Computer Calamity!

[Lint of Death]

I seem to have encountered a serious problem with my hard drive or perhaps motherboard, but I seriously have no idea what this problem is. I will see if I can describe its symptoms below. Any attempt to identify the problem or suggest a solution, apart from formatting, would be greatly appreciated.

First off, I should mention that I run Windows Vista 64-bit, and the computer itself was acquired (brand new) just over a year ago.

I turned on my PC this morning and was met with the following changes:
1. Only a small selection of programs will run, which includes COMODO Firewall, 7-Zip File Manager, Internet Explorer (64-bit only), and basic things like explorer.exe, image preview, and anything in the Accessories folder. All others fail to launch when clicked; even though they still appear on the list of installed programs, I cannot even uninstall them because the applications cannot be found! Installing new programs also does not work, though COMODO is apparently able to update itself.

2. This seems related: while it is true that Microsoft Word, for example, no longer functions like most any other program, the files themselves exhibit strange behavior. I can right click them and view their properties, but when I try to open them it says the files cannot be found. Files that can be opened by still-functioning programs like Image Preview and Notepad, however, open with no trouble.

3. System Restore fails. I have tried using it for points from yesterday and two or three days ago - when things were normal - but the operation has failed each time.

The only major changes I recall making to my PC yesterday were as follows:
*Avast! Home Edition was on its last day before expiring. This seems to be the most significant change, even though I fed it a new registration key so that it would keep running, because it, in fact, does not run. It seems afflicted like most other programs, as I cannot uninstall it.
*I installed a demo through Steam of The Last Remnant. It seemed like a shitty console port, so, even though I since removed it and a couple other Steam games from my hard drive, it may have been capable of causing serious damage :p

So, unless anyone wants other details, does anyone have any ideas? Suggestions? COMODO wants me to restart now after applying an update, but apart from that I am pretty much clueless.

[Lint of Death]

It may or may not be worth mentioning that, naturally, any website component requiring Flash does not work. And that reboot didn't do anything for me either, heh.

[TheKeck]

Man, that sucks Lint. You've got me stumped. :(

[shunoshi]

You've surpassed my computer fixing abilities. When all else fails, reformat. That's what I do. :D

[Lint of Death]

You've surpassed my computer fixing abilities. When all else fails, reformat. That's what I do. :D

Haha, makes me wish I had an external hard drive so I could have a backup ready. D'oh!!

[resikel]

1. Make another user account with admin rights.
2. Log in to that account to see if you have the same symptoms.

[Lint of Death]

1. Make another user account with admin rights.
2. Log in to that account to see if you have the same symptoms.

Good idea! I forgot to try this.
The result: my new Admin account, Captain Backup, despite his adorable default dog icon, has failed me. The problems persist.

EDIT: I just tried rebooting and starting in Captain Backup, and found something new: when trying to launch iTunes, it attempts to install the program but then imforms me that installation failed either because I am in Safe Mode or because Windows Installer has not been installed properly. I am quite confident that this is not safe mode, and so I posit the latter!

On that note, I should try launching in safe mode, and THEN doing system restore.

[harle]

Do you only have one hard drive? Something like this happened to me when one of my hard drives changed their lettering without me knowing. I could not open most of my programs.

[Lint of Death]

Do you only have one hard drive? Something like this happened to me when one of my hard drives changed their lettering without me knowing. I could not open most of my programs.

I have two, but, some months ago, after I installed Medieval 2: Total War and rebooted, my PC stopped liking it when they were simultaneously plugged in. Oh well, the secondary one was just my old hard drive from my previous computer.

Incidentally, you know what I just found works just fine in safe mode? Everything. At least, as far as can be expected in Safe Mode, haha. If I'm lucky this functionality will persist if I bring things back to Normal.

edit: I want the record to now reflect that I am not, in fact, lucky. Back to the system restore in safe mode idea...

[biosc1]

Sounds like your user registry may be buggered?

[Talanvor]

I think your registry might be messed up.

[iHap]

I hardly read it and you will probably same more time, energy, and frustration if you just nuke your drive.

