Just Ran "READ ME FIRST" Procedure; posting logs for review

Hello,
I have run the procedure listed on the "READ ME FIRST" page(s), and have created all the logs as directed. I am now (hopefully) posting the logs as directed, and ask if someone has the time to review them. In advance, I want to thank you for running such a useful site.

Since I am running a 64 bit edition of Windows 7, I was not able to run one of the programs in the list, hence these four logs are all that I have.

Thanks again.

 

Sorry it took me so long to respond; I wasn’t expecting anything for several days, judging my position in the “waiting” list. Thanks for the ultra-fast response time!

You recommended that I uninstall Avira, since I have Norton Internet Security. That is one of the problems that I’ve been having: when I try to uninstall Avira using Windows’ “Add / Remove Programs”, I get the following error message: “Setup could not determine the feature control file or was not able to read it correctly [Errorcode: 7]

As for malware issues, here is my malware/computer issues history:

I noticed the "autorun.inf" virus on my old computer (Windows XP SP3) about a month ago (trying to view hidden files and folders), and, while following the process related at proposedsolution.com (sorry, I didn’t bookmark the actual page URL, and now I can’t find the article in question on the site—I have attached the copy of it that I made in MS Word format to give you an idea of what I was doing) I got trigger happy while using the command prompt to delete ”suspiciously named” files in the root of my "C" drive, and, when I tried to reboot, got the error: "NTLDR is missing. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart" I am in the process of fixing the error using the procedure recommended on the same site, but since I am away from home at school—without all of my installation disks—I have a period of time where my old computer is not booting.

In the meantime, I got a new computer. This one is an HP G72 notebook, running Windows 7 Home Premium with an "Intel (R) Pentium(R) CPU P6100 @2.00 GHz 2.00 GHz" processor, 4.00 GB (3.80 GB usable) RAM, and, as stated before, a 64 bit OS.

To transfer my files from the old computer to the new one, I used an Ubuntu startup disk to boot the old computer, and transferred the files to the new computer using a 1 TB Western Digital External harddrive. (This procedure was recommended on the ‘proposedsolutions’ website, and worked without a glitch.)

Within two weeks I started having problems with Norton Internet Security 2011 (which came preinstalled on the new PC with a 60 day free trial): It would automatically shut all of its protection features off when I booted the computer, and then go through the "Fix" procedure, i.e., some massive (around 100 MB) information download/update.

Next—actually simultaneously, almost every time I connected to the internet, and afterwards rebooted (there were a few exceptions), Windows would not load my desktop, but would give me an error that my desktop was not found. To be precise, I got an error that “C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\Desktop” could not be found. Instead of loading my usual desktop, it would load something that looked like the old Windows 98 toolbars with a blue screen background. While the desktop was in this state, MS Word Starter 2010 (which came with the new computer as well) would run, but would not open any documents, even when I hit “Open” or tried to open them by double –clicking the documents in “My Computer”. The only way to restore the desktop was to do a system restore, which I ended up doing daily for several days, while in the meantime searching for ways to fix the problem.

At some point along the line—sorry I can’t remember exactly when—I installed Avira, which I had used before on the old computer, to use it to see what Norton Internet Security was missing. After a few days Avira started giving me the error: “CCPLG.XML: Unable to find file (C:\Program Files (x86)\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\ccplg.xml).” When I clicked the “OK” button, Avira wouldn’t start. It also wouldn’t uninstall, which is the only reason that it is still there.

I ran Norton Power Eraser, since I was getting desperate, but it didn’t find any “suspicious” files.

A friend suggested this site, so here I am.

I started the procedure in the “READ AND RUN ME FIRST” post, but when I got to deleting the quarantined files in Norton, I wasn’t able to: Norton Internet Security 2011 does not have any function to actually “delete” quarantined files even in their “help” contents—the best you can do is “Remove (them) from the quarantine history.” This I checked up on the Symantec site using their support forum, and the issue that I was having was confirmed by other NIS 2011 users, none of whom had proposed any solutions to the problem. If you should happen to know a way around this, I hereby designate you a “genius” just for that! –not that my definition would mean much to the rest of the computer-saavy world.

