Download of .exe files impossible

[Legendiva]

Encountered a weird problem, or set of problems on my husband's system: Quicktime was apparently associating itself to .exe files.
Virus scans show no infections. Malware and Spyware is present however.
Removed Quicktime, and did following Registry deletion:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Plugins and the subkey: Extension.

This has made no change, still cannot download. exe files. Any ideas on workarounds, other than Windows reload, or Reformat?

 

[gargouille]

Not certain what you mean:
"malware and spyware is present however"
Does that mean you have something loaded to find them and nothing is showing up?

IF IE has a box in Advanced tab to Enable 3rd party browser extensions...uncheck that clean out the temp directories and the Downloaded Program Files directories and reboot.

In My Computer, under view filetypes, I guess Quicktime is associated there with .exe? It can be changed there, too.

 

[Crustyoldbloke]

You'll have to change the file association. Go to START-SETTINGS-FOLDER OPTIONS-click it to open. Click on FILE TYPES and then use the down arrow key to get to EXE file extension. Edit it and remove Quick time to leave it as (executable) i.e. no association. Error! Keyboard not attached. Press F1 to continue
Phil
Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere.

 

[Accessdabbler]

Have you tried downloading and running AdAware? Get it at

http://www.lavasoft.com.

 

[thebigguy128]

actually, adaware is available from

http://www.lavasoftusa.com

or

http://www.lavasoft.de

Dana

 

[Legendiva]

wasn't able to post a reply all day; this Reply screen page would lock up my system at the '10 items remaining pageload point, over and over'. Seems to be OK now.

1) By saying 'Malware and Spyware' is present, I meant that that computer has more than one of those type of invaders in it. I manually deleted what I could recognize for sure, but had to leave some of it alone.

2) I do use SpyBot and AdAware in my systems; but as of yet, have been unable to download ANY program to my husband's system because of this whacky 'can't download .exe files issue'.

3) .EXE does not show Quicktime file association at present because I uninstalled Quicktime and did the above-mentioned Registry deletion. .EXE is listed as it should be; but this has not made a difference in the problem. No download is possible.
I usually keep Temp Files and Download Folders cleared out, on a regular basis.
( I will check on the 'IE 3rd party Browser enabled' tomorrow. )

 

[Wirdo]

Does your husbands computer use a firewall software? If so our your going through a router to get to the internet. The firewall may be configured not to allow .exe to go.

 

[Legendiva]

1) Firewall:

( No, I have do not use Firewalls on any of our systems; and none of them are networked. )

 

[Crustyoldbloke]

Just to recap; *.exe files NOT downloadable. Ergo problem with browser, security, AV or firewall. You don't use a firewall, so it's any one or combination of the others.

Can you go back to a good registry i.e. from DOS prompt type SCANREG /RESTORE and choose a date when it was OK.

Also reset all browser security settings to default. Have a look at your AV programme and ensure *.exe files are admissable.

Still can't get my head around Quicktime wanting to open *.exe files......very weird. Error! Keyboard not attached. Press F1 to continue
Phil
Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere.

 

[gargouille]

Hi legendiva:
IF you haven't already, there's always "sneaker net"...
use a floppy to carry the adaware exec file to your husband's computer (and the new Ref file), loading the program and running it.
It's quite small.

 

[Legendiva]

Finally got the problem fixed ( by way of a freaky co-incidence! Nothing I tried helped! ) I was installing the Software which came with a Kodak Photo Paper Pak, and IT discovered that the following needed to be reinstalled and proceeded to do so:
MDAC
Microsoft Data Access Components
Ver. 2.1.2.4202.3

This was the problem, downloads .exe files fine now !