HP Notebook - Pavilion using Vista Home Premium. Had for 2 yrs. I'm not an IT person, just a user.
Recently obtained new cellphone & was searching for different ringtones. One website I was suddenly switched to a "scan website", I immediately tried to X out & it started a scan. I then pulled the power cord & took out the battery.
Re-booted & all seemed normal, but after a day things started not working correctly. AVG wouldn't start, Gadgets started freezing, etc.
Yesterday, I tried downloading a cellphone program & started getting the message when I tried to Install via .exe..."not a valid win32 application".
Restored 3 times to earlier versions, most programs restored but could not run any anti-virus, rootkit, new or just downloaded programs, updates or even documents. All attempts gave the same message as the stated before.
I've researched thru MS, CNET, other sites with no success. I've looked at the Registry but don't know what I'm looking at.
I run various MS Accessories/Win Defender without finding a single problem.
I downloaded HijackThis, but it won't open....not a valid win32 application.
I would deeply appreciate any responses that could resolve this. As I said, not an IT person, I started using PC's in the early 80's & self-taught DOS, Win3.x, etc...but it has gone beyond my limited knowledge. Thnx (apologies if this was the wrong place to post)