New here and need help

I've been using your Help posts off and on for a while but now I need the brain power of everyone on here.

I started having some hit and miss problems with a few programs, to be more specific Fire Fox and Outlook 2007. Fire Fox will lockup when I use the back feature and I have to end program. I can restart it and it will run fine till the problem happens again. When I try to attach a file in Outlook the program crashes and the error report is undefined. I can receive and send email fine just no attachments. I'm running SpyBot, CCleaner, DiskKeeper and the Yahoo Antivirus program.

What the heck is wrong?? I havent got the first idea where to start.

Thanks in advance

 

I would start with a junk/temp file cleanup program first. A good such program is CCleaner and it is also free. Make sure you close out of all running applications before you run this!

This may or may not help, in case it didn't help, please give a bit background on both problems:
~ When exactly did they start?
~ Did either one run fine for a while before their problems started?
If yes, what type of changes have you done (especially to the programs) beforehand that might have caused this?
~ Have you tried completely uninstalling either program then rebooting, then removing their program folders and then re-installing?

 

Ummmm guess you didnt read all of my post ........ya I'm using CCleaner and have been for a while with good results. As for changes....havent made any. It just started out of the blue, or so it seems. I have done updates to different programs but nothing out of the ordinary. Both programs ran fine up to this point and then CRAP. Do you think its a malware issue or something of the like??

 

Have you tried a fresh install of firefox to see if thats the issue? Wile I don't use firefox, maybe some plugin issue with it? I would suggest a fresh install and try reinstalling your plugins one at a time to see if you can track down the issue.

With outlook express check your settings it sounds like a security setting or something. Again I don't use that either. Just trying to offer a few ideas.

Have you used a registry cleaner of sometype? That could be it.

It sure does not sound like a virus or malware, but I could be wrong. Try these to links. http://www.ewido.net/en/onlinescan/ is a nice free online scanner, you will have to use internet explorer for that one I think

http://www.processlibrary.com/processscan/ just download it and run it. It will tell you if any bad things are running or hideing in your processes. I use it tons. It will open a page in your browser and tell you what is running and if its good or bad. Sure hope this helps.

 

It dosent seem like the programs are the issue, almost seems like Windows is tripping up somewhere. I use Advanced System Optimizer and clean my Reg on a regular basis so that seems to be covered. I'll run the one you listed and see what happens

 

Could be the optimizer took something from the registry by mistake, It happens. If push comes to shove you may have to do a repair install of xp? Someone else will have to help you with this and the best way to do it. I always keep a ghost image of my xp. Plus I keep all my programs and stuff backed up to dvd and just in case I have to do a fresh install of xp. I don't myself like to repair xp, I prefer to do a fresh install and start all over If needed. Thats just my personal prefrence.

 

I tried to run the repair feature from the Windows CD and it says its unable to open some file so only the full install is available. This is all in windows not booting from the CD at startup.

 

Booting from the CD at startup is the only real 'repair' feature. Yes we all know its just upgrading over itself

Your CD is probably of a lower service pack than your currently installed OS. What was the file it couldnt load?

Its also possible the cd is dirty or scratched. Im not sure thats the answer to what ails you anyway. Have you tried your issue in Safe Mode w/ networking to see if it persists?

 

Yeah, I often am working and may miss a thing or two even though I try not to unfortunately (being a human thing)

Anyhow, you have not fully responded to my question but regardless, it makes more sense to try uninstalling both apps and after rebooting, delete their program files folder. also for Mozilla Firefox delete the following two folders if they still exist after an uninstall (they usually do):
"C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox"

"C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox"

System Optimizer could cause problems such as this but not very common, more common with unreputable, mibehaving registry cleaners. It is OK to use one since most everyone does but very important to run a full registry backup in spite of the possibility that the program itself creates one or not. If you run a registry cleaner everyday and if it borked the system mildly enough, how could you tell which backup to restore? I always suggest using only 1 registry cleanup utility, never use more than one unless you are OK with all potential issues that could bring. I use and recommend the freeware called RegScrubXP, never seen it mess up a system and also has a few neat functions under the Misc. section. A really good registry backup/restore utility is Erunt which comes with NTRegopt which optimizes your registry when you are done cleaning it up!. RegSeeker is another good reg cleaning tool but imho, it is a bit more aggressive than RegScrubXP so you will have to be carefull since it digs up a lot more.

RevoUnsintaller is a great Windows Add-Remove Programs alternative which also scans the system for leftover registry keys and program files! So it is a more complete uninstall.

Anyhow, I suggest you do the uninstall - delete - reinstall before doing Windows repair.

 

Turcoloco thanks for your time and help thus far.

