error message "Application not found" on Vista?

Question

The other day I was surfing the web and accidentally clicked on one of those tiny little advertisement links, and BAM, I have a virus. I have McAfee protection, but I have found that malware bytes does a better job at removing virus so I run virus scans with that.

So the virus that pops up is something like "Security Alert 2011" blah blah. Malware bytes finds something, deletes it, and I restart my computer like instructed.

When I logged back in, the virus was gone. However, when I went to click on Internet Explorer, I get the "Application not found" error message. I KNOW THAT OTHER PEOPLE HAVE ASKED QUESTION ABOUT THIS ERROR MESSAGE. But, my situation was never the same as theirs.

Anyways, I found a way to access the internet without using any IE link, which I am totally fine with.
So the next day, I get another pop up virus, I run malware bytes and it found 46 things (I was shocked to see so many!), I deleted them, and restarted. Again, no pop up viruses.

Now I need to access Word. But I get that familiar little "Application not found" message.

I google my problem in attempt to solve it, but no. Every time I try to download something to fix the problem this happens: I can save the download (you know when the box opens up and asks either run, save, or cancel. So i save it, and then it downloads and I click run.

AND THIS STUPID LITTLE BOX SHOWS UP AND SAYS "Choose the program you want to use to open this file:" And under recommended programs is Internet Explorer, So I click on Internet Explorer (it's the only available option) and press okay. And then all the downloading stuff disappears and it reopens the run, save or cancel box... like it's starting the process all over again.

I am a college student and I absolutely can't afford to not use Word for very long.

ALSO, I use Vista, if you didn't see that above.
I don't know if I STILL have a virus, or something to do with a registry key? I have no idea.

Answer 1

That sounds like one effect of the old Vista Antispyware 2010 malware (among other aliases). Look at these two links:



http://www.myantispyware.com/2010/01/28/how-to-remove-vista-antispyware-2010-vista-antivirus-2010-vista-guardian/



http://deletemalware.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-remove-vista-antispyware-2010.html





Good luck.

Answer 2

If you think you have a virus, try using Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool. Enter MRT in your search or RUN box and open the program (press ENTER or OK). Start it by clicking NEXT at the bottom of the page. Follow the prompts to remove the virus if there.

Answer 3

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/axmnE



What antivirus program? There's lots of them. In any case, it could simply be a bad download, delete it and download it again.