HELP PLEASE! I have no clue what is wrong with my computer.....

Discussion in 'Malware Help (A Specialist Will Reply)' started by sophistafunk07, Jun 21, 2008.

  1. sophistafunk07

    sophistafunk07 Private E-2

    I would say my computer skills are moderate-intermediate, so I really have no clue what is wrong with my computer.

    I received a "new used" computer a few months ago that my dad had supposedly cleaned a ton of viruses off of, but I am convinced that there is something, or several somethings, still on here that keep reinstalling. It has been a problem since day one.

    The problems:
    -Computer is generally running a lot slower than I would expect a computer with 1 GB RAM to run. Slower than my old computer with less RAM.
    -Computer freezes from time to time.
    -When everything does go haywire, my ENTIRE device manager is blank. The mouse and keyboard work, but it recognizes no hardware, and will not play my "windows sounds" as it doesn't recognize that there's a sound card installed.
    -Even though I have set system restore points, system restore gets shut off and everything wiped!
    -When I do ALT-CTRL-DLT, I do not have a full task manager. Only a list of the items running, and no way to switch back and forth to "Processes" and "System Usage" or whatever the other tabs are that I can't even remember now.
    -The Administrator Services get all jumbled. Windows "theme" gets shut off.
    -Recently, it has started to reset my quick launch stuff, where when I reboot, I have no quick launch, so I have to tell it to turn it on.
    -IE is not working properly. When I enter URL in and hit enter, it opens up a new window in my "default" browser, which is Mozilla.
    -Also recently, mouse will freeze, and will not always come back on reboot (although I do suspect I may need a new mouse, as the laser light sometimes won't even be active when I'm rebooting the computer).


    Programs I have run, which fix the problem temporarily, but are not keeping this stupid thing from returning:
    -CCleaner
    -Glarysoft Registry Repair
    -Dial-a-fix
    -Ad-Aware
    -Running AVG 8.0
    -Spybot S&D
    -Hijack This


    Please help me! I have no clue what the problem is. I can't seem to run HouseCall either, and this is driving me up a wall. I like to keep my computer pretty clean and running quickly, and it is not at all up to par. Plus every time I get it fixed, it just freezes again, and I have to reboot and spend half an hour fixing it again.
     
    sophistafunk07, Jun 21, 2008
    #1
  2. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Welcome to Major Geeks!

    Please uninstall HJT as it will be properly installed when you do the following:

    Please follow the instructions in the below link and attach the requested logs when you finish these instructions.

    READ & RUN ME FIRST. Malware Removal Guide
     
    TimW, Jun 21, 2008
    #2
  3. sophistafunk07

    sophistafunk07 Private E-2

    Here are the logs. The zip will follow in the next post since I can only upload three at a time. Thanks!
     

    Attached Files:

    sophistafunk07, Jun 22, 2008
    #3
  4. sophistafunk07

    sophistafunk07 Private E-2

    Here's the MGlogs
     

    Attached Files:

    sophistafunk07, Jun 22, 2008
    #4
  5. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Did you at one time have both Panda Internet Security and McAfee installed?

    If so, you can delete these folders:
    C:\Program Files\Common Files\MCAFEE
    C:\Program Files\Panda Security
    C:\Program Files\MCAFEE
    C:\Program Files\MCAFEE.COM
    C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\McAfee

    Please disable all anti-virus and anti-spyware programs while we do the following:

    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:

    After clicking Fix, exit HJT.

    Now Copy the bold text below to notepad. Save it as fixME.reg to your desktop. Be sure the "Save as" type is set to "all files" Once you have saved it double click it and allow it to merge with the registry.
    Please tell me what problems you may still be having.
     
    TimW, Jun 22, 2008
    #5
  6. sophistafunk07

    sophistafunk07 Private E-2

    Thanks so much for your help. The Read Me Malware Removal guide was really helpful, and it seems to have stabilized my computer moreso than it was. It is not getting screwed up with each reboot anymore at very least. The permission policies under the administrator services are not getting reset each time I reboot either, which is a huge help.

    The problems I am still having (that I have noticed so far) are:
    -Computer STILL seeming to lag a lot considering I really don't have much running on it.
    -IE Browser still opening URLs in my default browser (which only becomes a problem when I need to run BitDefender or Housecall--neither of these want to work for me in Mozilla)
    -My task manager is still barely there (this was not always the case. This started maybe a month ago.) I'm attaching a photo of my task manager so you can see what I mean.

    My other concern is, when I first got the computer, I would "fix" it, and it would run semi-fine like it is now for a few weeks, and then break again. Recently, it was running all wrong more than it was running okay..... I'm wondering if this truly is stabilized now, or if in another couple of weeks, the services will all be reset again and I'll be back to square one, as it seems to keep doing to me!

    Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated!
     

    Attached Files:

    sophistafunk07, Jun 22, 2008
    #6
  7. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    You had little malware on the system.....so I am wondering if part of the problem is the hardware ( as in bad ram or your HHD is starting to fail).

    You have to do the online scans ( at least the two you mentioned) with IE.

    Let's try this:

    Please download ATF Cleaner by Atribune. This program does not require an installation. The executable actually runs the program.

    NOTE: This program is for Windows XP and Windows 2000 only. ATF Cleaner will remove all files from the items that are checked so if you have some cookies you'd like to save. Please move them to a different directory first.

    * Double-click ATF-Cleaner.exe to run the program.
    * Under Main choose: Select All
    * Click the Empty Selected button.

    If you use Firefox browser

    * Click Firefox at the top and choose: Select All
    * Click the Empty Selected button.
    o NOTE: If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.

    If you use Opera browser

    * Click Opera at the top and choose: Select All
    * Click the Empty Selected button.
    o NOTE: If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.

    Click Exit on the Main ATF Cleaner menu to close the program.

    Then I want you to go to my computer / right click the C: drive / properties / tools / error checking and check both boxes....it will prompt you to reboot. DO so and watch the error reporting...tell me if it finds any.
     
    TimW, Jun 22, 2008
    #7
  8. sophistafunk07

    sophistafunk07 Private E-2

    It didn't report any errors in the checkdisk :). I did run another program a friend told me about called RemoveIt Pro, which found 7 different infected files.... still no difference after making that fix. But it's at very least running much better than it was this time yesterday. Perhaps I will have to give up and deal with the weird task manager and strange slowness of the machine?
     
    sophistafunk07, Jun 22, 2008
    #8
  9. sophistafunk07

    sophistafunk07 Private E-2

    Nevermind the task manager problem.... a friend just told me if I double click the whole window, all of that comes back! Guess that makes me an idiot! So I suppose all there is left is the IE problem and the overall speed, which isn't terrible.
     
    sophistafunk07, Jun 22, 2008
    #9
  10. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    You should start a thread in the software section regarding your slowness and internet issues. :)
     
    TimW, Jun 22, 2008
    #10

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