How to recover from losing ALL file associations

HopefulKayaker

New Member
Messages
3
I recently contracted a virus which seems to have eliminated ALL my file associations. I've confirmed that .LNK, .EXE, .COM, and .BAT associations are gone. All proposed fixes to re-associate .EXE files don't work for me, because of all the other associations I've lost.

I have been able to click the power icon on the Start screen, hold-down shift, and click Restart to take me to a menu with many helpful options like Refresh, Reset, Safe Mode, and Command Prompt. I booted into Command Prompt Mode, and executed this command, which I found online and thought would re-associate .EXE files:

assoc .exe=exefile

The shell response was "exe=exefile", which I thought meant that the change was made. The "shutdown" command did not work, and I didn't see any option to exit Command Prompt Mode, so that that point I used the power button on my desktop's tower to do a hard reset.

I then tried to boot into Safe Mode and launch EXEs there, but it didn't work.

After returning to my desktop, nothing changed. I'm confident that Refresh will resolve this, but is anyone aware of a way I can use shell commands to fix this without having to re-install all my programs and re-configure all my personal settings?

Thanks!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro 64-bit
Can you use system restore to a date before this happened? That would be a quick solution.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASRock 990FX Killer
    CPU
    AMD FX 8320
    Motherboard
    ASRock 990 FX Killer
    Memory
    32gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte GTX 750i
    Sound Card
    Realtek (Stock on MB)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS 27 HD Monitor & a 37" LCD HD TV Screen (For movies)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    1 250 GB SS hard drive for OS
    1 1TB hard drive for data / mirrored to a second 1 TB hd.
    PSU
    650W
    Case
    No name tower
    Cooling
    Enermax Liqtech 240
    Keyboard
    Logitech
    Mouse
    Logitech
    Internet Speed
    Dnload 10.48 Upload .48
    Browser
    IE 11 and Chrome when IE doesn't work
    Antivirus
    F-PROT
Can you use system restore to a date before this happened? That would be a quick solution.
That is not going to solve the OP problem. My guess is that they used some type of system cleaning software, which caused this. This is not normal virus behavior.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Mint 17.2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba Satellite C850D-st3nx1
    CPU
    AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon (tm) HD Graphics 1.40 GHZ
    Memory
    12GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon™ HD 7310 Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek HD
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1366 x 768
    Hard Drives
    Crucial M500 240GB SSD
    Mouse
    Logitech M525
    Internet Speed
    45/6 - ATT U-Verse
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    None needed. It is Linux.
    Other Info
    Arris NVG589 Gateway; Router - Cisco RV320; Switch - Netgear GS108 8-Port Switch & Trendnet TEG-S50g 5-Port Switch; Access Points - Engenius ECB350, Trendnet TEW-638APB; NAS - Lenovo ix2-4; Printer - Brother HL-2280DW; Air Print Server - Lantronix XPrintServer

    A/V UPS - Tripp-Lite Smart 1500LCD 1500 Va/900 W.
Can you use system restore to a date before this happened? That would be a quick solution.
That is not going to solve the OP problem. My guess is that they used some type of system cleaning software, which caused this. This is not normal virus behavior.

I had just installed the free Panda Antivirus program from CNET and tried to full system scan right before this happened. However, as that came highly recommended from How-To Geek I just assumed it was the virus that did this rather than the ANTIvirus. :p

Regardless, it would seem that opting for the refresh would take care of this. However, I have a digital license for Windows 8 and have no physical disc for it. Will I be able to refresh that way?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro 64-bit

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Update Pro in Hyper-V/Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Cliff's Black & Blue Wonder
    CPU
    Intel Core i9-9900K
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus X Hero
    Memory
    32 GB Quad Kit, G.Skill Trident Z RGB Series schwarz, DDR4-3866, 18-19-19-39-2T
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS GeForce RTX 3090 ROG Strix O24G, 24576 MB GDDR6X
    Sound Card
    (1) HD Webcam C270 (2) NVIDIA High Definition Audio (3) Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    BenQ BL2711U(4K) and a hp 27vx(1080p)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080 x 32 bits (4294967296 colors) @ 60 Hz
    Hard Drives
    C: Samsung 960 EVO NVMe M.2 SSD
    E: & O: Libraries & OneDrive-> Samsung 850 EVO 1TB
    D: Hyper-V VM's -> Samsung PM951 Client M.2 512Gb SSD
    G: System Images -> HDD Seagate Barracuda 2TB
    PSU
    Corsair HX1000i High Performance ATX Power Supply 80+ Platinum
    Case
    hanteks Enthoo Pro TG
    Cooling
    Thermaltake Floe Riing RGB TT Premium-Edition 360mm and 3 Corsair blue LED fans
    Keyboard
    Trust GTX THURA
    Mouse
    Trust GTX 148
    Internet Speed
    25+/5+ (+usually faster)
    Browser
    Edge; Chrome; IE11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender of course & Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit as a
    Other Info
    Router: FRITZ!Box 7590 AX V2
    Sound system: SHARP HT-SBW460 Dolby Atmos Soundbar
    Webcam: Logitech BRIO ULTRA HD PRO WEBCAM 4K webcam with HDR
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