[Bernard L. Madoff]

I have a problem with the registry on one of my boxes.

If I download an executable file and go to load it I get the error message:

"windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item."

If I right click and go to properties and 'unblock' it I then go to load it I get the error message:

"xxx.exe is not a valid Win32 application"

The only registy cleaner I can find our .exe files so they won'y load.

I use XP Pro and Firefox.

Can anyone help?

[tor]

Tinpusher, on 16 February 2010 - 03:46 AM, said:

I have a problem with the registry on one of my boxes.

If I download an executable file and go to load it I get the error message:

"windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item."

If I right click and go to properties and 'unblock' it I then go to load it I get the error message:

"xxx.exe is not a valid Win32 application"

The only registy cleaner I can find our .exe files so they won'y load.

I use XP Pro and Firefox.

Can anyone help?

Is it the same file every time? Find another file and see if that works.

Maybe grab a free virus scanner while your at it

[Charles Bukowski]

I had that virus once. Download a program called exefix i think. And download spybot search and destroy, see what you have.

Download Hijackthis while you're at it.

[Bernard L. Madoff]

Any file. Thunderbird and Open Office being more reputable. I downloaded a registry fix but its an .exe file. My AVG anti-virus says clean.

[Bernard L. Madoff]

Which exefix version SJ?

[Bernard L. Madoff]

Tinpusher, on 16 February 2010 - 04:19 AM, said:

Any file. Thunderbird and Open Office being more reputable. I downloaded a registry fix but its an .exe file. My AVG anti-virus says clean.

Whats the point of downloading something if the machine wan't install the program?

[tor]

Tinpusher, on 16 February 2010 - 05:49 AM, said:

Whats the point of downloading something if the machine wan't install the program?

Try booting to safe mode and see if that works. Restart the machine and hold F8 from the very beginning. Probably won't but you might get lucky.

[urchin]

i guess that this would be the point where the long marginalised mac user would gloat a little... theoretically speaking, of course

[savagegoose]

one of the reasons i ditched xp was that this kinda thing happened, fro what i recall i had to start assiging permissions on my normal profile from the admin power user access. that and it was a dodgy version of xp i bought of an asian guy at a flea market. oh and the virii , and the ... not being able to connect to auto updates for 2 years.

anyhow, maybe the permissions are restricted to access the file, try logging in as admin and assigning more access to your username. or maybe roll back your restore posistions till before it all happened?

[Bernard L. Madoff]

Would you rate Vista any better? I have a Vista Pro disc somewhere.

[RumpledElf]

Skip Vista. Go to windows 7. I hear it is good, and from where I am sitting (4 feet away from a windows 7 computer) it looks pretty snazzy too.

[savagegoose]

actually if your pc has a lot of grunt, ie cpu and mem,. vista is ok. it tries to do things differnt than xp, especilly on ther layut of controls.
its a hard thing to learn ,7 is basically vista but tuned to operate like xp. and somehow made vista run faster wqith lss and a swankier desktop.

well from the user interface view,
go ask tor aBOUT THE NITTY GRITTY, I TRY AND AVOID ALL THAAT i was over operating systems at msdos5 i just learn what i need to get bye.
prob best part is the 64 bit version.

lol i have a beta version of 7 and i just got popup last night saying 14 days you need to buy a copy , or we f*ck with your shit.
GUESS ILL NEED TO SORT THAT OUT. i

back to focus tho. seriously i think its prob best version of win yet, i do have a prob playing some really early win game like dx 8 game or less.
i cant recall any xp games having a prob, though 1st time it fails to work i run in compataBILITY mode.

[staringclown]

Sounds like most other recommendations have been provided. I found this link which has a couple of alternative solutions. (AVG recording a false positive on a "normal" windows file sounds the most positive) Was there any thing you did just prior to the problem occuring?

[RumpledElf]

savagegoose, on 16 February 2010 - 07:53 AM, said:

lol i have a beta version of 7 and i just got popup last night saying 14 days you need to buy a copy , or we f*ck with your shit.
GUESS ILL NEED TO SORT THAT OUT.

We have a beta version too, they all expire at the same time. I don't recall seeing quite that wording in the message box though

[Bernard L. Madoff]

staringclown, on 16 February 2010 - 08:08 AM, said:

Sounds like most other recommendations have been provided. I found this link which has a couple of alternative solutions. (AVG recording a false positive on a "normal" windows file sounds the most positive) Was there any thing you did just prior to the problem occuring?

I wanted to load open office which was the issue. I used the Mrs lap top (Vista) and downloaded it to an external HD and on the hard drive unwrapped it to a folder on the external. I plugged it into mine and hit the unwrapped execute and it was fine.

I think when I download on mine something is getting corrupted because if I transfer the unwrapped file onto the external and try and work it using another lap top its still rooted.

Time is the issue. Screw it I'll get a version of Win7 off the back of a truck.

[Bernard L. Madoff]

Its times like this I realise why Air Traffic Control systems are Unix based.

[savagegoose]

ahh u ran an uninstalled program from a removable drive? must be the reg freeking out. sory about late reply was watching topgear, and only looking during ads. grab a download of open office, and just open your files frorm remote drive?

[Bernard L. Madoff]

savagegoose, on 16 February 2010 - 11:01 AM, said:

ahh u ran an uninstalled program from a removable drive? must be the reg freeking out. sory about late reply was watching topgear, and only looking during ads. grab a download of open office, and just open your files frorm remote drive?

Yeah it was cool

Quote

I used the Mrs lap top (Vista) and downloaded it to an external HD and on the hard drive unwrapped it to a folder on the external. I plugged it into mine and hit the unwrapped execute and it was fine.

Somehow I am corrupting shit in the download. I'll just move the good stuff off and load a new OS.

[tor]

Tinpusher, on 16 February 2010 - 11:43 AM, said:

Yeah it was cool

Somehow I am corrupting shit in the download. I'll just move the good stuff off and load a new OS.

If you go Win 7 make sure your hardware supports virtual pc. Then run one of them up and use it as your sandbox for dicking around. That way when it blows up it is a file delete and restore to put you back to the day or month before (assuming you make backups

Make another vpc for your personal stuff and store it in an encrypted drive, means anyone stealing your machine needs to beat the encryption and then the OS security (relatively unlikely).

[Mr Medved]

urchin, on 16 February 2010 - 06:22 AM, said:

i guess that this would be the point where the long marginalised mac user would gloat a little... theoretically speaking, of course

... which would be the point where the socially marginalised Linux user would snigger at the mac user...

If your computer is stuffed try installing Ubuntu...