenario to the tune of not even returning my emails after the initial exchange but they sure accepted my money… They did send me a link to download a removal tool, which I did, that is supposed to remove all traces of Norton (if it were a bad install) so I can start the process over but guess what, when I click on it to execute it I see the dialog box stated above.
One last clue. When I click on Start I can mouse over the Firefox "tab/icon" and when I click on it Firefox starts up and runs. If I use the Firefox icon on the desktop or in the quick startup menu I get the error stated in the first paragraph. Very odd... Other programs that are shown when I click on Start don't work so it's a hit and miss kind of thing. Sorry about the long email but I figured my diatribe might reduce the number of return questions...
Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope!
Any help would be greatly appreciated and please let me know if I need to give you any more information.