Yesterday Nog turned on his laptop and got the blue screen of death, saying something about a problem with the user32 dll file and recommended that the operating system be restored. Turns out this problem was caused by his ‘free’ anti-virus, AVG, which had released an update that mistakenly identified the user32 dll file (a key Windows file) as a Trojan Horse virus.
Thing is, we’ve been trying to restore the OS using the CD but – so far – it doesn’t seem to be working. The instructions say the process could take 1-2 hours, after which the laptop will reboot itself. But after about 4 hours it was still going so we decided to exit and reboot manually … and got the blue screen again. So we’re trying it again. Bloody false positives!
Has anyone else had this problem?
casa azahar 
I haven’t had it (thankfully!) but I’m told it’s quite a common problem with a recent update of AVG. I believe it’s fixed in the latest update. Try starting up in ‘safe mode’ (http://www.pchell.com/support/safemode.shtml) and then manually starting AVG and running the update – might work. Otherwise, you could try starting in safe mode and uninstalling AVG, or installing a new version.
That’s what I’d try but I can’t say for sure that it’ll work.
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“If no Windows CD is available but the user has another working computer, AVG provides a third option, a “fix-it tool” that can be booted from a CD or USB stick.”
GRRRRRRRRRRRR – this is sheer carelessness – although I believe other anti-virus programs have done the same thing recently.
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Is this an auto-immune problem?
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I need to run this entire post and all the comments through Babelfish so that I can understand what you are talking about.
It sounds bad though, hope the blue screen of death is healed soon.
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The safe mode option doesn’t work for some reason, Dan. And in any case, I think the user32 dll file was removed by AVG so it needs to be reinstalled. We thought we could do this by running the ‘repair’ option (using the OS CD) but that didn’t work either, so now we are reinstalling Windows entirely. I think.
Yeah, I saw that too, Archie. And it came with scary warnings about using the stupid fix-it tool – that it could destroy boot files on your hard drive if you did it wrong. The last time something like this happened (to us) was when a Windows update fucked up Zone Alarm and cut off internet access. But at least that one was relatively easy to fix.
And at least Nog has his Windows CD. I’m not sure I even got one with mine.
I think it’s more of a shit-for-brains problem, Silverstar, on the part of the idiots who write these updates.
Don’t worry, hmh, I don’t know what I’m talking about either. 🙂
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“I don’t know what I’m talking about either”
Situation normal? 😉
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SNAFU, Johnny. 🙂
Have spent all morning trying to fix this thing. Have not only reinstalled Windows OS, but also all the drivers and applications, and just now some sort of security update. But it still insists that there are no programme files. Grrrr…
MUST get it fixed by Sunday as it’s Nog’s laptop I’m planning to take to the hospital with me.
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Aggh, what a pain! Somehow (touch wood) it didn’t happen to us. I’m a loyal AVG fan. How could they bungle something like that so badly?
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“On Tuesday an update for AVG 8 suggested that a Windows system file is a Trojan horse, and users who delete the file form the system could leave their Windows XP systems endlessly rebooting or unable to reboot at all. The problem only affects users of AVG 8 products running the Dutch, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish language versions of Windows XP. AVG immediately sent out a corrected update to its customers, including those using the free editions of AVG.”
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What is the FUCKING POINT of sending out a corrected update to customers who cannot access their computers?????
Finally got the safe mode going and am running an AVG scan (since it won’t let me get rid of or open the programme) to see if I can recuperate the user32 dll file. But since we have reinstalled the entire Windows OS you’d think it would be there … right? Except it still isn’t working properly. Fuck.
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You people are still speaking in tongues.
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Clamwin did the same thing two months ago and I deleted some important files before checking out whether or not they were actually bad. Screwed up not one but two computers at work, luckily one of them was mine. I just ended up reinstalling some programs, but the files that were deleted weren’t as um, *necessary* as the one you’re missing.
Good luck! You’ll get it fixed.
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It’s the Bogons. Not the Vogons.
Bogons are – according to #1, the computer geek – evil beings created by some excess electrical- magnetical -electronical owerflow in cyber space. They only exist to make mess and screw things up.
That’s at least what #1 told me the last ten – fifteen years when I’ve been complaining about computers not behaving the way they should.
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Yay! I finally fixed Nog’s computer! Not really sure how I did it, because although I had reinstalled Windows it still wouldn’t work properly, saying the version installed was ‘unsafe’ and required updating. And although all the old info and files were there it wouldn’t connect to the router to get internet.
Then, while I was (briefly) in hospital, I discovered that the laptop could connect to the internet using Pipocas’s USB gadget. So I tried doing the required updates, but they wouldn’t finish correctly. And then I tried again today … and it worked! Still don’t know what I did differently, but who cares.
Nog will be so pleased when he gets home and sees his laptop up and running again. 🙂
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