HELP- COMPUTER'S JACKED-UP

[RolinThundr]

My computer runs, sort of...A couple of days ago a message window popped up saying that some program or another needed to close, then the computer suddenly restarted. I ran a spyware program and it came up with something and deleted it.

Next day, computer starts up, but doesn't finish all it's start-up tasks- the icons for the desktop never show. So I run the spyware program again and it comes up with something else- had internet disconnected before I started the computer- and deletes it. I then run Norton 360, doesn't come up with anything, but now the desktop icons are loaded and the computer runs like normal. I should add that the wallpaper loads like normal, and under Windows Task Manager "Processes" tab a whole lot of programs are running. Nothing showing under "Applications"- is this normal for start-up? Anyway, it was probably a couple of hours after I turned the computer on that all the desktop icons loaded and it started functioning normally. Everything seems to function fine the rest of the day.

Today, I try to start the computer, and it does the same thing, asks for the password, I enter it, computer gets as far as loading the wallpaper and then stops the process. Just as I did yesterday, I hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete to bring up the Windows Task Manager, lots of "Processes" going on, no applications running, then from there I run the spyware, which doesn't find anything. Desktop icons have still not loaded. I can access and run stuff from Windows Task Manager, the bottom toolbar doesn't even load so I can't get to the "Start" button.
Can anyone help me out?

[Japsican]

What operating system are you running? You can try booting into safe mode and possibly doing a system restore to a date before it started acting up.

[SKSer]

seriously the best way to solve those kinds of problems is by saving everything on your computer that you want (pics, vids, programs) on like a flash drive or burn it on a disc and then just un-install Windows and re-install it if you still have the installation disc and keycode of course. When you do this your computer runs like the first day you got it, I do it about every 6-7 months.

[RolinThundr]

What operating system are you running? You can try booting into safe mode and possibly doing a system restore to a date before it started acting up.

I am running Windows XP, how do I boot from safe mode and change the date?

[SKSer]

heres how you boot from safe mode http://www.pchell.com/support/safemode.shtml

but like I was saying above, if you ve had that operating system for awhile you might want to think about deleting that one and re-installing XP if you have the original XP discs still. even restarting from an earlier date may fix the immediate problems but all the problems that lead up to that may still be there waiting to happen again. Send me a PM if you need help with doing it, its pretty easy.

[gandalfdagrey]

One important note on reinstalling XP, you may want to list the drivers you computer is using (NIC, Video and Sound being the most important) and grab the updated versions before hand (check the vendor website)... it will make getting back online a lot easier.

[choprzrul]

Restart computer, as soon as the BIOS screen goes off, start hitting the F8 key 1x/sec until you see the option for Safe Mode with Networking. Choose that option and continue booting. Open Internet Explorer and do a google search for Malwarebytes. Download it, rename it to BOB.exe, and then install it. It will give you the option to launch the program and the option to retrieve updates; choose to do both and wait for it to do its thing. Once the program is started, choose the option to "Perform full scan". When it is done, allow Malwarebytes to clean up the items it found. Norton is already corrupt, so you should remove it. Visit http://service1.symantec.com/Support...05033108162039 to retrieve the Norton Removal Tool. Standard add/remove programs isn't good enough for Norton, you have to use a special tool. Now google Avast and download their free for home use version and install it. Open the user interface and find the update section under settings. Update to the most current version available. Under tools, find the option to do a boot time scan. Reboot the computer and let it do its scan. Once back into windows, download Spyware Terminator, install it WITHOUT the crawler toolbar, use it for spyware only, update it, and then run a full spyware scan. Now, put your original windows cd in, click Start-->Run--> "sfc /scannow" without the quotes. This will look at the current windows system files and replace any corrupt or missing files. When it is done, download Ccleaner and run it. Download Glary Utilities and run it. Download JkDefrag and run it. If you want to be even more thorough, google Eset and run their online scanner. Then google Bit Defender and run their online scanner. If you still have problems after all of this, it is time to reinstall windows and start fresh.

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=247355&highlight=avast&page=3

This is quicker and easier than a reinstall of Windows XP: http://nareshprajapati.wordpress.com...ng-windows-xp/

I do the above for customers on a daily basis and can tell you it will clean up a computer 99% of the time.

[choprzrul]

Per my antivirus supplier, Norton has trimmed its virus signature database to only the past 2 years of active threats. You might be vulnerable to older threats that you encounter. IMHO, I would never run Norton on any of my computers, but YMMV.

[SikDMAX]

Sounds like chopr is onto a good start, then a reinstall if still necessary.

[IsaacGlass]

Once those malicious bugs gets into your windows restore files, there is no Malware, Spyware or Anti-Virus software that can saved you. You will still need to format and rebuild from scratch.

[RolinThundr]

Before I try anything I want to save a few files to a thumb drive to make sure I don't lose them. How do I make sure that the virus/spyware/malware doesn't infect the thumb drive?

[RolinThundr]

I appreciate everyone's help. I restarted my computer in Safe Mode with Networking and downloaded Malewarebytes. I ran the program and it terminated a few things. After restarting the computer, everything seems to be running just fine. For now, that's good enough. I have a lot of things on the computer that are not backed up right now so I don't want to clear everything and reinstall just yet. I am going to buy an external hard drive in the next couple of months and back everything up on it first. Question is, how do I make sure that I back up my files without contaminating the external hard drive? Once I've got the files backed up I can worry about scrambling the computer and starting over.

[IsaacGlass]

I appreciate everyone's help. I restarted my computer in Safe Mode with Networking and downloaded Malewarebytes. I ran the program and it terminated a few things. After restarting the computer, everything seems to be running just fine. For now, that's good enough. I have a lot of things on the computer that are not backed up right now so I don't want to clear everything and reinstall just yet. I am going to buy an external hard drive in the next couple of months and back everything up on it first. Question is, how do I make sure that I back up my files without contaminating the external hard drive? Once I've got the files backed up I can worry about scrambling the computer and starting over.

Your best bet is to copy all non .exe, .htm, .bat, .hlp, .pif, .scr, files over to the new external drive and then run a A-V software scan on the new drive.

[choprzrul]

Once those malicious bugs gets into your windows restore files, there is no Malware, Spyware or Anti-Virus software that can saved you. You will still need to format and rebuild from scratch.

Boot into Safe Mode, right click My Computer-->Properties-->System Restore tab. Turn off system restore, reboot back into safe mode w/networking. Install & run Ccleaner. Install & run Cleanup!. Install & run Glary Utilities. Reboot into regular windows.

Turning off system restore and rebooting deletes the restore files. If they are corrupted with malware, you wouldn't want to use them for a restore, so you might as well dump them and start over. Once back into windows, turn system restore back on.