Hi everyone, I've been experiencing some problems with my computer lately. I'm running Windows XP Professional. A couple of days ago, I turned on my computer and went to log into my account. When I logged in, my desktop icons appeared along with a few of the programs I have running on startup. Around 5 seconds later, the shut down menu (the same menu that appears when I go under start shut down) appears and disappears within a matter of seconds, along with all my desktop icons and programs, leaving me with only my wallpaper. I ctrl+alt+dlt, but nothing happens, so I restart my computer. When I go back to log in, it won't log in. It freezes at the "loading personal settings" screen. I ended up doing a system restore by logging in through my sisters account, which took 5+ minutes to load. Once I restored, I tried going into my account again, and the shut down menu appeared once more, then disappeared, just like before, along with everything else. I'm wondering if I have a virus, such as the blast worm, or what. What are some solutions I could do as well? Thanks for all the help.
Log in via your sisters account and try the following - it may not be malware, but it might.
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Use these to remove Malware (Spyware and Adware).
1)
SpyBot Search and Destroy After installing SpyBot Search & Destroy, first press Online, and search for, put a check mark at, and install all updates.
Next, close all Internet Explorer windows, hit 'Check for Problems', and have SpyBot remove all the items it marks in red.
2)
Get Ad-Aware After installing Ad-Aware, and before running the program, first press “check for updates now".
Click "Connect" and install all updated components available. Click 'Finish'.
Press "Scan Now", then 'next', and let Ad-Aware scan your drives.
It will find a number of "bad" files and registry keys. Click 'Next' again.
Check all found items, and click 'next' once more.
It will ask you whether you'd like to remove all checked items. Click OK.
Always reboot the computer between each program - both of these may find things that they need to have a reboot of the machine to clear - please reboot and let them finish .
Failing those solving your problems a post of a hijackthis log for the experts to advise.
HijackThis From Here Important: Create a folder on the C: drive called C:\HJT.
You can do this by going to My Computer (Windows key+e) then double click on C: then right click and select New then Folder and name it HJT.
Unzip HijackThis into this folder. When you run HijackThis from this folder and have it "Fixed checked" it will create a backup file of modifications to use if restore is necessary. Then run, scan, save log, then in notepad copy the FULL log by copy and paste as a reply to this post and an expert with HijackThis Knowldge, will have a go at giving advice. Please note the list of experts names below, very few forum regulars here have had this training.
DO NOT FIX ANYTHING WITH HIJACKTHIS WITHOUT EXPERT ADVICE, most of what it finds you need for normal MS Windows tasks.
Known Spyware HijackThis fighters in DellTalk - If you are, and are not on the list please PM Me.
TomCoyote (of
http://tomcoyote.org/forums/index.php fame)
YoKenny (Accredited Expert at TomCoyotes)
baskar1234 (Spyware Classroom Teaching Assistant at TomCoyotes)
ChrisRLG (Spyware Classroom Teaching Assistant at TomCoyotes)
Yellowhammer (In Training at TomCoyotes)
therock247uk (In Training at TomCoyotes)
irelynmisses (In Training at TomCoyotes)
I, and the other hijack experts mentioned above, are in all those sites (and more) with the same login names. You might get one of us at those sites also to anwser your log, but other experts will also be available.
Instead of running spyware software such as (NoAdware,etc..) try running an anti-virus software such as McAfee Anti-virus Scan Online or StopSign eAnthology via your sister's computer. If it is a virus this will solve your problem. Also in addition to anti-virus software, run Computer Check-Up, which is offered free with your AOL service. Go to Keyword and enter "Computer Check-up". From there the program will explain the rest. Good Luck!!
Just wanted to clear some things up. They did not mention using spyware software, my mistake. Still, just trying, as a friendly computer user to offer some helpful advice. The advice I gave, no one else had mentioned, so I thought I would.
I didn't see where the OP mentioned that they used AOL, so that solution could very well be unattainable. Further, ChrisRLG, a forum regular, gave the correct advise. There's zero harm in running spyware detectors and the HiJackThis application typically reveals any viruses or trojans running. I'd be willing to wager that 90% of computers lacking spyware protection do have spyware on them. Anti-virus programs won't find those and neither will AOL's program.
I was just offering advice. I have NoAdware installed on my computer. In fact I would advise everyone to use some kind of spyware software. I did not mean to imply otherwise. I just offered some advice that I thought might be useful. She did not say she used AOL. But she did say she had tried some spyware software to solve her problem and it did not work. No offense to anyone.
My remarks were not intended to be a rebuke, only a reminder that the very best solution is to use the recommended tools from the mentioned post. With a HiJackThis log, all running processes can be reviewed and the entire problem solved. Too often people jump upon the first bit of advice and it seems to solve the immediate symptoms rather than cure the disease. So, if you felt offended at my post, please accept my apology.
ChrisRLG
2 Intern
•
3945 Posts
476
0
Posted January 25th, 2004 21:00
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Use these to remove Malware (Spyware and Adware).
1) SpyBot Search and Destroy
After installing SpyBot Search & Destroy, first press Online, and search for, put a check mark at, and install all updates.
Next, close all Internet Explorer windows, hit 'Check for Problems', and have SpyBot remove all the items it marks in red.
2) Get Ad-Aware
After installing Ad-Aware, and before running the program, first press “check for updates now".
Click "Connect" and install all updated components available. Click 'Finish'.
Press "Scan Now", then 'next', and let Ad-Aware scan your drives.
It will find a number of "bad" files and registry keys. Click 'Next' again.
Check all found items, and click 'next' once more.
It will ask you whether you'd like to remove all checked items. Click OK.
Always reboot the computer between each program - both of these may find things that they need to have a reboot of the machine to clear - please reboot and let them finish .
Failing those solving your problems a post of a hijackthis log for the experts to advise.
HijackThis From Here
Important: Create a folder on the C: drive called C:\HJT.
You can do this by going to My Computer (Windows key+e) then double click on C: then right click and select New then Folder and name it HJT.
Unzip HijackThis into this folder. When you run HijackThis from this folder and have it "Fixed checked" it will create a backup file of modifications to use if restore is necessary. Then run, scan, save log, then in notepad copy the FULL log by copy and paste as a reply to this post and an expert with HijackThis Knowldge, will have a go at giving advice. Please note the list of experts names below, very few forum regulars here have had this training.
DO NOT FIX ANYTHING WITH HIJACKTHIS WITHOUT EXPERT ADVICE, most of what it finds you need for normal MS Windows tasks.
Known Spyware HijackThis fighters in DellTalk - If you are, and are not on the list please PM Me.
TomCoyote (of http://tomcoyote.org/forums/index.php fame)
YoKenny (Accredited Expert at TomCoyotes)
baskar1234 (Spyware Classroom Teaching Assistant at TomCoyotes)
ChrisRLG (Spyware Classroom Teaching Assistant at TomCoyotes)
Yellowhammer (In Training at TomCoyotes)
therock247uk (In Training at TomCoyotes)
irelynmisses (In Training at TomCoyotes)
You could also go to one of the more specalist forums where more experts will be able to help.
http://tomcoyote.org/forums/index.php
http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php
http://www.net-integration.net/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi (Home of Spybot S&D)
http://boards.cexx.org/index.php
Do read the sites FAQ before posting, and advise your problem and what steps you have already done to try to cure your problem.
I, and the other hijack experts mentioned above, are in all those sites (and more) with the same login names. You might get one of us at those sites also to anwser your log, but other experts will also be available.