Windows XP Problem With Services And Startup being displayed

LilKitty

When for example I use msnconfig under the startup and services tabs not all of the services and programs are showing like they used to. This has been a problem for months now and as far as I know it isn't spyware related(I hope). I also noticed it effects my HijackThis Log, the entries missing from msconfig are also missing from it. ComboFix has been able to display them but that's about the only program I've used that can and it only tells me what their status is and what they are. I got some advice to use system file checker to try and correct the problem. It changed 1 file, c:\windows\system32\wmp.dll and I looked that up and saw it related to Windows Media Player so I don't think that was at all related. I checked msconfig after the scan had finished and the problem is still there. It is far too late to go back to a previous restore point and I really want to avoid using an image or reinstalling Windows. Is there any other way to correct this?

8T8

Run regedit is this entry present in the registry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\MSConfig\services

LilKitty

8T8 wrote:

Run regedit is this entry present in the registry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\MSConfig\services

You mean the folder? Because you didn't ask for a specific entry in that folder. Yes it's there, with mostly entries of programs I have removed anyway. I looked at the entries in the various folder in MSConfig and the things that aren't showing up(well at least most if not all of them) have entries or folders in the registry.

8T8

Yeah the just the folder is all that's needed, is it's missing the entry does not appear in msconfig so I thought it might be related.

What about under the state sub folder is their a dword for services and is it set to a value of (0)

LilKitty

No, both services and startup are there and both are set to 2. I should have also mentioned the things that don't show up in MSConfig also don't appear in Services either.

8T8

Hmm that is interesting if the services control panel is also damaged.

Can't say I have any ideas as to what the cause of it was though something must have happened to services.msc for that to occur.

When was the last system restore point you created ?

If it was some time ago back up all your personal data and run the restore and see if that corrects it at best all you will have to do is download all the updates from Windows Update again.

LilKitty

8T8 wrote:

Hmm that is interesting if the services control panel is also damaged.

Can't say I have any ideas as to what the cause of it was though something must have happened to services.msc for that to occur.

When was the last system restore point you created ?

If it was some time ago back up all your personal data and run the restore and see if that corrects it at best all you will have to do is download all the updates from Windows Update again.

I think the problem was originally caused by spyware but I got rid of it ages ago but that problem is something I haven't been able to get rid of.
Since it was so long ago and I've made quite a few restore points since then I doubt any restore point from before it got screwed would still exist. Well maybe it seems the only way to get around this is to use a restore image or reinstall Windows but I really wanted to avoid doing that. Thanks anyway!:)

LilKitty

I just thought I'd let you know that I got the problem mostly sorted out by reg fixes. However I'll still be reformatting and reinstalling Windows next month because my computer is slow and has accumulated a lot of junk, so it seems in need of overhaul!