   Odd Vista problem
  I have this vista laptop that I'm having an odd problem on and can't find anything about it on Google. Ever since Window Update was run older programs aren't being seen as programs anymore. It's not that they are failing to run properly, Windows doesn't view .exe files as programs, wont even try to run them. What the hell can I do?   
  Check to see if Windows thinks it's genuine or not.  It might be related to that problem the other week where the authentication servers went wonky.   ;  Ok, I just tried to do another windows update and Internet Explorer wont run! When I right click on it an go to properties it lists the filetype as: EXE File. Just like when windows doesn't know what a file type is. ;Quote:Original post by NypyrenCheck to see if Windows thinks it's genuine or not.  It might be related to that problem the other week where the authentication servers went wonky.Yeah now that you mention it I think my copy of Vista did that about the time the MS servers were down.It's not really a flatout you got a pirated copy message though it more like Vista acting flaky.I mean one day I try to run Windows update as griffenjam_redux states in his post and Vista just complains that the the link is not valid,etc. so I try to run it from inside IE but the problem on Vista is that it refuses to run windows update from inside your browser and just kicks you back to the desktop!Anyways I fixed it by turning of my computer completely for several seconds and rebooting and the problem went away.It's still disturbing though since I don't know if it's an unknown virus my antivirus didn't catch or some sort of harddrive corruption I have going on or if it's just Vista being flaky?I've noticed alot of problems in Vista seem to get fixed with a reboot which isn't cool.Like right now Vista is complaining that I don't have antivirus installed although I have had avast installed from the start and didn't complain before and my wireless usb device seems to need 2 boots sometimes to get it to work.So just try a reboot and that should fix it if it's the same thing I had.;  sounds like a worm thing I got once a while back. It would make changes to the registry to change the function of exe files. Not that is what you got going on but it sounds like your having similar fun.   