Application cannot be executed. The file xxx is infected.

[Schlotkins]

Good afternoon:

My parents computer is having this message appear whenever they try to launch any application - IE, malwarebytes, superantispyware, task manager, etc. They had this problem back in November and somehow we managed to get stuff to run back then but no luck now. To be honest, we may have just masked the problem then.

Just to make things even more challenging I can't get the comptuer to boot into safe mode. It gets to a certain point and then reboots. The computer is Windows XP SP3.

I see there are various threads with a similar title and people are instructed to use something called Rkill. I want to make sure that's the proper procedure for them as well. If that is the case, I'm assuming you now when a version worked because no error box comes up right?

I did have my father try to open My Computer and then C drive and that worked so in theory he should be able to download files from his laptop and then use them on the infected machine.

Thank you for all of your assistance,
Chris

[Dr Jay]

Sorry for the delay, we are busy here on the boards. If you are still having issues, please do the following:


Please download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware from here.

Double Click mbam-setup.exe to install the application.

• Make sure a checkmark is placed next to Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, then click Finish.
  
• If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.
• Once the program has loaded, select "Perform Full Scan", then click Scan.
  
• The scan may take some time to finish,so please be patient.
• When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results.
• Make sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
  
• When disinfection is completed, a log will open in Notepad and you may be prompted to Restart. (See Extra Note)
• Please save the log to a location you will remember.
• The log is automatically saved by MBAM and can be viewed by clicking the Logs tab in MBAM.
• Copy and paste the entire report in your next reply.

Extra Note:

If MBAM encounters a file that is difficult to remove,you will be presented with 1 of 2 prompts,click OK to either and let MBAM proceed with the disinfection process. If asked to restart the computer, please do so immediately.

[Schlotkins]

Thanks much for the reply! Unfortuantely, the machine has MBAM on it, but it won't run... it just gives off the same "infected" error and closes it down. 

Thanks,
Chris

[Dr Jay]

RKill by Grinler
Link #1
Link #2
Link #3

• Download Link #1.
  
• Save it to your Desktop.
  
• Double click the RKill desktop icon.
  If you are using Vista please right click and run as Admin!
  
• A black screen will briefly flash indicating a successful run.
• If this does not occur please delete that application and download Link #2.
  
• Continue process until the tool runs.
• If the tool does not run from any of the links tell me about it.

This only kills the active infection, the actual infection will not be gone.

Then, please try MBAM again.