Because of this annoying feature of NIS 2011, I skipped the delete quarantined files process, and then continued with the “READ AND RUN ME FIRST “ procedure down to the end of Step 4, but then, since I wasn’t able to find out at first how to post the logs as requested (I couldn’t find where to post them—I did find the place eventually, as you have seen), I then proceeded on to Step 5 of the procedure. Once I got to Step 7, and went to download the suggested Antivirus and Firewall software, however (the only reason I am using Norton Internet Security is because it came with a free 60 day trial when I got the new computer—after my current experiences, I’m not sure that I want to keep it), I started noticing problems. Firefox (my favorite browser—and the only one I use, though of course Internet Explorer is installed) would not download any files unless I right-clicked on the link and selected “Save Link As”. I got several error messages, which were different every time. The two that I saved as screenshots said this:

“C:\Windows\Temp\g00fGQbG.exe.part could not be saved, because you cannot change the contents of that folder. Change the folder properties and try again, or try saving to a different location.”

“C:\Windows\TEMP\bRNgxTf6.exe.part could not be saved, because you cannot change the contents of that folder. Change the folder properties and try again, or try saving to a different location.”

N.B. Firefox was told to download the files that I was attempting to download directly to my desktop.

Is this the remains of some virus that is trying to re-download itself, or is this a legitimate error?

I tried to do a System Restore to “fix” the problem, but, foolish me, I had already toggled System Restore, and was therefore unable to do so.
The next thing I tried was to use a System Repair Disk that I made after step 5 of the “READ AND RUN ME FIRST” procedure, but that process once again claimed that I had nothing at all wrong with my machine. I do have an earlier version of the System Repair Disk which was created before I ran the procedure, but I didn’t do anything with it.

Next, and even I admit this was pretty stupid, I went to the C:\Users\Philip(which is my Username)\AppData folder, and sent its contents to the Recycle bin. Yep, all of the folders: Local, LocalLow, Roaming, and Temp. (I had read online somewhere that it was a “good idea” to delete the “Temp” folder periodically, but why I included the other ones I cannot say—the only reason I can think of is virus paranoia.) However, watching the files being sent to the Recycle Bin (around 73.4 MB), I had a change of heart, and hit “Cancel.” The computer seemed to lock up. Nothing happened for about 10 minutes, then I got impatient and opened the Recycle Bin to see what was in there. Only the “Local” folder was there—according to the icon, anyway—and so I hit Restore. The “Local” folder icon disappeared from the Recycle Bin, but the “Sending to Recycle Bin” window was still open. I started the Task Manager to see if it was running, and it wasn’t. I went to the “Processes” tab, and, not seeing anything “unusual”, I hit the “Show Processes running on all users” button. The computer froze. After about ten minutes (I could move the mouse cursor around, but nothing else) I hit the power button, and the computer shut down as it is supposed to.

Now, when I booted up the computer, and tried to open one of my programs (Finale 2011), I got an error message that there is a: “Ctree error 19 in CTVNOTE:253”. When I click the “OK” button, the program exits. N.B. This issue is one that I am researching on the Finale (www.finale.com) site, and should hopefully be able to solve on my own. I have listed it only to give you the current status of my machine.

The other error that I am getting, is that when I tried to open a image file (.jpg, to be exact—I don’t have pictures in any other image formats) with Windows Photo Viewer, I got the following message: “Windows Photo Viewer can’t open this picture because you don’t have the correct permissions to access the file location.” Unfortunately, I didn’t try to open any pictures between completing Step 5 of the “READ AND RUN ME FIRST” procedure and my foolish “AppData” quasi-delete, so I can’t tell you if the problem is a result of that mistake. As you may have seen from the logs—I myself have no idea what they contain—I supposedly have only one User account installed, my own, which is an administrator account. I did learn about the “super” administrator account that comes hidden with Windows 7, but I haven’t done anything with it.

That is the complete account of my recent computer issues, and how I have tried to go about solving them. Hopefully you can make something out of it all.

While reading all this, you must be shaking your head at my stupidity. Is there a good way to learn all the ins and outs of Windows (esp. Windows XP and 7), including how the System itself functions and what files/folders it uses for what? I used to think that I knew enough to get by, but now, I’m sure that I don’t! Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks again for your unexpectedly fast response time. I hope I haven’t exceeded a “Maximum-post-size” limit; I have never used any forums before, so am new to all of this.