Comp. help
 

Any time I go into Windows Explorer, I get an error, it says that Explorer has caused an error in KERNEL32.dll . I click close, it displays it agian, I click close again, and it opens explorer normally, like nothing happened. I obviously realize this is a bad thing, but I don't know how to fix it. Any ideas?

Would it be possible for you to give us a more detailed error message? It'd be nice to know exactly whats goin on there before creating a diagnosis. Off the top of my head, I'd say a virus could be the problem. Could, but not the most likely. Post the error message and head on over to http://housecall.trendmicro.com/hous...start_corp.asp and get an internet scan. And always remember, and internet scan is never a replacement for a good antivirus software installed on your computer. I'd also recommend a firewall, Zone Alarm is good. You really don't needpro, the free version has just about everything you will ever need. However, you can get pro by using a keygen (*ahem* Strictly, speaking, I don't recommend this path) or paying for it, which is an excellent investment. Furthermore, a hardware firewall is always much better than a software one. Do not run more than one firewall of any type at any given time. Don't run a software and a hardware, two hardwares or two softwares. You will blow your computer up.

Well, I've got a fire wall, but I'll check out Zone Alarm. It'll probably be better than the one I've got now.

"Explorer has caused an error in KERNAL32.DLL.
Explore will now close.

If you continue experiencing problems, try restarting your computer"

That is the exact error message. I'll try the virus scan now.

Hahahaha, oh man. I got that on my old computer. I just bought a new one. I'm so silly, sometimes.

Edit: Oh shit. I thought you meant internet explorer. Stupid me.

Okay, if you are old enough to remember DOS commands, you can backup your important files and reformat the drive. Sometimes that's all that you can do.

What do you do if you have a Trojan in your restore files, or other places you can't just delete the files?

Restore files, like System Restore? Try deleting them through the antivirus app, then if it won't see if you can quarantine it. If not, then disable System Restore, then try again.

If it works, re-enable System Restore.

Ok. So you've got a trojan. Thats good. You know whats wrong. First, disable system restore and purge all system restore points. Then, allocate 0% of your harddrive to system restore. Next, we need something to get rid of the Trojan. I recommend a duality of programs.

The first is Spybot Search & Destroy. Download at http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html and install and update and use it regularly. It is good stuff. I've found, for some reason, that Spybot doesn't catch everything. I usually scan with Spybot once a week, and I use the second program maybe once every two weeks or even less frequently.

The second is by Lavasoft, called Ad-Aware. Frankly, I like Spybot more but Ad-Aware can be useful. Go to download.com and search for Ad-Aware. Make sure you update it, and scan with Ad-Aware as well. Let me know if this works.


EDIT: Its not a bad idea to keep them installed. They're useful, and frankly necessary on today's internet. Also, once you can confirm that theres no problem anymore reenable system restore.

I have this same problem you're describing. Every time my computer freezes, I restart it and that same message pops up every time the computer stops loading when I start it.

What I do is pull up System Restore before it stops loading and restore it back to a day where this didn't happen. But the thing ChaosMage said, yeah that'll work too.

The problem with repeatedly using System Restore to just go back to a day when it didn't happen is really more of a temporary fix. If its a virus that is time release and happens to exist in your restore files, it'll just come back every time (kinda like your problem is Mirror King). Wipe all restore points, get rid of the virus in your current running system and then restore. Its the only real permanent solution.