Results of Windows XP OS Cleaning

Welcome to Major Geeks!

Get this >>7-Zip

What malware problems are you having ? I see a few issues like some locked registry keys and maybe a file or two to remove but I want to know what problems you had that prompted you to run the cleaning process and also what problems still remain.

Also I see a potential of too many protection applications running. Does your Constant Guard Protection Suite contain an antivirus as advertized?

Another issue that will impact your performance is that you don't have enough memory installed. Your logs show

Code:

Total Physical Memory 640.00 MB 
Available Physical Memory 190.06 MB

640MB is way too little for Win XP SP3 and everything else you need to run. 1GB is that absolute minimum but 2GB is highly recommended. Per your IBM PCs specs though, you are limited to 1GB maximum so that is the best you can do with this older slower PC ( compared to today's standards ).

 

You may think you did, but it is not all gone. Quite a bit of it remains and part of the reason I asked about it is because you also have Microsoft Security Essentials installed which is also an antivirus and antispyware program. Hence you should not have bot MSE and Constant Guard. We will take steps to get rid of the rest of Constant Guard during this cleanup.

It is not just SP3 is is everything that has changed. All programs update over periods of time and malware has become such a problem that security programs have had to grow tremendously inorder to attempt to protect you and they are losing the war too.

But you already have MSE as I mentioned above and you have Constant Guard and you have GuardedID. The below processes are all running:

And you can see how the load in your logs from startup processes and services:

I want to run two more scans first and then we will start addressing your problems.


Goto the below link and follow the instructions for running TDSSKiller from Kaspersky

• TDSSkiller - How to run

• Be sure to attach your log from TDSSKiller

Now please also download MBRCheck to your desktop.

See the download links under this icon http://forums.majorgeeks.com/chaslang/images/MGDownloadLoc.gif

• Double click MBRCheck.exe to run (vista and Win 7 right click and select Run as Administrator)
• It will show a Black screen with some information that will contain either the below line if no problem is found:
  • Done! Press ENTER to exit...
• Or you will see more information like below if a problem is found:
  • Found non-standard or infected MBR.
  • Enter 'Y' and hit ENTER for more options, or 'N' to exit:
• Either way, just choose to exit the program at this point since we want to see only the scan results to begin with.
• MBRCheck will create a log named similar to MBRCheck_07.16.10_00.32.33.txt which is random based on date and time.
• Attach this log to your next message. (See: HOW TO: Attach Items To Your Post )

 

You're welcome.

I doubt that IT classes really do much to teach the art of malware removal. They could not keep up with the rate of change nor the tools being used.

No not really. Just recommend the majorgeeks.com to your friends and do you downloading of file there from our main site.

Okay so let's start your cleanup. Much of this will revolve around cleaning up these applications for Comcast. But there is malware we are removing too including a Conficker infection which is contributing to your PC being slow.


Uninstall each of the below. If they do not show as installed, just ignore and continue.
CA Pest Patrol Realtime Protection
Comcast High-Speed Internet Install Wizard
Constant Guard Protection Suite
GuardedID
Java(TM) 6 Update 20
XFINITY Toolbar



Now we need to use ComboFix

• Make sure that combofix.exe that you downloaded while doing the READ & RUN ME is on your Desktop but Do not run it!
  • If it is not on your Desktop, the below will not work.
• Also make sure you have shut down all protection software (antivirus, antispyware...etc) or they may get in the way of allowing ComboFix to run properly.
• If ComboFix tells you it has expired or need to be updated to a new version, make sure you allow it to update.
• Open Notepad and copy/paste the text in the below quote box into it:

• Save the above as CFscript.txt and make sure you save it to the same location (should be on your Desktop) as ComboFix.exe
• At this point, you MUST EXIT ALL BROWSERS NOW before continuing!
• You should have both the ComboFix.exe and CFScript.txt icons on your Desktop.
• Now use your mouse to drag CFscript.txt on top of ComboFix.exe
• Follow the prompts.
• When it finishes, a log will be produced named c:\combofix.txt
• I will ask for this log below

Note:

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

If after running Combofix you discover none of your programs will open up because you recieve the following error: Illegal operation attempted on a registry key that has been marked for deletion then you will need to reboot your computer which will normally fix this problem.

After reboot, now install the current version of Sun Java from: Sun Java Runtime Environment

Now run the C:\MGtools\GetLogs.bat file by double clicking on it (Note: if using Vista or Win7, don't double click, use right click and select Run As Administrator).

Then attach the below logs:

• C:\ComboFix.txt
• C:\MGlogs.zip

Make sure you tell me how things are working now!

 

You did not follow the instructions in the previous fix. You just ran ComboFix by double clicking on it. You did not use the CScript.txt fix which is while all the junk from Comcast is still present.

You need to run the fix again properly.

 

Not True! As stated earlier, you have Microsoft Security Essentials

 

Okay now the script ran so you need to get a new MGlogs.zip file just like previously requested.

 

Looks like all the junk we wanted to remove was removed.

Why did you activate Spybot's Teatimer? This was not in my instructions and in fact per the READ & RUN ME, we don't want this running.

