On 6 Jan 2005 at 12:32, Lewis C Emerson wrote:
> Occasionally when rebooting after one of my frequent system lockups I
> see, briefly on the screen, a message somewhat like this:
> Windows could not upgrade the file %1 from %2 then on a separate line the
> following: %1: %2
> Does anyone know what this means and if it might be associated with my
> lockup
> problems and, if so, what should I do?
>
> Thanks for any possible suggestions here,
>
> Lewis Emerson
Stock Windows log and error message templates are stored as strings with
%1, %2, %3, etc representing places where specific details are to be filled
in. The fact that you're seeing the template, rather than the filled-in
error message, suggests that this is not a "real" error message, but a
symtom of something that was never designed to happen.
This looks like the template for an error message out of the code which
applies pending updates to system files before Windows completes the boot
process (at which point those files would become "in use" and could not be
updated...).
I'm guessing that some bit of malware has tried to hook itself into this
logic, so that it will be installed every time your machine is booted. But
it's not quite right -- perhaps your version of Windows is diofferent from
the version this malware was designed to infect. (I don't think you've
mentioned what version you're running.)
It might be this same infestation, or some other, that is responsible for
the lockups. (I saw a report just today that an automated survey of random
Windows machines connected to the Internet found an average of 13 separate
recognizable infestations per box....)
There are several fine antivirus and antispyware products available,
ranging from free to moderately priced. Personally, I use Spybot, BHO
Daemon, and Norton Antivirus on XP and 2000.
David Gillett
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