Rundll Error

Whenever I open Outlook Express I get an error message
stating: Error loading winupd.dll. The system cannot find
the file specified.
Can anyone help me out with this problem?

winupd.dll is not part of the Win Me operating system but instead appears to
be spyware related.

I would urge you to check your system for commercial parasites, spyware and
other assorted adware. This might be a good time to download yourself a copy
of the free Ad-Aware 6.0 from Lavasoft
(http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/) and also SpyBot
(http://www.safer-networking.org/) and scan your system for and remove all
unwanted parasites, adware and spyware that might be hiding on your PC.

Just is case the problem is due to a version of the CoolWebSearch parasite you
might want to download and run merijn's CWShredder which targets that specific
parasite. CWShredder can be downloaded from
(http://www.zerosrealm.com/downloads/CWShredder.zip or
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/cwshredder.zip). Details of the many
forms of the CoolWebSearch hijacker can be found at
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html and also
http://www.pestpatrol.com/pestinfo/c/cws.asp.

If none of the above helps try booting into Safe Mode and unregistering
winupd.dll and then deleting this
unwanted file.
First, using Windows Explorer locate winupd.dll
Then unregister the file from a command line prompt such as Start Run and type

regsvr32 /u path\winupd

and click OK, where path is replace by the full path to the file such as
perhaps C:\Windows\System.
Now locate and delete this file.
Finally, open MSConfig | Startup (Start, Run, enter MSConfig in the box and
click OK), open the Startup tab and uncheck any entry that seems either odd
and has a nonsensical name such as 4jatk3@4#ajhrm or dhnubh or refers to
winupd.dll, also uncheck if present any entry similar to [UpdReg]
C:\WINDOWS\Updreg.exe. Ok and Apply and now reboot back into Normal mode.

For some, sparse, information about this file see
http://www.pestpatrol.com/PestInfo/u/unknown_pest.asp

If you continue to get problems, then download a copy of HijackThis from
(http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html). Create a folder called
hijackthis on C: and copy the file you downloaded to that folder. Close as
many applications as you can including all instances of Internet Explorer and
then run hijackthis.exe and post back the log, provided that it isn't too
long, to this thread, otherwise to the HijackThis Forum at
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/ and hopefully that will enable someone to
identify the cause of your problem.
--?
Mike Maltby MS-MVP



Rob wrote:

Whenever I open Outlook Express I get an error message
stating: Error loading winupd.dll. The system cannot find
the file specified.
Can anyone help me out with this problem?