Can't launch any programs installed after 12/8/10?

[Salt]

So, like the title says, I can't launch a single program I install after December 8th of this year. It's really frustrating. but every single time, every single program, I double click on the .exe and an error window comes up saying, "This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem." There are different variations of this error message. Like this one, for a different game "This application has failed to start because OpenAL32.dll was not found. Re-Installing the application may fix this problem." Or this one. For a different application... "The Procedure entry point ?Set@CThreadLocalBase@@QAEXPAX@Z could not be located in the dynamic link library tier0.dll" And there is one more program I've installed that doesn't work. But EVERY program installed before 12/8/10 works still, flawlessly. I am so confused/frustrated. And any insight someone could give me would be greatly appreciated. I'm just sick of this bullsh** I don't know if this is a virus? Or what. But it sure as hell is annoying.

Thanks.

 

[gbhall]

Could easily be a virus, yes.

Using Windows explorer, look in C:\windows for a file called WindowsUpdate.log Viewing the content will tell you what windows automatic updates did last, so check for some catastrophic update failure.

Also look in control panel / administrative tools / event viewer to check for system or application errors (big red X) on or just after December 8th.

Follow https://www.techspot.com/community/...lware-removal-preliminary-instructions.58138/ instructions to satisfy yourself about possible infection (one way or the other). If there is an infection, it may prevent the anti-malware found on that link from running, and you may have to run in safe mode.