I removed Spyware and...HELP

S

slickben

Weaksauce
Joined
Jun 9, 2003
Messages
114
So I was removing my spyware, and I took note of the processes running, one of them was "wowexec.exe" I removed this from the system32 directory, and now when I'm trying to install an application, I get this error:
error.png

How can I remedy this? Just when I thought i had spyware master...
Grrrr
thanks
ben
 
So as you have probably figured out by now, wowexec.exe is the "Windows on Windows Executive Subsytem" that is responsible for providing (among other things) a 16-bit layer for applications to run on that require it.

You'll have to figure out the best way to repair your system, whether that be simply replacing the one file you deleted with the correct version for your system OS and Service Pack/Patch level (it may be difficult to figure out which version you should replace depending upon that particular file's history of being patched), doing a repair installation and then applying all subsequent patches or service packs, or by reinstalling your OS in the worst case. If you have a slipstreamed copy of your OS install CD you can probably get a working version of the file by expanding the "wowexec.ex_" file in the i386 directory using the expand command. If the file date stamp matches your existing wow32.dll file I'd guess that you probably have the right version.

In the future, you might want to consider googling a filename before you delete it, or instead of deleting a file from a system folder, simply rename the file to something like wowexec.exe.old which would prevent it's execution, but allow you to recover in case something goes wrong.
 
Get out your handy dandy windows CD and go to start -> run -> "Sfc /scannow" (No quotes)

The previous poster is correct about what wowexec is. Its part of windows, not spyware :D.
 
Thanks guys, i mistakenly thought with a name like "wowexec" it was spam. i copied the file from a friends computer, and it works fine.
 
LOL I can't believe you deleted that. Follow the directions above. People get a bit spyware happy after a while. If you run hijack this it will tell you what a process does. Otherwise google before delete.
 
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