alot of xp problems

ok, i'm not totally ruling out malware. however, i have a few questions.

history (as far as i know) - this guy had his os reinstalled about 3-6 mos ago. he said he hasn't had any problems until recently (his roomate changed his router settings, comp settings, etc, then he had popup issues.

i got rid of the popups within 30 min to an hour. however, i've noticed alot of wierd stuff on his comp. i'm wondering if it can be done in the registry, or what you all think.

1) he has 1 acct (admin), and the guest acct turned on (but, it's not really the guest acct - if that makes since). edit - his guest acct (screenshot below) is "guest.tommie-18f6c210".

2) when you boot into safe mode, there is only 1 acct listed (his account which says admin), there is no "admin" acct.

3) no matter what i do, whenever you shut down this comp, there is a windows update there to be installed (if you let it install, and then shut down the comp), on reboot/bootup, it is there. it's like it never installs? i mean i don't see it when windows is up and running (by the clock), but it's there when you want to shut it down.

i think i pretty much have a handle on the malware, which wasn't alot. 3 out of 4 antivirus scans came up clean, the 4th listed like 9 items, which i have slowly removed. i'm running 3 more antivirus scans now. ad-aware, spybot, avg, a2, all pretty much come up clean, except for tracking cookies, etc. i'm puzzled about the above items i've listed.

it took me forever to get his wireless working in guest acct. he was using whatever brand built in adapter s/w, and it would not let me connect to my network. i finally disabled it and used windows zero configuration, but it would not let me connect in admin acct, or guest acct. i then told it to use his adapter s/w, and then it started working in windows zero configuration, on both accts. talk about a piece of crap!! anyway, at least i got that done. thx, sos

 

Other user accts may be due to a repair install of the OS (or two or three) and a different user name was entered each time, instead of clicking "Skip" at this stage of the repair. That would create the additional users. The user profiles may be hosed due to malware or just bad PC use (roomies are famous for this kind of crap). There is a user profile cleanup tool at Microsoft, but I don't think it will help in your scenario, but I guess it's worth a shot. Dial-a-Fix can help with Windows Update problems sometimes, but I don't think it will help in this situation either. You might want rename the Software Distribution folder in C:\Windows to SD-old or something and then reboot. That may fix the update issue.... It looks to me like this may be a situation for another format and clean Windows install. Here's some links:
MS User Profile Cleanup http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...6D-8912-4E18-B570-42470E2F3582&displaylang=en
Dial-A-Fix (check everything in Windows Update, in the SSL section and in the Registration Center, then click Go) http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4899.html
Good luck SOS!

 

thx, dlb. i talked to him a while ago, and already mentioned that if it were me i'd reload the os. everything seems to somewhat work, it's just annoying. maybe, because i know what should be where, etc. i've also noticed that his windows security center isn't all there. - sos :major

mine is the one on the left side (below), and his is the other one, notice i can't select how to notify me (as it's unselectable).

 

His screen shot indicates that the security service has been stopped; probably by malware or the roomie trying to "tweak" more speed out of the PC by disabling services. Going into Computer Management and checking his services and their individual startup settings would be a good idea. Right click My Computer > Manage > Services and Applications > Services.
Here's a link to a thread about services. In that thread I have attached a zipped .PDF file containing a list of XP services with details about each one. Check it out. There's some other links there too which may be helpful.
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=151866

 

once again, thx dlb. i was talking to him and he said he'll probably have me redo his os in about 2 weeks, before he is transferred away from here. i don't have the laptop now, but i'll try and check out what you said (learning experience). i'll probably be working on it tomorrow, trying to get his outlook express setup (we had to email tech support for his msn paid acct), so maybe then, if not when i reload his os (if he let's me). - sos

i guess i'm a glutton for punishment. :major

 

plodr, i have no freakin' idea why. :confused he said they had internet problems (connectivity issues), and he let his roomate try and fix the problem, but obviously made things worse. i personally, think that some of these problems i listed were there prior, they just weren't noticed by him. the only reason he thought something was wrong with it, was becasue of the popup issue. anyway, i never let anybody on my laptop (pass protected). if they need to use a comp, they can use my spare desktop (guest acct only). although, i still have to clean up on the guest acct, it's not so bad since they can't install programs. - sos

 

lol, i constantly have to fix my aunt's comp as she gives everyone her login pass. even though, i have 1 other acct (of course limited), and the guest acct on. maybe she feels guilty? anyway, it gets old, as she could very well help herself to help me (if that made sense). as a matter of fact, maybe i should just put her on a limited acct, and nobody would be to install anything but me??!!