running .exe files

wysem0

My son's laptop is installed with Windows Vista. Recently it has stopped opening .exe files, either from "program files" or shortcuts on the desktop. So cannot open MS-Word as a program, but can open individual documents. Also applies to Excel, PowerPoint, Acrobat, Paint, IE8, etc. Keep on getting "file association" messages which don't help at all.

amcluesent

I had that, it was a virus of some sort that made it impossible to launch programs. I used the System Restore to rollback to the last automatic checkpoint then used the recommended scanners to find out what had got it.

cprowse

Agreed - this isn't something easy to change, so I'd assume a virus

closed

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950505

click fix it

then do a FULL scan with this

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

gaming_guy

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