Certain apps won't work unless...

[mercurial]

Hi guys. This is officially the weirdest problem I've ever had and it's freaking me out as well as becoming really frustrating. Certain apps won't run when I open them - they just reside in memory. When I open task manager I can see it just sitting there. The strange thing is, these certain apps will now only work when I right-click them and choose "Run as...", and whether I use the administrator or just my normal username for this, it works. The strange thing is that my normal username is an administrator. So basically, certain apps only work when I choose "Run as...". I have literally tried everything. I thought it was a virus and I ran extensive tests and nothing came up. I run spybot search and destroy as well as AVG anti-spyware and still nothing seems to help. All my definitions are up to date. I tried going through some hidden settings in XP with certain tweaking applications, but still the problem persists. I tried looking at services but I can't find anything. I would sincerely appreciate anyone who can help me with this problem. Thanks in advance.

 

[mercurial]

 

[mercurial]

anyone?

 

[mercurial]

no one

 

[Telkomisaloser]

What operating system are you running?

 

[mercurial]

finally someone heard me

i'm running XP Pro with SP2 and updates. XP 32bit.

 

[Zenbaas]

Ok maybe something really stupid but have you tried restarting your comp? Otherwise im not sure...

 

[mercurial]

Ok maybe something really stupid but have you tried restarting your comp? Otherwise im not sure...

lol i must've restarted a dozen times. nothing seems to help/work. it's really, really strange.

 

[Gothan]

Sounds to me like there is something funny on the profiles of your pc, something might have screwed them up, unfortunately, I have no solution except this one : format c: /q

But I am pretty sure online they have a more practical solution

 

[masticore]

Have you changed screen resolutions lately? Or installed software that messes with your desktop / resolution?

 

[Bona Botse]

you got antivirus software? might be a virus... do a system scan

 

[mercurial]

you got antivirus software? might be a virus... do a system scan

i take it you didn't read my whole post? just check it again

 

[mercurial]

Sounds to me like there is something funny on the profiles of your pc, something might have screwed them up, unfortunately, I have no solution except this one : format c: /q

But I am pretty sure online they have a more practical solution

i think so too, but there is no way i'm gonna reinstall again. it's too much damn effort. i've tried searching online, cos that's how a lot of my more troubling issues get resolved, but this time i've run into a wall.

 

[mercurial]

Have you changed screen resolutions lately? Or installed software that messes with your desktop / resolution?

nope, didn't change screen resolutions. why?

 

[masticore]

was thinking maybe the windows are appearing in a "non drawn" area of your screen.

Try this: run the app normally, don't do anything / click anything, wait until you're sure the app would have appeared by now, press Alt+Space ... does a menu appear somewhere? Can you select the maximise option? Does the app appear?

 

[mercurial]

was thinking maybe the windows are appearing in a "non drawn" area of your screen.

Try this: run the app normally, don't do anything / click anything, wait until you're sure the app would have appeared by now, press Alt+Space ... does a menu appear somewhere? Can you select the maximise option? Does the app appear?

thanks, i'll give it a try when i get home.

 

[masticore]

thanks, i'll give it a try when i get home.

It's a looooong shot. If the menu does appear, you may also be able to Move / Resize the window. If so - use the keyboard to do this and not the mouse (use the cursor keys to move / resize the window)

 

[mercurial]

It's a looooong shot. If the menu does appear, you may also be able to Move / Resize the window. If so - use the keyboard to do this and not the mouse (use the cursor keys to move / resize the window)

cool thanks, i'll try it at home. could it be a virus? if it is, i wouldn't know how it's possible cos all my definitions are up to date.

 

[ernstn]

I may have lost my marbles completely here, but you do not perhaps have the .exe extension associated with something else in your file types?

 

[mercurial]

I may have lost my marbles completely here, but you do not perhaps have the .exe extension associated with something else in your file types?

how is that possible

seriously tho, how is that possible?

it runs fine when i select "Run as" from the right-click context menu.
i have a sneaky suspicion that it's either some weird virus that still has not been detected or there's some weird policy configuration that went haywire.