I recently got rid of a virus in my XP PC I use for general purpose.
Now I cannot run any program from the desktop icons, or else where, I get the Properties window instead, also the mouse looks like it does multiple clicks, Changed the mouse and the same thing.
Any ideas.
Max.

 

You need to check your system files......I can't recall for XP....google it.

 

I recently got rid of a virus in my XP PC I use for general purpose.
Now I cannot run any program from the desktop icons, or else where, I get the Properties window instead, also the mouse looks like it does multiple clicks, Changed the mouse and the same thing.
Any ideas.
Max.

Wipe and reinstall. Really.

As an alternative: Install Linux as the base operating system. Then, install Windows under VirtualBox.

You can then make "snapshots" of the Windows install which you can revert to when trouble arises.

I know I'm gonna get crap for this comment -- especially from @#12 -- but it really is the only sane, trouble free way, to use Windows, IMHO.

 

Download glary utilities and run that.

 

I recently got rid of a virus in my XP PC I use for general purpose.
Now I cannot run any program from the desktop icons, or else where, I get the Properties window instead, also the mouse looks like it does multiple clicks, Changed the mouse and the same thing.
Any ideas.
Max.

So, no pre-virus restore point available? No backup?

Try:

Clicking shortcuts on desktop only brings up properties box?

or maybe even

Desktop icons & start menu tools wont work!!!

If those (and probably 20 other possibilities) don't work, go here and create a new entry called "The Reinstall Blues".

 

That reminds me that I need to make an new image of my OS disk so I'll have the last security patch Microsoft issued if I have to restore from backup...

 

As someone who has been on the software side of things for a long time, my advice is retire the XP system and move to something more modern, at least Windows 7, preferably Windows 10, for security reasons. The Windows XP design is so old that there is no way to make it reasonably safe against modern threats, except to unplug it from the internet entirely.

Keep good backups, something like Symantec or Acronis. Set the schedule to backup at least once a day. Now if you get a horrible virus, then in a worst case you just restore the system to your last backup, which would have been earlier that day or in a worst case the day before. You can keep the backups on an external hard disk, or in the cloud if your internet connection is fast enough to make this reasonable.

As far as running Windows in a virtual machine; that is one possible solution, but there are some tradeoffs. Primairily you are giving up some performance due to the virtualization overhead, plus hardware support can become an issue since there is an extra layer between the OS and the hardware.

At the end of the day, there is no alternative to backups, both on-site and off-site.

 

I do have an Acronis back up, I was hoping there would be a simpler fix before going ahead.
I have a laptop with win10, but I have alot of programs that run under XP.
Max.

 

It's always tough when older required programs don't run in newer OS's. This is a good case for virtualization. Going forward, install VMWare or something similar on your Win10 machine, and install XP as a virtual machine, then use that to run your older programs.

If it were me personally, and if the budget allows; buy a new hard disk and restore a known good backup to the NEW disk. Then copy your latest data over from the old disk. This way you've still got the old disk around should you need to extract any more data.

 

+1 for virtualization

 

I recently got rid of a virus in my XP PC I use for general purpose.
Now I cannot run any program from the desktop icons, or else where, I get the Properties window instead, also the mouse looks like it does multiple clicks, Changed the mouse and the same thing.
Any ideas.
Max.

Any virus worth its salt will let you think you've won so it can carry on mischief in the background.

Re install the system on a cleansed HDD from a known clean OS install disk.

Wherever possible; I use an older smaller drive just for the OS. If anything nasty happens - I can do battle with that with all the drive containing my data, unplugged.

A couple of years ago; my boot HDD caught something nasty that no antivirus or partition wipe would shift. Deleting all partitions and installing Linux to over write everything finally did the trick.

 

Slightly embarrassing!
Turned out to be a defective Keyboard!
Thanks to all.
Max.

 

Slightly embarrassing!
Turned out to be a defective Keyboard!
Thanks to all.
Max.

The failed ALT key!

 

The failed ALT key!

Probably.
May be too much beer spilt over time!
Max.

 

Probably.
May be too much beer spilt over time!
Max.

Yup, everything ends up on that bottom row. And all the mold growing in those things from spilled food and dead skin and hair and... yuck! Worse than a hotel pillow!

 

Hello,

Couldn't you find the "any key"?

I quit using windows when there was a virus hose for windows 98SE.
I am quite happy with linux now.

Bertus

 

My service provider includes a very good security package firewall and anti-virus for both XP and 10.
Max.

 

The failed ALT key!

It was the; "any" key...............that often fails.

 

It was the; "any" key...............that often fails.

Yes but, ALT-click on XP brings up the Properties dialogue box.

 

..."the only sane, trouble free way, to use Windows"...

The only right way for windows is to open in summer and close in winter.