at w7 startup "there was a problem starting msifcs32.dll"

M

Maurizio

Hello:

I've w7 x64 ultimate installed. Each time I boot, I had "there was a
problem starting msifcs32.dll, the specified module could not be found".
what that could be? I think it's related to a software that wasn't
properly removed, but how to know which?

any help is appreciated
thanks
 
B

Bob I

I'd suggest making sure that the spelling of that "module" is correct.
(it doesn't exist on google except for your question)
 
T

TripleA

"Maurizio" wrote in message
I've w7 x64 ultimate installed. Each time I boot, I had "there was a
problem starting msifcs32.dll, the specified module could not be
found". what that could be? I think it's related to a software that
wasn't properly removed, but how to know which?
any help is appreciated
thanks
Try running CCleaner. It's a free download from Filehippo. Clean the
registry. I've been using it for years and it works great.
 
T

TripleA

Also,

use Revo Uninstaller when removing programs. Free and works better
than Windows.
 
P

Paul

Maurizio said:
Hello:

I've w7 x64 ultimate installed. Each time I boot, I had "there was a
problem starting msifcs32.dll, the specified module could not be found".
what that could be? I think it's related to a software that wasn't
properly removed, but how to know which?

any help is appreciated
thanks
You could try Autoruns, and see if you could see it in there.

The storage path to the executable, as mentioned in Autoruns, might
hint as to where it came from (where it should have been stored).

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902

The fact that it doesn't show up in my search engines, is worrying.
That usually means malware (which in your case, has already been
removed, since startup can't find it).

Paul
 
K

Ken Blake

"Maurizio" wrote in message



Try running CCleaner. It's a free download from Filehippo. Clean the
registry. I've been using it for years and it works great.

CCleaner is an excellent program and what it does is very good and
also safe--**EXCEPT** for its registry cleaning function, which should
never be used.

Registry cleaning programs are *all* snake oil. Cleaning of the
registry isn't needed and is dangerous. Leave the registry alone and
don't use any registry cleaner. Despite what many people think, and
what vendors of registry cleaning software try to convince you of,
having unused registry entries doesn't really hurt you.

The risk of a serious problem caused by a registry cleaner erroneously
removing an entry you need is far greater than any potential benefit
it may have.

Read http://www.edbott.com/weblog/archives/000643.html

and http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=28099

and also
http://blogs.technet.com/markrussin.../02/registry-junk-a-windows-fact-of-life.aspx

Let me point out that neither I nor anyone else who warns against the
use of registry cleaners has ever said that they always cause
problems. If they always caused problems, they would disappear from
the market almost immediately. Many people have used a registry
cleaner and never had a problem with it.

Rather, the problem with a registry cleaner is that it carries with it
the substantial *risk* of having a problem. And since there is no
benefit to using a registry cleaner, running that risk is a very bad
bargain.
 
Z

z

Hello:

I've w7 x64 ultimate installed. Each time I boot, I had "there was a
problem starting msifcs32.dll, the specified module could not be found".
what that could be? I think it's related to a software that wasn't
properly removed, but how to know which?

any help is appreciated
thanks
In CCleaner there is a startup page. Tools, second option Startup.

Remove any entries that shouldn't be there. ie: programs that have been
removed.
 
M

Maurizio

Hello:

I've w7 x64 ultimate installed. Each time I boot, I had "there was a
problem starting msifcs32.dll, the specified module could not be found".
what that could be? I think it's related to a software that wasn't
properly removed, but how to know which?

any help is appreciated
thanks
Thank you, all!!
 
G

Gene E. Bloch

use Revo Uninstaller when removing programs. Free and works better than
Windows.
You do know that all Windows does is call the program's own
uninstaller, do you not?

Revo and IObit do the same thing, but then they add scans for leftover
files (including directories) and registry entries.
 
V

VanguardLH

Gene said:
TripleA posted:


Revo and IObit do the same thing, but then they add scans for
leftover files (including directories) and registry entries.
And the free (crippled) version doesn't include the install monitor, a
background process that watches for and logs installations. The free
version relies on a static database of known apps to determine what
remnants might be left behind to clean up.
 
V

VanguardLH

Paul said:
You could try Autoruns, and see if you could see it in there.
Thankfully AutoRuns also has a search feature so you can look for an
item by some portion of its name. Considering how many places AutoRuns
inspects, the total list could be daunting for the user to interrogate.
The storage path to the executable, as mentioned in Autoruns, might
hint as to where it came from (where it should have been stored).

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902
It's also possible that a .dll file will NOT be listed by AutoRuns. It
could very well be called by a parent program. DLLs are, after all,
libraries of methods (functions) that are typically called by some
parent .exe program (few DLLs actually use their main method to run some
code when they get loaded).

So using ProcMon (also by Microsoft after acquiring SysInternals and
merging FileMon and RegMon together) could help determine what process
is trying to access that file. You would define a filter so only that
file would be shown, configure ProcMon to log on boot, and reboot the
host, then load ProcMon which sees the boot log and asks if you want to
load it. However, I only know how to use ProcMon to detect who accesses
a file. I'm not sure if it is usable to determine when a process tries
to access a file when it doesn't exist. That is, I don't know if
ProcMon is usable to see when a process tries to *find* a file versus
when a process touches an existing file. Rather than specify the full
path to the file (and because it doesn't exist then you can't do that),
I'd define it's filter to look for just "msifcs32" to see if it records
an open or query function by a process trying to locate the file.

I had a .cbm file that kept showing up in C:\. I couldn't figure out
who was creating it. Loading ProcMon didn't show up anything but then
the file was getting created during Windows startup so me loading
ProcMon to monitor my system had it monitoring too late. So I defined a
Path rule that looked for ".cbm" at the end of the path (to the file) to
watch any process that would create this file. I then configured
ProcMon to log during the boot, rebooted, loaded ProcMon, had it load
its boot-time log, the filter was still active. I saw Dropbox first
doing an Open/Query operation on the file following by several attempts
by Windows Explorer to access/use this file. I contacted Dropbox asking
why they keep recreating this file in my root folder (but they haven't
bothered to respond yet).

I was looking for something that was creating a file during Windows
startup. I suspect that ProcMon can be used to filter on any path (for
a file, even without a path but just part of the filename) to see any
process attempting a file I/O operation on that string whether the file
exists or not.

Process Monitor (ProcMon)
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645
 
G

Gene E. Bloch

Gene E. Bloch wrote:
And the free (crippled) version doesn't include the install monitor, a
background process that watches for and logs installations. The free
version relies on a static database of known apps to determine what
remnants might be left behind to clean up.
Now you've gone and proven that I'm a cheapskate :)

Thanks for that useful addendum to my post.
 

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