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Yesterday I tried to update windows the thing failed repeatedly, now I can not open anything that require administrator command. I am looking at two programs installed yesterday in the "Program" section of the control panel, and I cannot uninstall them. Suspecting that these are the virus.

I am literally sitting here waiting for advice.

Symptoms summary:

In a nutshell this is what happens:

-All administrator command in opening things tells me that it can not find the file to be opened, because the path is wrong.

-Can not delete using control panel, the "preparing to uninstall" is stuck forever

-Can not update windows, update always fails with internet interruptions

-Can not finish any anti-virus scans.

Also, the virus, I believe (because it was installed yesterday) is disguised as "Microsoft Silverlight" and when I tried to uninstall it, it asked me "do you want the following program to make changes to your computer?: silverlight_base.msi"

user289661
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  • Something could have been left in a corrupted state or there could be a problem with permissions. Describe your hardware and OS. Is the suspect program just Silverlight? You might need administrator (elevated) privileges to uninstall it. Are you looking to uninstall it only because you don't recognize it, or because your inability to do so without elevated privileges is suspect, or it wasn't successfully installed? It wouldn't hurt to run chkdsk c: /f /r (assuming C: is your Windows drive), and sfc /scannow. Both can take a long time to run and should not be interrupted. – fixer1234 Jan 25 '16 at 06:22
  • Sorry not really an expert, what are you looking for when you say "describe your hardware and OS"? The reason why I suspect is because it is the only new program since the incident. – user289661 Jan 25 '16 at 06:23
  • Which version of Windows are you running and what are the basics of your hardware (desktop/laptop/notepad, basic hard disk info)? Do you run a virus scanner in the background or just rely on periodic scans? Silverlight is routinely installed/updated as part of the Windows updates. – fixer1234 Jan 25 '16 at 06:30
  • It's a HP laptop, four disks (C,D,E,F) can read CD. MS security essentials is always sitting on the lower right but not sure what it's doing, it does periodically scan. – user289661 Jan 25 '16 at 06:33
  • Are C, D, E, and F partitions on the same physical drive (and C is the Windows system drive)? Which Windows version are you using? Is the OS what came with the laptop or did you upgrade it? It's always possible to catch malware, but MSE is decent and I wouldn't jump to conclusions that malware is the cause. There's endless recent reports of problems with Windows updates. – fixer1234 Jan 25 '16 at 06:51
  • It's windows 7, never got any notice for update though. Any suggestion on figuring out if it really is malware? – user289661 Jan 25 '16 at 06:57
  • You can use a bootable malware CD to bypass Windows entirely and check your system. See [this list of free ones](http://pcsupport.about.com/od/system-security/tp/free-bootable-antivirus-software.htm). I'm not familiar enough with them to recommend one over another, but if you check reviews and try several, that should cover your bases. You download a CD image file (iso), and burn it to a CD. You then have a bootable CD that will run the scans. – fixer1234 Jan 25 '16 at 07:23

1 Answers1

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You should boot your computer in safe mode and try to uninstall those programs and see if that helps. If you don't know how to boot in safe mode this link is of great help.

Abdul Moiz Farooq
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  • That didn't work, when I tried to uninstall it in safe mode with internet access, it said "cannot uninstall...because you don't have windows administrator..." something to that effect. – user289661 Jan 25 '16 at 06:05
  • Which antivirus are you using ? Did you try disabling antivirus and then removing those apps? – Abdul Moiz Farooq Jan 25 '16 at 06:16
  • I am using Microsoft Security essentials it is not functional in safe mode. (It even says "not working because you are in safe mode") – user289661 Jan 25 '16 at 06:18