"shell problem"

nosher

nosher

1
im currently experiencing probs with my system. if i try to delete a folder for example when i right click on the folder to delete it my system goes wonkey.the screen will go back to the desktop with no icons or taskbar for a couple of seconds then everything will return. the only way i can delete anything is to drag and drop it in to the bin. i get the the error box up each time which says its a problem with "shell.dll". if anyone could help please
 
S

scarecrow

1
Most likely shell.dll is damaged by a worm or virus. Just replace it wih the one from the installation CD or service pack, AFAIK it's not a protected file so you don't have to follow the system protection deactivation routine that's needed for replacing other system files.
Tha manual way should be something like 1. Deleting the old file (should be somewhere at %windir%\System32\Dllcache ) and copying the correct shell.dll to the system directory, 2. removing it from the knownDLL's list in the registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WOW

Another more automated cleanup which might or might not work is using "HijackThis".
May I safely assume that you are using Norton to protect your system? :D
That said, shell.dll shouldn't be called for any such file management on 2000 or XP machines (it's just the 16-bit version of shell32.dll which is both protected and required for almost all filemanagement operations), is the system Windblows 9X/ME?
If it's 2000 or XP then it's highly likely that other files are screwed as well. Insert your 2000/XP CD (with the service pack you actually use slipstreamed into it) and run from the shell or the fast command window (left windows key + R )
sfc /scannow
Now follow suit the screen instructions...
 
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nosher

nosher

1
oooooooooooh

scarecrow thanx for your reply, now im spannerd! i am using xp with norton 2004 av.i will try your recommendations and see how that works
 
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scarecrow

1
Try a good worm cleaning, and get rid of Norton.
The only things it really does well are just two: 1. offering you a deceptive sense of security, 2. Eating your system resources.
 
nosher

nosher

1
scarecrow thanx again, thanx for the tip about norton. can u recommend a good alternative please....
 
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scarecrow

1
I'd suggest F-Secure as it's very easy to manage and very effective, but it has a huge disadvantage: the pricetag, which is very steep.
NOD32 is also very good and resources-friendly, while an exhellent alternative is the Home (= freeware) version of Avast! 4: Daily automatic updates, ultra-fast on-access scanner (probably the fastest that exists), very decent scores in serious AV tests.
For firewall- once you aren't infected the XP one does a good job to filter incoming traffic (but nothing at all for outgoing). Anyway, the Official Service Pack 2 for XP is close, and the firewall will include significant enhancements (outgoing traffic filtering and application monitoring).
 
jasmin

jasmin

1
Do you have ACDSee or PicaView installed, nosher? It can be problem with some right-click associations, too. No need to have a virus or a worm at all ;)
 
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scarecrow

1
jasmin said:
Do you have ACDSee or PicaView installed, nosher? It can be problem with some right-click associations, too. No need to have a virus or a worm at all ;)
Click to expand...
Such programs under XP should really mess up with shell32.dll and not shell.dll...
 
nosher

nosher

1
big thanx

a big thankyou :D norton antivirus has gone and am now using f-prot, my little old rig is running like a rocket....

once again dvdrbase comes up trumps...........
 
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