Forums Bug Reports mIRC 6.03 seems to have corrupted Explorer.

After I installed two copies of mIRC 6.03 I've been having problems with Windows.
After installing mIRC, I right-clicked on an icon on the Desktop, I got a message saying that Explorer caused an illegal operation. I was unable to use the right-click menu.
Also, when I started up Windows Explorer I was unable to rename or copy "mirc.exe", nor other files!
Since then Explorer seems to have improved, and I can now use the right-click menu, and I can rename files. But I still cannot rename "mirc.exe". When I try, Explorer still crashes. Strangely, I cannot rename a shortcut to "mirc.exe" either.
Also, on two occasions I've had the Blue Screen of Death and had to reboot my computer.
I guess its possible that the problem is not caused by mIRC, but the problem happened immediately after installing mIRC, and also I know that I can rename ".exe" files other than "mirc.exe".

I'm using Windows 98 OSR2.

I wonder if something went wrong during installation of the two programs. I think I got the Blue Screen of Death just after installing it, or possibly before the install program had finished.
I tried uninstalling mIRC, but found it could only uninstall one copy.

I have 3 instals, and no problems... (Win XP Pro) Do you perhaps have siblings, or illiterate parents that instal/uninstal anything they feel? Another installation might have caused this. I'm almost positive it is not mirc, as this (to my knowledge) in no way alters internet explorer.

I have mIRC installed on WinXP home, WinNT4, Win98, and WinME, I've never experienced this problem however.

The only thing mIRC ever corrupted was my liking for Pirch, and with some justification - Pirch sucks.

Ive had multiple copies of mirc on my computer (win95b) and never had this issue. At one time I think I had like 6 different versions installed on here (backups) with variations (scripts) on each one.

I'm still having problems with Explorer.

I made a mistake when I wrote that its only "mirc.exe" and other mIRC files that I can't rename - I am unable to rename most files, though I can rename some.

Please will you guys stop sending in messages saying things like "I installed mIRC and it worked OK". I already guessed that mIRC works sometimes, and telling me that it works sometimes doesn't help me to solve the problem !

I heard from a man on a mailing list that he had the same problem with mIRC that I have : it corrupted his Explorer. He said that he uninstalled mIRC but that didn't help. His Windows system remained corrupted until he reformatted his disk and reinstalled Windows.

Khaled, are you there? I wonder if your installation program installs a ".dll" file that replaces a Windows system ".dll". This may corrupt some versions of Windows that need to use a different version of the same ".dll" file. Can you please tell me what ".dll" files, if any, are installed when your installation program installs mIRC?

mIRC does not install any files anywhere other than what it places in the mIRC folder, nor does it make changes to any files at all, other than the files in the mIRC folder.

It is extremely unlikely that mIRC has anything to do with the issues that you are reporting.

Most likely, your system was already corrupted in some way, or you have a trojan or virus of some kind, or you have some system level software, such as an anti-virus program, which is causing a problem.

Thanks for your reply Khaled. :-)

Yes, if mIRC doesn't install any files outside the mIRC folder, then its unlikely to have caused the problem's I'm having with Explorer.

I still need to get some help on my problem with Explorer. But it sounds like its nothing to do with mIRC after all, so I'll look elsewhere.

Can't forget about the registry key storing online time too. >:D

"Can't forget about the registry key storing online time too."
What? Online time is stored in mirc.ini.

I can almost be positive I saw the online time (current duration) stored in the registry. When I get on my machine, as I am not at home, I will look. I de belive its in HKLM\Software\mirc\ but don't quote me on that. >:F

Na, online time: $gettok($readini($mircini,options,n1),5-7,44) = hours,mins,secs.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\mIRC\DateUsed]
@(Default) is the Online Time

>:D

LOL Look at the Keyname, it's not Not TimeUsed [HKCU\Software\mIRC\DateUsed]
The date mIRC was First run (on that user account)

Echo what I posted earlier, and check it against the online timer

I was just reading about a worm ( WORM_HORSMAN.A) that
"overwrites the system file EXPLORER.EXE".
"To propagate via mIRC, the worm overwrites the mIRC initialization file".
"When overwriting EXPLORER.EXE, it tries to avoid generating a sharing access violation, by first terminating the Explorer process. After this, it overwrites the system file with a copy of itself then proceeds to restart the Explorer program. "

whether this could be the problem or not, you can read about it at this web page

Khaled wrote : "Most likely ... you have some system level software, such as an anti-virus program, which is causing a problem.".

Yes! That was it!.
I have Norton Anti-Virus installed.
When I turn off Norton Anti-Virus the problem with Explorer disappears, and when I turn Norton Anti-Virus back on, the problem re-appears.
Problem solved!

So the problem that I reported is actually not caused by mIRC at all. After I installed mIRC I tried renaming some files, and found that I couldn't. But if I had tried renaming files a week earlier then I would seen the same problem, and I would not have blamed mIRC.

Thanks Khaled. You've helped me fix this problem, and the problem wasn't even caused by mIRC! I think that counts as great technical support!

I'm so pleased, that I tried to register, using PayPal. I didn't manage it because I lost my connection at a cruxial moment, but I'll probably try again in a couple of days.

It may well be the virus issue still.

Viruses use some very clever methods to avoid detection.

It may be that in trying to stop norton from doing its job, you are getting errors. WHen Norton is stopped, the virus is free to operate without error.

I would sugest a disk based virus scanner, so you can at least to a command line scan.

the one i mentioned does attempt to disable antivirus and security protection on the infected system, by terminating programs that contain the strings generally associated with antivirus and firewall programs... i'd for sure be running a good virus scan or two just in case