notepad.exe disappeared

[hambone2]

I went to open up something in Notepad on XP, and nothing happens, I go to Program Files Accessories, and Notepad is now an "Executable" icon and not a "notepad" icon...what happened?

[SuperSparks]

There are 3 locations for Notepad in XP:

1) X:\Windows
2) X:\Windows\System32
3) X:\Windows\System32\dllcache

where X: is the volume that your Windows is installed on. They should have a file size of 66,048 bytes. If you find one that is missing or a different size just copy it from either of the other 2 locations. You'll most likely find it's the one in System32 that's corrup as that seems to be the default location for the one that Windows uses.

[Miz]

Mostly likely a virus. Qaz, for example, renames notepad.exe to "note.com" and the worm itself sits on the harddrive named "notepad.exe."

Do a complete system scan with an up-to-date anti-virus program.

If you don't have one installed or it's not up to date, there are free online scans at Panda and Housecall.

[hambone2]

Originally posted by Miz
Mostly likely a virus. Qaz, for example, renames notepad.exe to "note.com" and the worm itself sits on the harddrive named "notepad.exe."

Do a complete system scan with an up-to-date anti-virus program.

If you don't have one installed or it's not up to date, there are free online scans at Panda and Housecall.

Did a full fledged scan, came out 0 viruses detected with Norton Antivirus....

I am completely clean almost a 2 hour scan

TO be honest, I think I Have some spyware wreeking havoc ,onmy system as of late, could that be it?

[markp62]

I would get an outside opinion, your Norton could be compromised.
Housecall, online AV scan
Online Trojan Scan

[Tufenuf]

hambone2, There is a variant of the CoolWebSearch Trojan (CWS.Googlems) that can cause problems with notepad.exe which you can read about under "Windows Files" and "notepad.exe" at the link below.

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/winfiles.html

You may want to download the CWShredder tool and run it. Close all open windows prior to running it. You can download it at this link.

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html

If the text at the links is too small click View/Text Size/Medium

HTH
Tufenuf

[hambone2]

Originally posted by Tufenuf
hambone2, There is a variant of the CoolWebSearch Trojan (CWS.Googlems) that can cause problems with notepad.exe which you can read about under "Windows Files" and "notepad.exe" at the link below.

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/winfiles.html

You may want to download the CWShredder tool and run it. Close all open windows prior to running it. You can download it at this link.

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html

If the text at the links is too small click View/Text Size/Medium

HTH
Tufenuf

Thats wierd, can't seem to find the dllcache folder in the System32

I have XP SP1

[Tufenuf]

hambone2, The dllcache folder is a "hidden and protected" folder. Open Windows Explorer/Tools/Folder Options and under the "View" tab checkmark or tic "show hidden files and folders" and Uncheck "hide protected operating system files (Recommended)", click Apply/OK. You'll then find it in the X:\Windows\System32 folder.

Tufenuf