What is starthelp.exe?  It tries to load when I boot/re-boot Windows 7.  I have searched for this file on my computer, but I cannot find it.
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What should I do if my Windows computer seems to be infected with a virus or malware?  What are the symptoms of an infection? What should I do after noticing an infection? What can I do to get rid of it? how to prevent from infection by malware?   This question comes up frequently, and the suggested solutions are usually the same. This community wiki is an attempt to serve as the definitive, most comprehensive answer possible. Feel free to add your contributions via edits.
112787
About 1/3 of the time that I boot my laptop, I get an error message that says  Error: Malformed file. Press any key to continue...   I press a key, and then my computer boots up and I can't discern any negative effects.  It's kind of disconcerting, and does delay the boot process.  How do I resolve this error and ensure my system is stable?
21168
If I have a Windows executable, how can I find out which dlls it will load?  I'm just talking about which ones that will be loaded statically, not ones it might load dynamically with something like LoadLibrary.
99670
After installation, and for a few days, Windows 10 starts by asking you if you like a series of images that appear when you start the computer, then, based on your opinion, a selection of these images keep "welcoming" you. I'd like to know where these images are saved (and how, if it's a database or a change of format-extension).  I might want some of them, I might want to add a few of my own.   Does anybody know the path to these images (or database)? Is there documentation or options in Windows 10 to treat them?
90246
My server rebooted and I am not sure why.  Is there a way to find out, e.g. perhaps someone did it manually, or as a result of a windows update or a blue screen?  I've looked in the Event Viewer, but I am not sure what to look for - there are million items there.
96758
I asked this same question on my original account that I no longer have access to. Yesterday when I turned on my computer a tab opened that is just a blue screen called      C\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe    I got an answer saying to disable it from startup which did not work. I got a comment that said I probably installed something that wants to run a script at startup but it is unknown is it is malicious or not due to lack of information. I got another comment saying to run a program to tell me the process and copy and paste it so here is that:      "C:\Windows\SysWOW64\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe"    I need to know if I should be worried about this happening every time I start my computer or if I will be fine and a solution to get rid of it would be very helpful.
90883
I have a drive that I cannot boot, but it has an installation of Windows XP on it.  I need to know what type of XP it has, and MS's solution () presupposes I can load the OS.  Is there a folder or file I can look at that might give me a clue as to the flavor of XP (Home, Pro, MCE, etc) I need to use for a recovery installation? Thanks.
78593
After making an error installing windows, I now have two entries in the Windows 7 boot loader, one of which is incorrect.  How can I remove it? I've seen some entries recommending EasyBCD, but can't it be done easily without 3rd party software?
68644
I've been trying to preseed my installation for 2 days now. I'm quite new in this topic, so execuse me if I'm asking noob questions. How do I use boot parameters, how do I know that my preseed file works. When is my preseed file loaded
1236
I installed Windows on my computer, followed by an installation of Ubuntu. However, now I'm unable to boot into my Windows install.  What can I do to fix this?
49770
When I right-clicked into an .exe file then chose Open with... and I select choose a program then I selected the wrong program. I checked the checkBox that has the label Always use the selected program to open this kind of file.  Now all of the .exe files have changed into the wrong program after I did this, so all .exe file opened with this program.  How do I revert the .exe file associations to do my regular work?
24858
Here is the premise:  I have a desktop that I need to be able to start up and stop applications on, but cannot get remote access to. What I had in mind is setting up a service on the machine that will start/stop a list of applications as told. This windows service will periodically pole a web service for new commands and execute them accordingly.  These are my questions.   1) Is this the easiest solution? What else would you recommend?  2) How hard is it to run an exe from a windows service? How about stopping one?  This isn't for a project or anything, just something I am interested in implementing (mostly for fun). Any answers or even thoughts are appreciated. General discussion is also welcome (feel free to leave comments).
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I just bought a serial for Windows 7 on-line from the Microsoft store (the most painful shopping experience EVER!). I selected that I wanted to download my version of Windows 7 after purchase. After payment, I have listed a Product Key but no download link in sight.   Where do I download my Windows 7 ISO to burn to disk?  Note: I'm not a Technet or MSDN subscriber.
115508
I disabled all services and startup applications and now the computer won't let me log in. It will get me to the initial startup screen, but it won't connect to the Internet. Then when I click or press a key to log in, the password box never appears.   How to go back to normal boot? Shift+Restart or F8 to get into safe mode doesn't work. Restoring to a system restore point resulted in an error. Even Resetting Windows didn't work.
31139
Occasionally, I get part of an application lingering behind on my desktop:    This is part of a context menu for an application. It is always top-most, meaning that it is always on the screen, and I cannot click on it (it just clicks through it). It has happened before, sometimes with whole windows. It remains on screen even if the application it originated from is no longer running.  How do I get rid of it without rebooting?
4233
NVIDIA drivers upgrade crashed my Windows 7 installation, so I'm working to undo the damage.  What I can do: I can boot Windows install from the USB drive, and I can boot the . Although automated Windows repair fails, I can get to command prompt when I boot Windows install from USB drive, and I can see my drive and all my data.  What I cannot do: I cannot boot into Windows - I get this message:  Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem: 1. Insert Windows CD and run a repair your computer option. File: /Boot/BCD Status: 0xc000000f Info: an error occurred while attempting to read the boot configuration data.   It seems that something is wrong with my /Boot/BCD, so I'm trying to recreate it from scratch. I've tried all the methods detailed  (including Windows repair which fails), and I'm left with the last one (near the bottom of that page). When I type the following command as in the tutorial:  bcdedit.exe /import c:\boot\bcd.temp   ...it fails with the following error:  The store import operation has failed. The requested system device cannot be found.   Many Google results say that I must use diskpart to set my partition active, however it's already set as active.  Also, when I try this:  bcdedit /enum   It fails with similar message:  The boot configuration data store could not be opened. The requested system device cannot be found.   Does anyone know what does that error message mean, and what is the requested system device?  I'd like to avoid having to reinstall Windows since all the files on disk seem to be fine.
82412
Yesterday I tried turning on my computer. It led me into this grub menu and I have no idea how to get out. I can't use my computer anymore due to this. What should I do? Do I type in a command or something?