File Error: Cannot locate <plane type>.pwl

[RDSaustinTX]

Hey skuzzy.
 
Had a trojan attack this week. Was touch/go for a couple of hours, seems OK now.
 
But in AH, i get a rack of File Error boxes soon as I go into arena. Generally it says it can't locate settings files. For example, if I choose a plane in hangar, the warning pops up for that plane's pwl.
 
Other than this, the program seems to run OK.
 
I looked in AH directory and the files are all in the "settings" folder. AH is located in the top directory of my SSD (C:).
 
Any help appreciated,
 
Russell (Mullah)

[gpwurzel]

Save your settings files someplace else (skins, sounds etc) reinstall AH directly over the top of your current installation - move your settings back to the right place and you should be good to go.

hth,

Wurz

[RDSaustinTX]

Thanks Wurz, but that didn't fix it. Turns out this Trojan hid a lot of files. All of the files in the settings folder had the "hidden" attribute checked. Just selected them all and unchecked the box. Good to go now.
 
Mullah

[gpwurzel]

Glad you got it sorted, sounds like that trojan might have left some other surprises around as well. I'd keep a good eye open bud.

Wurz

[Tank-Ace]

I would back up all the important files or stuff that would take forever to get back (skins in-game, customized in-game sounds, etc.), and re-install the OS if anything else starts happening.

I did that, and it took me a total of 30 mins to completly re-install the OS and all the drivers. After that, I scanned the saved files with several different anti-virus programs, and when I knew they were clean, I put them back where they were.

Re-installing a few games and putting your computer settings back to how you like is a lot simpler (and cheaper if you have to take it into a professional) than dealing with the headache of finding the damn thing, all the files its infected/screwed with, putting them back to rights, and then double-checking to make sure you didn't miss anything.

[Tigger29]

I would back up all the important files or stuff that would take forever to get back (skins in-game, customized in-game sounds, etc.), and re-install the OS if anything else starts happening.

I did that, and it took me a total of 30 mins to completly re-install the OS and all the drivers. After that, I scanned the saved files with several different anti-virus programs, and when I knew they were clean, I put them back where they were.

Re-installing a few games and putting your computer settings back to how you like is a lot simpler (and cheaper if you have to take it into a professional) than dealing with the headache of finding the damn thing, all the files its infected/screwed with, putting them back to rights, and then double-checking to make sure you didn't miss anything.

^^^ what he said.

I used to spend hours on people's computers trying to find and disinfect things and then even more hours trying to repair the damage left behind.  It's SOOO much easier, faster, and trouble-free to simply start from scratch.  Back up any files you absolutely cannot do without to a flash drive (or external hard drive - or even internal hard drive if you have an extra one) just make sure you disconnect the drive before proceeding.

Then wipe your primary hard drive by removing its partitions.  I like to use a dos-based boot disk for this.  Then reformat the hard drive (not a quick format).  Then remove the partition again and reinstall windows.  It will create and format a new partition for you during the process.  The first format is probably redundant but so be it.  I like to be sure.  If you use a recovery disk or partition make sure you select the "WIPE/RESTORE" option and not the repair option.

Once you're up and going and have an antivirus program installed and fully updated then connect the other drive and do a complete scan.  Since these files are "inactive" (not used by the system) anything that is found should be able to be cleaned up easily enough.  Once you're convinced that none of these files are infected then you can copy then back over.  Once this is done start reinstalling your programs.