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Recently got a virus that installed Chameleon Explorer + a tonne of different programs onto my laptop.

They're all gone now but it seems Chameleon Explorer has royally screwed my computers settings in regards to windows explorer and what it can do. To clarify, I DO NOT need help removing any malware/viruses since I've already done that (scanned in safemode etc)

When I try to delete, move or do anything to a file from windows explorer it does nothing. I don't mean it says the action cannot be done, the file is in use etc. It just does nothing. No messages pop up.

Another annoying this is that it also no longer shows autocomplete results in the top search bar in explorer. Tried rebuilding search index to no avail.

I assume this is because Chameleon Explorer made it so it's the program that's opened/whatever when I try to do these things and it wasn't reverted when I removed it. Thing is, I have no idea how to change it back.

As a further note, I CAN do stuff from an external program like winrar (can extract files to directories fine) so it isn't a corrupted SSD/windows installation problem. YES, all the viruses have been removed (via rkill and malwarebytes. Double checked, too)

Ducktor
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    Time to refresh/reinstall Windows? – DavidPostill May 11 '19 at 15:53
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    Possible duplicate of [How can I remove malicious spyware, malware, adware, viruses, trojans or rootkits from my PC?](https://superuser.com/questions/100360/how-can-i-remove-malicious-spyware-malware-adware-viruses-trojans-or-rootkit) – Tetsujin May 11 '19 at 15:59
  • If you're wanting to try some things out before doing a full reinstall, I would recommend going into safe mode and running virus scans to make sure everything is removed. Once they've been removed, you could try a system restore to a time prior of the explorer and other programs being installed. – DrZoo May 11 '19 at 16:35
  • I don't want to do a full restore yet as I don't have an easy way to backup my important files. – Ducktor May 11 '19 at 17:15
  • Did you try to remove the hardrive and upload a working executable file to replace the corrupted version? It might be less work than reinstalling windows. – Outdated Computer Tech May 11 '19 at 20:01
  • I would also search ways that windows can restore all core files. I'm not sure if it's possible, but it might be? – Outdated Computer Tech May 11 '19 at 20:03
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    This is probably not helpful to the question, but your confidence in the fact ALL malware was removed is laughable. Not even the best malware cleanup person on earth can claim that. There is only one way to make sure your system is free of all malware and that is to completely wipe and reinstall Windows. And that is what should be done here. No, you can’t be sure there isn’t remaining malware embedded in your system that absolutely nobody can find or knows about. I also don’t understand why you don’t have a backup. – Appleoddity May 11 '19 at 21:02

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Use safe mode or use Hiren then boot it on your PC. Then try to scan with antivirus or just delete the chamelon explorer.

Raihan Akmal Harun
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