Windows Vista problem - slow and admin problems

My ex brought over her laptop recently, complaining that after a power surge from her outlet in her dorms, her laptop has been weird. Also, she noted that this was the first time in a long while that it had been shut down. After looking at it, the computer locks up when connecting to the internet while not in safe mode, and bogs way down when running certain programs or trying to uninstall anything. Upon further inspection, trying to run anything as an administrator or that requires admin privileges will freeze the program, requiring Task Manager to Force Close the program (not even Not Responding close works). My theory is that she had a worm on her computer at one point that was simply waiting for the vulnerable period while the computer is booting to "eat" some files, mostly likely registry files. Am I right, or is something else wrong, and how do we fix it? I'm fairly new to Vista myself, still running XP, so any help would be appreciated. She leaves for school again on Saturday, the 21st, so help soon would be appreciated.

 

Welcome to Major Geeks.
If you think malware is involved, I suggest you follow the Run Me,Read Me closely and report to the Malware forum with the requested logs.

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407

 

Hi and welcome to Majorgeeks

It may be that your intuition is right and there's an underlying malware infection.

Alternatively, and common given the circumstances around the trigger period, it may 'just' be file corruption resulting from the power spike.

Have you got all her data backed up away from the PC and do you have the Vista install disc, in case you need to flatten and rebuild it?



@hrlow2, that may not be possible if it crashes running any kind of Admin-related task. Worth a try, nonetheless but Rakudjo has only 2 days to get it prepped prior to it's departure to school.

 

Don't need to take to school in that condition, I'll agree.
May not have any choice unless they have the XP disks.

 

I have the External HDD to do it, however, it was a premade laptop with Vista on it, so she has no Vista disk as far as she knows, and I don't think she ever bothered to make a Manufacturer Settings restore disk. Provided, I could pirate it if need be, if she has her License Key sitting around.

Edit: Also, I have run a couple Anti-Spyware scans through Spybot, the first showing nothing but cookies, the second reporting nothing. I need to try to put a working AV on it tonight and try a scan, both McAfee and Windows OneCare have stopped working, which was my first guess to malware. Also, none of the Windows Defense systems are running.

 

Avira AntiVir is a very good freebie.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/Avira_AntiVir_Personal_FREE_Antivirus_d955.html

 

Might also consider these.
MalwareBytes
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
Go to the blue for the free version.

SuperAntiSpyware
http://www.majorgeeks.com/SUPERAntiSpyware_d5116.html

 

I would at least try to make the recovery discs, otherwise any Vista disc is a good candidate for an attempted reinstall, the Windows key should be on a sticker under the laptop.

 

Tried installing Avira - once again, it shows the Administrator shield, and locks the window up and hangs while attempting to run. I doubt I'll have much luck installing anything, I guess I'll try to install it on my own computer and transfer the program files over.

 

I think the edit button just disappeared on me lol? Regardless, after plugging my jumpdrive into her laptop to install Avira, upon plugging it back into my computer, it no longer recognizes the drive, and will sometimes report "There was an issue installing new hardware." I need some .45 caliber aspirin.

 

Yes, Edit is only available for 10 minutes, I think. Some of us may think that's a little low.

That sounds more like there's malware involved, back to Post #2 and scan your computer/upload any recently changed files on the jumpfile to virustotal or Jotti.org, esp anything that looks like an .inf/autorun file while your waiting for a reply.

Or flatten it all and rebuild Windows from scratch.

 

Well, I plugged in her jump drive, and it froze my comp. Upon reboot, I was able to see my external drives again. However, copying over Avira didn't work - needed some kind of other program running along side it, maybe I missed a second install directory or something. The lack of ability to do anything Admin-related on it, even connect to a network, is really starting to make me want that .45 caliber aspirin more - it seems almost dead without a Vista disk, since I'm locked out of everything.

 

And, I think, it requires Admin privileges to burn a disc - even the recovery disc.

If you're trying to install Avira on the laptop, you'll have to copy the installer over + the update files, if you can, there's no way it will work by copying the folders.

But you might try a Portable A/V, running directly from a USB drive/stick.

 

Downloaded a Vista Recovery Disk and attempted to use it. It boots up like a normal disk (i.e. press key to boot, loading files), but as the files are done loading, I get an error screen reading (something of the like: "Windows has encountered an error with this device. This error can be reached by unplugged an external drive while in the installation process, or by result of a hard drive or CD-ROM drive failing. Please contact the manufacturer if you have continual problems." Uh-oh? And yes, I made sure to get 32-bit. Trying to reburn the disk, maybe that'll fix it.

 

Reburn worked. Restore did not. brb portable AV.