Last week, i was called to fix a machine which had XP installed in it. As usual, i tried to look into the symptoms. The behavior i observed was, whenever i tried to execute a shortcut( or Double click a short cut) to open an application, nothing happens. None of the applications opened.
Surely i figured out, that the system was affected with some kinda virus. And when i didn't want to continue looking at the symptoms of that virus and when i came to know that data backup was not needed, i just went ahead with a clean reinstall of the Windows.
But the cool part which i figured out later is, how to identify if our executable( ie .exe ) files are affected with a virus.Because some of the apps act weirdly sometimes.It could be a failure in the app code, that might cause the app to stop working or it could be the virus.And usually most of the viruses target the .exe files on your system.
Here is an easy way to find out, if your system is really affected with that kinda virus or not.
1. Open Start -> Run
2. Type in cmd and press 'Enter' ( go to the command prompt )
3. goto your windows folder.
Mostly this action need you to key in the following commands
- cd \ 'press enter'
- cd windows or cd winnt 'press enter'
- cd system32 'press enter'
- setup 'press enter'
If you get a popup window saying " Please go to Control Panel to install and configure system components" then your .exe files are not affected and you can be sure that your system is safely away from those harmful viruses.
If you get something else... or nothing pops up... then you better get your AntiVirus updated.
This method can also be used to check your computer, even without an antivirus available.
SystemCheckup without an Antivirus