Disable Spybot's Teatimer as requested in the READ & RUN ME. See this: How to disable Spybot's TeaTimer


Run C:\MGtools\analyse.exe by double clicking on it (Note: if using Vista or Win 7, 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 ( ignore any that you do not find ) but DO NOT CLICK FIX until you exit all browser sessions including the one you are reading in right now:

O2 - BHO: (no name) - {bb46be07-13eb-4c49-b0f0-fc78b9ea4983} - (no file)
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HP Software Update] C:\Program Files\HP\HP Software Update\HPWuSchd2.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe Reader Speed Launcher] "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 8.0\Reader\Reader_sl.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [SpybotSD TeaTimer] C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18\..\Run: [DWQueuedReporting] "c:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\MICROS~1\DW\dwtrig20.exe" -t (User 'SYSTEM')
O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\Run: [DWQueuedReporting] "c:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\MICROS~1\DW\dwtrig20.exe" -t (User 'Default user')
O4 - Global Startup: Microsoft Office.lnk = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\OSA.EXE
O4 - Global Startup: WinZip Quick Pick.lnk = C:\Program Files\WinZip\WZQKPICK.EXE

After clicking Fix, exit HJT.


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

See the download links under this icon http://www.majorgeeks.com/images/dll.gif

• Extract avenger.exe from the Zip file and save it to your desktop
• Run avenger.exe by double-clicking on it.
• Do not change any check box options!!
• Copy everything in the Quote box below, and paste it into the Input script here: part of the window:

• Now click the Execute button.
• Click Yes to the prompt to confirm you want to execute.
• Click Yes to the Reboot now? question that will appear when Avenger finishes running.
• Your PC should reboot, if not, reboot it yourself.
• A log file from Avenger will be produced at C:\avenger.txt and it will popup for you to view when you login after reboot.

Now run the C:\MGtools\GetLogs.bat file by double clicking on it (Note: if using Vista or Win7, don't double click, use right click and select Run As Administrator).


Then attach the below logs:

• C:\avenger.txt
• C:\MGlogs.zip

Make sure you tell me how things are working now!

 

You cannot properly make Avenger work if you do this. You need to FULLY extract the avenger.exe file from the ZIP file and put it onto your Desktop. You should be able to double click the ZIP file which should cause 7-zip to run via file association. Then extract the avenger.exe to your Desktop.

 

You're welcome.

You can just remove the process from your startup list. You can use the below to do this before we do final instructions.

Run C:\MGtools\analyse.exe by double clicking on it (Note: if using Vista or Win 7, 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: [Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (reboot)] "C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware\mbam.exe" /runcleanupscript

After clicking Fix, exit HJT.

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 or Win 7, 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:
    • How to Protect yourself from malware!

 

You're welcome.

It is not System Restore! You are referring to a selection screen where you can choose to boot from the Recovery Console or normal Windows. You installed this Recovery Console while following the ComboFix procedure to install it. You should keep this installed. Some day, you could need it. Especially if you do not have your original Windows XP boot CD.

Yes you can stop all the unnecessary Adobe startups too.

NO! They need to be downloaded when needed as they change all the time. Sometimes you could have a version that is 3 or 4 versions out of date in just one day. And tools like ComboFix actually expire within a few days and will not run properly.

 

• Sensitive mouse settings
• Non-flat surface
• Vibrations or air flow
• Dirty mouse ball or wheels inside the mouse ( if ball type mouse )
• Defective mouse or failing mouse

 

Ah! Those are not startups! The O2 item is a browser helper object ( it is an add-on to IE ) and the O3 line is a tool bar addon. While you don't need them, these are not startups and are no reason for Adobe to start running 10 minutes after you startup.

Thus either something you are doing/running is triggering Adobe. What exactly is running? Is it a popup about an update? Or is it something else? I suspect it is a notice about updating because you were WAY OUT of date with what I saw in your logs. You had Adobe Acrobat 6.0 which is a security risk when you don't update. Same for Adobe Reader 8.1.2

 

No! There will not be anything left to scan with at that point.

 

Just rerun MGtools.exe

After it finishes, then run the C:\MGtools\MGclean.bat program.

 

Good morning.

Thanks!

This is really a question properly address in the Software Forum. However I will make the below points:

• See again what I posted in message #2 which is your biggest problem. Lack of adequate memory and you have an older slower type processor.
• Don't install software you don't need, and uninstall any that you already have that you don't need or don't use.
• Keep plenty of free harddisk space available and defrag the hard disk periodically. Don't run auto defraggers that run all the time.
• Contrary to what others may say, DO NOT, run any registry cleaning programs unless specifically stated to do so by an true expert and you are specifically told which things to fix. Registry cleaning more frequently cause more problems than it solves and does very very little to improve performance. And registry defragging is also a waste and could be dangerous.
• Run a disk cleaning program to remove unnecessary temporary files weekly. Example. CCleaner
  • Use with the default options (that means don’t change anything) to clean out temporary files.
  • Only use the default settings on the Windows Tab and select Run Cleaner. Do not run any other options from other tabs expecially do not use the Issues feature to fix items in the registry as stated earlier.
  • You could use the feature to manage cookies that you don't want to have deleted so that you don't loose passwords to websites when doing disk cleaning.