I have recently had a virus which norton detected and deleted and in doing so, deleted the system 32 exe files from the system 32 folder. I now get an error message on the start up, as its looking for this file. If I don't need the system 32exe file, how can I stop this message????

Many previous posts. Search the forum.

The virus mapi infects it. To fix it you need to do the following: 1. go to start-run-type regedit. 2. do a search for system32.exe and you should find one that is in a catagory on the right hand side that says SHELL explorer.exe "system32.exe" 3. edit that string just so it says explorer.exe, save, and then exit regedit and reboot the machine. *******IMPORTANT********** BEFORE EDITING THE REGISTRY YOU SHOULD ALWAYS BACK IT UP JUST IN CASE SOMETHING GOES WRONG!!!!

just a note...system32.exe is invalid...not a system file at all...there is a system 32 folder but not system32.exe What virus was detected and from what antivirus prog...norton? pc cillin?...go to their site and there should be very explicit instructions on how to manually delete lefrt over files from said virus. Norton explains things well ....follow exactly and back up b4 edit registry...like Jim said... Good luck

Thanks for the advice all. When I've searched the directory for system 32.exe. It turns up in the Windows/Prefetch folder - can I just delete it?

Yes go ahead and delete the file in the prefetch folder. reboot after doing that. Did you do like Jim said so windows quits looking for it? I also clean up my prefetch folder about once a month to keep things speedy. I go to C:> windows> prefetch, open prefetch folder hilight all and delete...whatever windows needs in there will recreate it on reboot. You will find booting up faster after you do that. I have never had problem after doing so. If anything cant be deleted from there windows will tell ya.