I just got this message from my aunt about my other aunt ...

"Mary wanted me to contact you cause she is afraid to send emails, she got somekind of a trojan that seems to have wiped MS off of her computer.  She can only get on the internet thru favourites & she can get into her documents but that is it.  Windows says there is no app, ms word comes up error or not found, or tells her to open with & the list of programs.  She tried to redownload her spyware & virus protect but wasn't sure what to do.  There is an icon on her desktop that she never saw before.  It is 2 doves & when she clicks it it says open office 3.2, then open with the list again.  Her Rundlle..exe is gone.  Not sure what if anything you can do from there but she thought you might have some input.  She can get on fb if she goes through favs.

what do ya think LOL "

  WTF. 

There should be a button on the side of a computer, like they have on routers, that when pushed, instantly restores sanity. 

-Josh

Having worked in IT support for years, that's one of the more coherent support requests I've seen.

@Richard.Hein: Isn't it AMAZING to see the gulf between techies and non-techies!

Note: I've got aunts also.... and grandmothers ... and grandfathers ... and uncles ... and ...

@blowdart: Ha, I'm afraid of trying to talk her through anything over the phone because I might lose my mind.  "Seems to have wiped MS off of her computer" ... ack!  I will look up the free support info and let them go insane.  I think the support call will end with, "get your Windows DVD ... reinstall".

This seems appropriate.

How did she figure out to check whether rundll32.exe was missing? That could be causing her problems, yea.

Is the following technically possible? Have a windows phone app that USB connects to the PC that needs support. That USB connection redirects all KVM activity to the phone. Then a 2nd windows phone is USB connected to the PC of a support tech. Start a remote desktop like session between the two phones, enabling the tech to troubleshoot and fix the PC.

1 minute ago, SteveRichter wrote

Is the following technically possible? Have a windows phone app that USB connects to the PC that needs support. That USB connection redirects all KVM activity to the phone. Then a 2nd windows phone is USB connected to the PC of a support tech. Start a remote desktop like session between the two phones, enabling the tech to troubleshoot and fix the PC.

 

Who knows.  If you can get the phone to connect as a tethered modem, you can just remote in...

http://www.gotomypc.com/remote_access/remote_access

18 minutes ago, CKurt wrote

Start -> System Restore -> Choose a Date when you did not have the problem.

That should do it

I know malware can do pretty serious stuff that causes symptoms like these (like removing the 'exefile' file type in the registry) and a system restore might just be infected as well as it was beforehand. I've only had luck with System Restore on my new laptop when a minor registry change caused the GPU to not work as-designed, but for anything else it just causes trouble.... and eats up disk space.

Buy a new computer . I would reinstall everything and back it up right away . But, they should call geek squad, unless they pay me.

7 hours ago, CKurt wrote

Start -> System Restore -> Choose a Date when you did not have the problem.

That should do it

Not sure if she can even get to System Restore ... I gave instructions on how to boot to Safe Mode, then from there, try to do a Restore.  The first step is to see if Safe Mode works.  Haven't heard back yet.

@Bas: LOL, yeah that's very familiar, and it won't ever stop!

@brian.shapiro:  I don't know but I assume she tried to launch an application and that was part of the error message. 

@spivonious:  A little late to install a client on her machine ... it's completely screwed.