My desktop running WinXP Home was accidently turned off/restarted during a
program run. When it rebooted none of my start up icons would run nor
appear. I received an error advising that Windows could not locate the
executable and to try searching from a list. Clicking on the desktop and
control panel won't execute programs. I tried going to a recovery point and
got the icon for the shortcuts but still couldn't execute. I can access the
hard drive and all data and programs are there. Contacted Gateway since this
was OEM. They advised I had a virus. I run Norton and Windows security
along with Ad Aware SE. I did run a full scan via Norton that turned up no
viruses. Gateway advises to format the hardrive.

Looking for alternative help?

Could be registry problem. you need a registry fix tool.


"Dan" wrote:

> My desktop running WinXP Home was accidently turned off/restarted during a
> program run. When it rebooted none of my start up icons would run nor
> appear. I received an error advising that Windows could not locate the
> executable and to try searching from a list. Clicking on the desktop and
> control panel won't execute programs. I tried going to a recovery point and
> got the icon for the shortcuts but still couldn't execute. I can access the
> hard drive and all data and programs are there. Contacted Gateway since this
> was OEM. They advised I had a virus. I run Norton and Windows security
> along with Ad Aware SE. I did run a full scan via Norton that turned up no
> viruses. Gateway advises to format the hardrive.
>
> Looking for alternative help?