I got some sort of fake alert malware a few weeks ago. I've run Malwarebytes a few times now, and my system is clean. I've also run unhider.exe and all of my hidden files have reappeared. The last problem which I can's seem to resolve is that all links are missing from the start menu. I see all of my folders, but the actual links to programs are missing. Any ideas?

"EdwardLee" wrote in message news:60ba6705-59d3-4b08-8dd9-f3e41412b3e3... I got some sort of fake alert malware a few weeks ago. I've run Malwarebytes a few times now, and my system is clean. I've also run unhider.exe and all of my hidden files have reappeared. The last problem which I can's seem to resolve is that all links are missing from the start menu. I see all of my folders, but the actual links to programs are missing. Any ideas? Not really - you haven't given us enough to work with. Have you thought about a System Restore, or recreating the links - or even installing a decent anti-virus? -- Noel Paton | Nil Carborundum Illegitemi | CrashFixPC | The Three-toed Sloth

Unfortunately, I don't have a System Restore point that goes back far enough (guess I waited too long to deal with this last remnanat of the attack). I'm running MS Security Essentials, which I assumed was providing me with decent protetction. Recreatign the links is obviously my option of last resort. There are dozens of them, and it'll take some time. I was hoping there might be an easier way. :-)

"EdwardLee" wrote in message news:a9b6175b-97a0-4e58-9989-2eb4bbbbf948... Unfortunately, I don't have a System Restore point that goes back far enough (guess I waited too long to deal with this last remnanat of the attack). I'm running MS Security Essentials, which I assumed was providing me with decent protetction. Recreatign the links is obviously my option of last resort. There are dozens of them, and it'll take some time. I was hoping there might be an easier way. :-) Unfortunately not - unless they are either in the Recycle bin, or they have simply been hidden by the malware - Have you checked for either? -- Noel Paton | Nil Carborundum Illegitemi | CrashFixPC | The Three-toed Sloth

I got some sort of fake alert malware a few weeks ago. I've run Malwarebytes a few times now, and my system is clean. I've also run unhider.exe and all of my hidden files have reappeared. The last problem which I can's seem to resolve is that all links are missing from the start menu. I see all of my folders, but the actual links to programs are missing. Any ideas? Just something you might want to check : Right click at Start button > Properties > Start Menu tab > Customize > see if " Display as a link " option is selected > OKIf it solves your problem, I did it. If it does not, my twin brother did it.

Thanks for the replies. Just checked recycle bin... no luck unfortunately. I checked start menu properties. "Display as Menu" was the selected option. I tried changed to "Display as link." Unfortunately, it didn't make a difference. The malware did hide all of my data files. I ran unhider.exe which did work to unhide all of my data files. Unfortunately, the start menu shortcuts are still missing. So either (1) unhider.exe does not unhide start menu shortcuts or (2) they are truly gone. Is there any way that I can manually check whether the start menu shortcuts are hidden? I had already set folder options to show hidden files and unselected the hide protected operating system files setting. Is there any other way to check whether the start menu shortcuts might be hidden? I have also recently noticed that when I do things in Word like try to insert a header/footer or watermark, I get an error message that "Word cannot open this document template." Thanks!

"EdwardLee" wrote in message news:76f4e98c-1fc8-403c-9b54-700e67999cd2... Thanks for the replies. Just checked recycle bin... no luck unfortunately. I checked start menu properties. "Display as Menu" was the selected option. I tried changed to "Display as link." Unfortunately, it didn't make a difference. The malware did hide all of my data files. I ran unhider.exe which did work to unhide all of my data files. Unfortunately, the start menu shortcuts are still missing. So either (1) unhider.exe does not unhide start menu shortcuts or (2) they are truly gone. Is there any way that I can manually check whether the start menu shortcuts are hidden? I had already set folder options to show hidden files and unselected the hide protected operating system files setting. Is there any other way to check whether the start menu shortcuts might be hidden? I have also recently noticed that when I do things in Word like try to insert a header/footer or watermark, I get an error message that "Word cannot open this document template." Thanks! This sounds as if the system is likely to be terminally hosed - I really would recommend a flatten/rebuild after preserving data on external storage. Once rebuilt with a decent AV installed, import the data back into the machine slowly, so that the AV gets a chance to chew the cud :) -- Noel Paton | Nil Carborundum Illegitemi | CrashFixPC | The Three-toed Sloth