All desktop icons have paint logo and won't work.

[bas0418]

Hello,
I'm trying to clean up a friend's PC that had Antivirus XP on it. All his desktop icons got changed to the paint logo and the links for them are broken. Also, when I try to create a new desktop icon for an application such as McAfee virus scan, it gets the paint icon and when lauched I get the message: "C:\Documents and Settings\Compaq_Administrator\Desktop\mcvsshld.exe.lnk. Paint cannot read this file. This is not a valid bitmap file, or its format is not currently supported." Any ideas?

 

[digitalprospecter]

The virus has changed the file associations on you. You can go into Tools>Folder Options, File Types tab and manually reset them or you can ensure that you have removed the infection totally and then do a system restore to a date previous to the infection to restore the file associations.

To remove any infections still active, try this:

Restart your computer in 'Safe Mode with Networking Support'.
(To do this: Power on your computer and start tapping the F8 key at the top of your keyboard rapidly until the Windows Start Menu appears. Then select the Safe Mode with Networking Support menu option and press the Enter key)

Open your web browser and go to www.malwarebytes.org

Download their free malwarebytes program from their main page

Install the program on your computer and run it.

Update the Malwarebytes program and do a full scan.
(You may be asked to restart. Do so, but use F8 key to return to Safe Mode)

Let us know the results of the scan and whether or not any symptoms persist and we will troubleshoot deeper.

Cheers!

 

[bas0418]

Hello,
I'm trying to clean up a friend's PC that had Antivirus XP on it. All his desktop icons got changed to the paint logo and the links for them are broken. Also, when I try to create a new desktop icon for an application such as McAfee virus scan, it gets the paint icon and when lauched I get the message: "C:\Documents and Settings\Compaq_Administrator\Desktop\mcvsshld.exe.lnk. Paint cannot read this file. This is not a valid bitmap file, or its format is not currently supported." Any ideas?

I was able to install Malware Bytes as you suggested but was unable to update or launch the program even from within Windows Explore instead of from the desktop. Tried rebooting and trying to run it again to no avail.

 

[digitalprospecter]

And you did this in "Safe Mode with Networking" and not just in the normal startup?

 

[bas0418]

I tried Safe Mode with Networking, and also just straight safe mode. There are two accounts on the PC so I also tried it under each account and it just wouldn't work. I was running out of time to get this PC ready so I had to do a full system restore using software from another drive on the hard drive to get this PC back up and running. McAfee is now working, there are no more strange software install problems popping up every few minutes, the desktop icons are fixed and I'm running 135 Microsoft updates to get things up to where they should be. Thanks for looking into this problem.

 

[digitalprospecter]

No problem. Glad to try and help.

 

[graywolf]

Goody. Mcafee is now working.

 

[digitalprospecter]

Ah... 135 Microsoft updates... nothing says "Microsoft didn't get it right the first time" than 135 updates! <Grin>