I installed CCleaner hoping that it would fix a registry issue that remained after getting rid of a virus with AVG anti virus. The virus (I think trojan) had installed a file called Service.exe under C:\Windows\. AVG got rid of it ok, but now when i start my computer i get the following two error messages in sequence. They appear before XP has finished booting completely, and the boot process won't complete until I click the error messages away.
Can anyone here advise on how to get rid of whatever registry key it is that is causing this (I've never deleted keys manually before, so fairly precise advice much appreciated!)? Alternatively, is this an issue the CCleaner team is aware of and will sort out at some point?
Nope.. nothing. there used to be a 'Services.exe' file under C:\Windows\ which would reappear everytime I deleted it; that was the virus. AVG managed to get rid of that permanently, but it seems it didn't get rid of the associated registry key.. there are a few posts about this if you google it; they recommend deleting the key manually. i just don't feel confident tinkering around with that without some one's advice. hence CCleaner
cheers!
If you go into C drive and do Tools>folder options. Then click on view and put a dot in show hidden files and folders.
Does services.exe show up then?
If you do start>search and put in services.exe in all files and folders, does it find anything?
(Don't forget to untick your 'show hidden files' option when you are done with it)
Be very careful. There is a huge difference between services.exe and service.exe (same name without the "s"). Because of the almost identical names, people are confused by them. Services.exe - which your error messages reference - is part of the windows operating system that is used to stop and start services. Either you, thinking it was the trojan identified by AVG, or AVG itself has deleted it. Service.exe may very well be a virus. Google them both. See what you think then.