procedure entry point

[Dod101]

Help please! What on earth does this mean and what do I do about it?

A message comes up on my screen as follows

'The procedure entry point EvtCreateRenderContext could not be located in the dynamic link library wevtapi.dll'

From time to time when I click say the Chrome browser and sometimes other apps.#

Dod

[Slarti]

Computer? Phone?
Operating system?

Slarti

[Dod101]

Sorry Slarti

Desktop Windows 7. The PC has a history of being somewhat unstable at the best of times, giving the occasional BSOD to the extent that I am seriously wondering about taking the MS advice and buying anew machine with Windows 10 installed. That is a separate issue though and I am puzzled by this message about the procedure entry point.

Any help would be appreciated.

Dod

[XFool]

Have you got file wevtapi.dll on the PC? Perhaps it has gone missing or is corrupted and needs replacing.

[Itsallaguess]

Desktop Windows 7.

The PC has a history of being somewhat unstable at the best of times, giving the occasional BSOD to the extent that I am seriously wondering about taking the MS advice and buying anew machine with Windows 10 installed.

That is a separate issue though and I am puzzled by this message about the procedure entry point.

Two things are worth doing here, in this order -

1. Run the Windows 7 'System File Checker' (SFC) -

This article will show how to run System File Checker (SFC) to repair protected system files in Windows 7. - https://www.microcenter.com/tech_center ... -windows-7

2. Install and run the FREE 'Home' version of MalwareBytes -

https://www.malwarebytes.com/

The above MalwareBytes FREE Home version says that you'll also get a 14-day 'Premium' trial, but I'd suggest simply installing the FREE version, running it and allowing it to complete a full system scan, and then letting it repair everything it wants to repair.

If your system starts to behave itself, then it might be worth just un-installing MalwareBytes at that point, rather than wait for any nagging 'Premium' messages. There is nothing to stop you re-installing the FREE version at any future point once it's hopefully carried out a full system scan and fixed anything untowards-looking...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[Dod101]

Have you got file wevtapi.dll on the PC? Perhaps it has gone missing or is corrupted and needs replacing.

I have no idea. I cannot see this reference anywhere and have no idea what it means or does.

IAAG

Thanks I have run sfc and it has removed the message and given mw some unintelligible stuff when I use SFC/verify only. I will now install malwarebytes.com and run it.

Thanks very much for your help.

Dod

[Dod101]

IAAG

421 threats called Potentially unwanted programs. Should this worry me? I have quarantined the lot.

Makes me feel better anyway.

Dod

[Itsallaguess]

421 threats called Potentially unwanted programs. Should this worry me? I have quarantined the lot.

Makes me feel better anyway.

If you had a quick scan through them and there was nothing that stood out as valid programs (there are occasions where false-positives are flagged erroneously), then there's no harm in quarantining them. There's the odd time where we might install something on purpose that these types of utilities then try to be 'helpful' and remove for us, but in the vast majority of cases, we can normally just let Malwarebytes do it's thing and have a good tidy up.

As you've put so many into the tool's quarantine though, I'd probably hang back from un-installing Malwarebytes for now, just to see how it runs for a week or so.

How's it behaving now though, were the original error windows regular enough for you to feel that the two processes you've worked through have fixed it?

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[Dod101]

Thanks for the advice. I will leave the Malawarebyte program for the time being. Is that number of potential threats or whatever to be expected?

Certainly everything is working quite normally now, in fact I think probably better than for some time.

I am very grateful for your help.

Dod

[monabri]

If all else fails, you might try doing a restore to a previous Restore Point?

[Itsallaguess]

Certainly everything is working quite normally now, in fact I think probably better than for some time.

Good stuff - glad it's helped.

Unless of course you were really looking forward to that new PC that you thought you needed....

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[Infrasonic]

IAAG

421 threats called Potentially unwanted programs. Should this worry me? I have quarantined the lot.

Makes me feel better anyway.

Dod

Before doing any security scans it's always a good idea to clear out any browser cache's et al, as otherwise you'll get those sort of high numbers.
When I figured it out many years ago my scans generally reported back either nothing or one or two issues, which if you drill down and get a file path for can generally be dismissed (or not...).

[UncleEbenezer]

'The procedure entry point EvtCreateRenderContext could not be located in the dynamic link library wevtapi.dll'
Dod

Can't comment on most of what your replies say.

But that ".dll" is MS-windows-speak for a shared library. A library basically contains functions that are general-purpose enough to be used by various different programs, so you don't have to keep re-inventing the same wheels. Some of the most basic examples would be mathematical functions (like sine, log, etc). Or time and date - very fiddly and error prone to do from scratch. Most libraries do much more obscure but nevertheless useful (to someone) things.

Something in your program is calling a function EvtCreateRenderContext in a library wevtapi.dll. But it isn't there. That means that somewhere on your system, you have software versions that are not compatible with each other. Either software update has failed (perhaps X lists Y as a dependency but gets the required version wrong), or you've overridden something without understanding the consequences. Your system's software update might fix it for you. If not, the easiest fix is probably to uninstall the packages concerned and reinstall their latest versions.

[Dod101]

Thanks UE. I am not sure I understand all that you say but certainly taking advice from IAAG seems to have solved the immediate problem and the machine is running much better and faster than it has for some time. The reference I quoted has disappeared too!

Maybe it just needed a spring clean. My knowledge is very basic and in the five years or so that I have had this machine I have done virtually no maintenance.

Dod

[Infrasonic]

Thanks UE. I am not sure I understand all that you say but certainly taking advice from IAAG seems to have solved the immediate problem and the machine is running much better and faster than it has for some time. The reference I quoted has disappeared too!

Maybe it just needed a spring clean. My knowledge is very basic and in the five years or so that I have had this machine I have done virtually no maintenance.

Dod

https://www.howtogeek.com/228570/10-qui ... indows-pc/