Computer slowing down, now crawls to maybe do a task/open window

Discussion in 'Malware Help (A Specialist Will Reply)' started by vb_pilgrim, Dec 8, 2009.

  1. vb_pilgrim

    vb_pilgrim Private E-2

    Hi ~ My mom has a PC that still runs Windows ME fairly well (less blue screens now than back in 2000!) The only browser on it is IE 6. It's sufficient for her to read & send emails. Well, it was until about a month ago when it started getting progressively slow. I thought it was the anti-virus program getting too big for ME so I changed a few times. Meanwhile the computer just got slower & slower. I figure now it's a virus that got thru the firewall &/or antivirus programs.

    I've defrag'd fairly regularly, cleaned the system registry, removed old programs, etc., in short made a decent attempt to keep it from getting cluttered.

    Sygate Personal Firewall is the firewall I use. I was using Avast as the anti-virus but it just got slower & slower. I uninstalled it & bought PC Tool's Spyware Doctor but that didn't speed things up; things continued to slow down. After trying to work with their Support team, I got my money back, uninstalled it and tried Bit Defender (an earlier, free version that would work with ME).

    The computer now not only freezes when a website is opened, it is slow to do any functions at all, getting into the Control Panel can take 5 minutes even without a browser window open. When I go to Add/Remove programs and try to uninstall Bit Defender, the install program tries to "complete the installation" and the computer freezes after about 5-10 mins, after the "scan for space" and it continues to install.

    I have read the READ & RUN ME FIRST thread and did all the steps I could. I couldn't find an anti-spyware program that worked, either it didn't work with ME or my computer just couldn't run it for some reason.... There was no Viewpoint (anything) to remove. When I first tried to download CCleaner, it tried to open a site from C:/... I then tried with a new window and it finally worked. Eventually, I went through all the steps on READ & RUN ME FIRST. There were no programs to delete after I unhid system files. I have attached the reports generated from MGTools.

    Here's an odd thing" the tasks (like opening Control Panel or a browser window) work much faster after the computer has been on for several hours. However, it still takes a long time (over 1 or 2 mins.) to get to a different site -- if it doesn't time out first.

    The only thing that runs like a dream is the pre-loaded game SPIDER (the one that's like Solitaire, but a bit different).

    Any help you can give would be very appreciated. Thanks in advance! :)

    VB_pilgrim
     

    Attached Files:

    vb_pilgrim, Dec 8, 2009
    #1
  2. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    Welcome to Major Geeks!

    I'm sorry but you are not having malware problems. You are having Windows ME problems. Windows ME was basically a hack and never worked properly. The probems you are having are just indicative of what happens to ME over time. If you really have to keep this PC, then backup any important info and then reinstall ME.

    The amount of memory you have in this PC is also probably too restrictive to run any of the newer protection programs anyway even if they support Win ME. Also note that you did not properly uninstall Avast as I still see part of it running while you have BitDefender installed. Also an entry from McAfee seems to be present. I suggest that you do the below to just remove some unnecessary stuff along with the Avast and McAfee entries. NOTE: None of this is malware. It is all non-require startups which may help your performance a little.


    Run C:\MGtools\analyse.exe by double clicking on it (Note: if using Vista, don't double click, use right click and select Run As Administrator). This is really HijackThis (select Do a system scan only) and select the following lines but DO NOT CLICK FIX until you exit all browser sessions including the one you are reading in right now:

    O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\QTTASK.EXE" -atboottime
    O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [mgavrtclexe] C:\WINDOWS\MCBin\AV\Rt\mgavrtcl.exe
    O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Tour] C:\WINDOWS\wincool.exe /30m
    O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ashMaiSv] C:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\AVAST4\ashmaisv.exe
    O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ScanRegistry] C:\WINDOWS\scanregw.exe /autorun
    O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [MoneyAgent] "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Money\System\Money Express.exe"
    O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Yahoo! Pager] "C:\PROGRAM FILES\YAHOO!\MESSENGER\ypager.exe" -quiet
    O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\Run: [MoneyAgent] "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Money\System\Money Express.exe" (User 'Default user')
    O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\Run: [Yahoo! Pager] "C:\PROGRAM FILES\YAHOO!\MESSENGER\ypager.exe" -quiet (User 'Default user')
    O4 - .DEFAULT Startup: Microsoft Office.lnk = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\OSA.EXE (User 'Default user')
    O4 - .DEFAULT Startup: Acrobat Assistant.lnk = C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\Distillr\AcroTray.exe (User 'Default user')
    O4 - .DEFAULT Startup: Adobe Gamma Loader.exe.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe (User 'Default user')
    O4 - .DEFAULT Startup: Adobe Gamma Loader.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe (User 'Default user')
    O4 - Startup: Microsoft Office.lnk = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\OSA.EXE
    O4 - Startup: Acrobat Assistant.lnk = C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\Distillr\AcroTray.exe
    O4 - Startup: Adobe Gamma Loader.exe.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe
    O4 - Startup: Adobe Gamma Loader.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe

    After clicking Fix, exit HJT.

    Now reboot and see if anything has changed.
     
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2009
    chaslang, Dec 9, 2009
    #2
  3. vb_pilgrim

    vb_pilgrim Private E-2

    Thanks chaslang!

    (so how does 1 delete these doubled replies?)
     
    Last edited: Dec 11, 2009
    vb_pilgrim, Dec 11, 2009
    #3
  4. vb_pilgrim

    vb_pilgrim Private E-2

    Well, it could be worse, eh? Thanks chaslang! :)
     
    vb_pilgrim, Dec 11, 2009
    #4
  5. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    You're welcome.
    Not sure about that. There can be too much worse than running Win ME. ;)
     
    chaslang, Dec 13, 2009
    #5

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