[Lint of Death]

A screwed up registry is the impression I'm getting, so I've been trying to uninstall programs in Safe Mode, which works fine for... for most programs, but some still resist as described above. Any suggestions for how to un-bork it?

Doesn't look like I can system restore it away, since all my restore points are now from today thanks to my stupid attempts to do it earlier.

EDIT: despite being able to install/uninstall most programs while in Safe Mode, problems in Normal persist without change. Grrr.

[TheKeck]

Doesn't look like I can system restore it away, since all my restore points are now from today thanks to my stupid attempts to do it earlier.
This is quite annoying. I was trying to do a restore recently, only to discover that all my restore points were too recent too matter. Note to self, if you think you'll need a restore, you better figure it out in a day or three or the chance will forever be lost to you. :(

[LiquidRain]

Hard drive or memory.

Do a Drive Fitness Test. Get it here. (http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm) Or get memtest86+.

[ThievesAmongUs]

I'm going to say your registry is the likely culprit here, Lint.

[Lint of Death]

Hard drive or memory.

Do a Drive Fitness Test. Get it here. (http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm) Or get memtest86+.

The Drive Fitness Test is 32-bit, so it doesn't work. memtest86+ requires an installation, which is impossible for my computer to handle in its present state.

Is there anything else I can do in the face of a registry problem?

[Fenced]

You wouldn't happen to have adaware would you? I just skimmed your posts, but it sounds exactly like my problem from a few days ago. Comodo updated to its latest version, which is when the problems started. It isn't compatible with adaware, so it wouldn't let me open most of my programs. I ended up uninstalling adaware, and everything was fine. I will find a link to the post on the comodo forums about it.

edit: Here (http://forums.comodo.com/firewall_bugs/commodo_upgrade_and_windows_vista-t34858.0.html) is thread about it. I'm sure there is more info around there. If you don't have adaware, just try uninstalling comodo anyway. Restore points didn't work for me either, even restoring to a point before the update.

[Lint of Death]

You wouldn't happen to have adaware would you? I just skimmed your posts, but it sounds exactly like my problem from a few days ago. Comodo updated to its latest version, which is when the problems started. It isn't compatible with adaware, so it wouldn't let me open most of my programs. I ended up uninstalling adaware, and everything was fine. I will find a link to the post on the comodo forums about it.

edit: Here (http://forums.comodo.com/firewall_bugs/commodo_upgrade_and_windows_vista-t34858.0.html) is thread about it. I'm sure there is more info around there. If you don't have adaware, just try uninstalling comodo anyway. Restore points didn't work for me either, even restoring to a point before the update.

I do have Adaware installed! I'll try that post-hate.

By the way, I did manage to get the Hard Disk test thing working, but it found nothing wrong. At least that's a good sign!

[Lint of Death]

It worked. I'm cured! Thanks a lot everyone. Now, only 12 hours later, my PC is back to normal. I am quite pleased, just don't ask me what I think of COMODO right now :p

[Superman's Dead]

So it's too late to say "kill it with fire"?

[cp#]

try run -> cmd
gpupdate /force

then reboot (this has solved some vista user issues of mine before)

nevermind, I see you worked it out

[Aggort]

Ah it's even later to agree about Registry, but man am I glad some one solved your issue by chance!

[J Arcane]

It worked. I'm cured! Thanks a lot everyone. Now, only 12 hours later, my PC is back to normal. I am quite pleased, just don't ask me what I think of COMODO right now :p
Are you not running behind a router of some kind?

If not you should be. Even a cheap ass $40 router will do a better job securing your internet connection than any personal firewall software.

Software firewalls are fucking worthless, and so easily circumvented it's really a waste of time to have them at all.

I'd also recommend that you keep Adaware off there and get Spybot instead. Spybot's more reliable, and has a greater detection rate. Only issue is it doesn't have the automation features, so you have to remember to do that stuff manually.

[Lint of Death]

I use both Adaware and Spybot. I run behind a router, too, so I think I'll be OK. Hooray!