Laptop Troubles

Discussion in 'Malware Help (A Specialist Will Reply)' started by HopelesslyLost, Mar 11, 2011.

  1. HopelesslyLost

    HopelesslyLost Private E-2

    Hello, I am trying to help a friend get his laptop sorted and am having a few problems. First thing I'm having trouble with is an error message that pops up a few minutes after boot that says "Generic Host Process for Win32 services has encountered a problem and needs to close". This brings me to my second problem. When I try to find a solution using Google, or any other search engine, the search results get hijacked somewhere between me clicking on them and the page loading, and I'm taken to some sort of advertisement page. Very frustrating.
    I thought I would run windows update just to see if there was anything available, and it comes back with 70+ results. Apparently this comp is still running XPsp1, and I cannot seem to get through the update process. I let the update site download all the available updates, and after about 2 hours it's still trying to download update 24 of 73. I have tried only getting the sp2 update, but the installation never gets past the "Initializing" phase. I'm attaching all the log files mentioned in the "Read First" thread in hopes somebody sees something that might be holding me up.
    Thanks, in advance, for any help you guys are able to provide.

    Edit to add that ComboFix ran for over 2 hours and appeared to have stalled out. I'll let it run over night tonight and see if it finishes.
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Mar 11, 2011
  2. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    Welcome to Major Geeks!


    Download TDSSKiller from Kaspersky to your directly onto your Desktop
    • Now double click the TDSSkiller.exe file to run it ( if using Vista or Windows 7 do not double click on it but rather, right click and select Run As Administrartor. )
    • If TDSSKiller does not run, try renaming it. To do this, right-click on TDSSKiller.exe, select Rename and give it a random name with the .com file extension (i.e. 123tdk.com).
    • Allow the application to run if prompted by Windows or any security programs you have installed
    • It will start the scan and run rather quickly and will notify you of whether anything is found or not.
    • Follow the instructions to delete/quarantine if asks you what to do when if finds something.
    • Whether an infection is found or not, a log file should be created on your C: drive ( or whatever drive you boot from) in the root folder named something like TDSSKiller.2.1.1_27.12.2009_14.17.04_log.txt which is based on the program version # and date and time run. Please attach this log to your next reply. (See: HOW TO: Attach Items To Your Post )
     
  3. HopelesslyLost

    HopelesslyLost Private E-2

    I thank you, sir, for your speedy reply. I am attaching the log file you requested.
     

    Attached Files:

  4. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    Okay, that found and fix a TDL infection. How are things working right now?

    If you are still having malware problems, see if ComboFix will run now and attach a log from it.
     
  5. HopelesslyLost

    HopelesslyLost Private E-2

    Thar seems to have sorted the problem with windows update. Also, the "Generic Host Process for Win32 services" error seems to have been corrected. I have been letting windows update run for the past 12 hours, and hopefully I'm near the end of the long list of updates.
    When all updates are done I will run Combofix again.
     
  6. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    Only run ComboFix if you are stil having any malware problems after you complete all of your Windows Updates.
     
  7. HopelesslyLost

    HopelesslyLost Private E-2

    After 24 hours of Windows updates everything seems to be running fine. I would like to thank you, chaslang, for your time and help, and I will refer friends here from now on with their problems. This is a great thing you guys do here!

    Cheers
    Hopeless
     
  8. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    You're welcome.


    If you are not having any other malware problems, it is time to do our final steps:
    1. We recommend you keep SUPERAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for scanning/removal of malware. Unless you purchase them, they provide no protection. They do not use any significant amount of resources ( except a little disk space ) until you run a scan.
    2. If we had you use ComboFix, uninstall ComboFix (This uninstall will only work as written if you installed ComboFix on your Desktop like we requested.)
      • Click START then RUN and enter the below into the run box and then click OK. Note the quotes are required
      • "%userprofile%\Desktop\combofix" /uninstall
        • Notes: The space between the combofix" and the /uninstall, it must be there.
        • This will uninstall ComboFix and also reset hidden files and folders settings back to Windows defaults.
    3. Go back to step 6 oof the READ ME and renable your Disk Emulation software with Defogger if you had disabled it.
    4. Any other miscellaneous tools we may have had you install or download can be uninstalled and deleted.
    5. If we had you download any registry patches like fixme.reg or fixWLK.reg (or any others), you can delete these files now.
    6. If running Vista, it is time to make sure you have reenabled UAC by double clicking on the C:\MGtools\enableUAC.reg file and allowing it to be added to the registry.
    7. Go to add/remove programs and uninstall HijackThis.
    8. Goto the C:\MGtools folder and find the MGclean.bat file. Double click on this file to run this cleanup program that will remove files and folders
      related to MGtools and some other items from our cleaning procedures.
    9. If you are running Win 7, Vista, Windows XP or Windows ME, do the below:
      • Refer to the cleaning procedures pointed to by step 7 of the READ ME
        for your Window version and see the instructions to Disable System Restore which will flush your Restore Points.
      • Then reboot and Enable System Restore to create a new clean Restore Point.
    10. After doing the above, you should work thru the below link:
     

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