Experiencing extremely slow startup times

Also, intermittent bouts of the OS not finding clicked applications on the hard drive -- usually after a reboot, everything's okay.

I was able to run everything except Panda Active Scan due to avast! flagging a virus during the ActiveX download. (print-screen attached)

(Note: This is on a different pc from my thread of last week.)

Thanks.

 

(file attachments, cont'd)

 

Welcome to MG's!

Let's begin by running ComboFix.

1. Download this file - combofix.exe
2. Double click combofix.exe & follow the prompts.
3. When finished, it will produce a log for you. Attach this log to your next reply

Note:

Do not mouseclick combofix's window while it is running. That may cause it to stall.

Once you have completed the above, please attach fresh logs from the below.

• GetRunKey
• ShowNew
• HijackThis
• ComboFix

 

ComboFix.exe was run twice because on the first pass I was denying execution of *.cfexe files in the ZoneAlarm alerts.

Logs attached.

 

(attachments, cont'd)

 

First, please disable any antivirus and/or antispy programs you have installed so they will not block this fix.

Step 1:
Please look in Add/Remove Programs for the following and uninstall if found. If you get any errors just make a note and proceed.

Step 2:
Now scan with HijackThis and check the boxes for the following entries:
( Make sure ALL browser windows are closed when you click FIX )

Again, make sure ALL browser windows are closed when you click FIX.

Step 3:
Now download The Avenger by Swandog46, and save it to your Desktop.

• Extract avenger.exe from the Zip file and save it to your desktop
• Run avenger.exe by double-clicking on it.
• Check the 'Input script manually' box.
• Click on the magnifying glass icon.
• Copy everything in the Quote box below, and paste it in the box that opens:

• Now click the 'Done' button.
• Click on the traffic light icon and OK the prompt.
• You will be prompted to restart, OK the prompt and your PC should reboot, if not, reboot it yourself.
• A log file from Avenger will be produced at C:\avenger.txt

Step 4: Begin here after rebooting from Step 3!
Next Reset Web Settings & Default Security Settings

Note for IE 6 users:
To Reset Web Settings:
Right click on your desktop Internet Explorer icon and select Properties. Then click the Programs tab and then click "Reset Web Settings". Now go back to the General tab and set your home page address to something useful like www.majorgeeks.com. Click Apply. Click Delete Cookies, Click Delete Files and select Delete all Offline content too, Click OK. When it finishes Click OK.

If you do not have an Internet Explorer icon on your Desktop, click Start, Control Panel (for some systems it may be Start, Settings, Control Panel), Internet Options, Programs tab and then click "Reset Web Settings". Now go back to the General tab and set your home page address to something useful like www.majorgeeks.com. Click Apply. Click Delete Cookies, Click Delete Files and select Delete all Offline content too, Click OK. When it finishes Click OK

To Default Security Settings:
Right click on your desktop Internet Explorer icon and select Properties. Then click the Security Tab and click Default Level for Internet, Local Intranet, Trusted Sites, and Restricted Sites. For IE 7 users, simply click the "Reset all zones to default level" button.

Note for IE 7 users:
Select Internet Options, then the Advanced Tab and then the Reset button under Reset Internet Explorer Settings.


Step 5:
Please download ATF Cleaner by Atribune. This program does not require an installation. The executable actually runs the program.

NOTE: This program is for Windows XP and Windows 2000 only. ATF Cleaner will remove all files from the items that are checked so if you have some cookies you'd like to save. Please move them to a different directory first.

• Double-click ATF-Cleaner.exe to run the program.
• Under Main choose: Select All
• Click the Empty Selected button.

If you use Firefox browser

• Click Firefox at the top and choose: Select All
• Click the Empty Selected button.
  • NOTE: If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.

If you use Opera browser

• Click Opera at the top and choose: Select All
• Click the Empty Selected button.
  • NOTE: If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.

Click Exit on the Main ATF Cleaner menu to close the program.


Step 6:
After you have completed ALL of the above in the correct order, please attach the following logs.

• HijackThis Log
• ShowNew Log
• GetRunKey Log
• Avenger Log

Let me know of any problems you may have encountered with the above instructions and also let me know how things are running now.

 

Had no problems running the above instructions.

After system startup (meaning both the avast! and ZoneAlarm icons are visible in the system tray), I click Firefox and it still takes from 1.5 to 2 minutes to finally come up.

Thanks for your help, so far.

Logs attached.

 

(attachments, cont'd)

 

Got that error I mentioned earlier after rebooting. This time, I kept trying to open things and it finally let me. Print-screen of error attached.

 

Your logs are clean. If you are not having any other malware problems, it is time to do our final steps:

1. If we used Pocket Killbox during your cleanup, do the below
   • Run Pocket Killbox and select File, Cleanup, Delete All Backups
2. If we used ComboFix, you can delete the ComboFix.exe file, C:\ComboFix folder, C:\QooBox folder, C:\WINDOWS\nircmd.exe, and the C:\combofix.txt log that was created.
3. If we used SDFix you can delete all the SDFix related files and folders from your Desktop or whereever you installed it.
4. If we used SmitFraudFix, you can delete all files and folders related to it now including the c:\rapport.txt log.
5. If we used VundoFix, you can delete the VundoFix.exe file and the C:\VundoFix Backups folder and C:\vundofix.txt log that was created.
6. If we had your run FixWareOut, you can delete the Fixwareout.exe file and the C:\fixwareout folder.
7. If we had you run Avenger, you can delete all files related to Avenger, the log (avenger.txt) and C:\avenger.
8. If we had you download any registry patches like fixme.reg, fixme1.reg or fixWLK.reg (or any others), you can delete these files now.
9. You can delete the ShowNew.Zip and GetRunkey.Zip files and the files that you extracted from the ZIP files. You can also delete the C:\newfiles.txt and C:\runkeys.txt logs that were created
10. If you are running Windows XP or Windows ME, do the below:
    • go back to step 8 of the READ & RUN ME to Disable System Restore which will flush your Restore Points.
    • Then reboot and Enable System Restore to create a new clean Restore Point.
11. After doing the above, you should work thru the below link:
    • How to Protect yourself from malware!

 

I would uninstall Firefox, reboot and then download a fresh copy and reinstall making sure you have the latest version.

If this does not resolve your issue then I recommend posting this in the Software Forum as I do not believe it's malware related.

Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.9

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Your Welcome!:major