Ok let me see if I can do better:

Started about a week ago. I started noticing trouble with FireFox first, it would just lock up and I would restart it and wait till the next time. As for Outlook I noticed it on Fri morning when I tried to send some mail to my buddy and attach some pics. The program just up and crashed and I started looking for the problem. When I look at the error log for Outlook I get a #1000 (unknown error) so I'm lost.

Both ran fine for a long time prior to this.

As for changes to the programs.......none to Outlook. I did do some Windows updates but thats it. Firefox I think there was a new version update I did but nothing big. I also used IE for a few min today and it crashed with a Flash player error.

One thing I thought about yesterday was that I tried to do a system restore after all of this started and it told me that it couldnt finish the recovery. Why would that happen?? Also I run FreeRamXP Pro and my memory is usually in the area of 710-720 (sometimes more) when nothing is open. Now I'm sitting at 642 max and things seem to be lagging bigtime. Should I go though the Malware removal help page or is it something else? I'd like to get rid of any hidden processes or ones that are not needed and open stuff when I need it.

 

Yeah, at this point, there is enough to suspect a malware infection, possibly a java/jscript based net worm or a backdoor trojan since you have network based programs (firefox, ie, outlook) running when the crashes occur! On top of it all, you mentioned high system resource usage when there is nothing open = likely malware infection.

I'd have go through the standard spyware sticky routine to see if there is a change, if not, one of them will have to take a closer look at your logs.

I still have not seen your response to the uninstall/delete/re-install suggestion but either way, if that didn't help, you know what to do next...

 

No I haven't tried the install yet, too much work, but that will be the next step.

 

Well had a bad night lastnight. I uninstalled both programs and deleted the file folders and was going to install AVG and the computer locked up. I ended up having to do a reinstall of Windows OS and now I'm getting things back up and running.

 

Hmm, it sounds like the problem had to do with more than just those 2 apps.

Well, I am sure the fresh install will work much better.

 

So far so good. I took a look at the ShowNew and RunNow logs and saw some files that looked like they might be infected. Did I read that right? I almost thought that it was telling me that those were files that COULD be infected. What do you think? All the other scans I ran came up clean, or they thought it was clean but I didnt run Hijack to look at things there.

How can I keep the number of processes that are running as small as possible? Do I just need to read up and learn about what I'm looking at or can I find a good program. Right now I'm running Advanced System, CCleaner, Spybot, and AVG. Do you have any suggestions on better or different programs to use. I'm on the net A LOT and want to keep things clean.

 

What is running in the background depends on what startup programs and services you have.

On this link (post #4), you will see 2 free programs I mentioned with their download links. StartupControlPanel is definitely a very easy-to-use, simple program which enables you to manage all typical startup locations in a jiffy but Autoruns offers much more but also could get a bit dangerous in the hands of a rookie user so be careful and do not uncheck things that you are not sure of! Stick with the entries where the file path shows "File Not Found" cause that is accurate from my own experience unlike the services section of HijackThis version 1.99.1!
That version of HJT inaccurately reports certain types of services as 'missing' so I wouldn't modify any service related entries using HJT!
Use Autoruns or open the service control panel (Start > Run > services.msc > OK) and do it manually.
I am attaching a different screenshot that shows you how I disabled (deactivate) invalid services using Autoruns.
http://aycu37.webshots.com/image/22716/2000638143513502300_th.jpg

This type of maintenance can help your system run much smoother and error free. Also disable any startup entries (processes) that you really do not need starting with Windows. Typically I'd suggest only allowing virus scanner, firewall type security utilities to automatically startup with Windows, the rest is up to you. Most of the Printer softwares are bundled with printer/print job monitoring utilities that are often not utilized by end users so they can be disabled.

My suggestion to people 'experimenting' with their system would be to disable the startup programs by unchecking the box next to the entry instead of deleting it permanently by right-click > delete > Yes.
Research each startup entry and service to see if you really need it or not.

If you need further clarification let me know.

 

I used to use Startup Inspector but the missing entry would still load itself over and over. (I figure thats not a problem of Inspector) I actually dont have too much running but when I look at the processes in the task manager there is a bunch. I know most of it is needed but I was just wondering if there was any way to clean things up. Not that I need to I just want to keep things running at their best.

 

I am not sure what processes you were referring to, without seeing some sort of a list I can't really comment.

If you see any processes/programs in the TaskManager that you do not recognize then I'd be a bit suspicious but before suspecting a malware infection, it'd be worth to log a list of them and paste it here so we can get a better idea.

Please use Autoruns, after opening the program the first time and clicking on Yes to agree to the EULA, hit ESCAPE key to cancel the scan, then click on Options > Hide MS entries > then click the Refresh button as seen in this screenshot:
http://aycu22.webshots.com/image/11301/2005822488124215640_th.jpg

Once done loading, click FILE > SAVE and save a log file which then you could attach to your next post. If the site refuses to upload the .log file then change its extension from .log to .txt.

You could also follow these to manually make a list of your Services as they appear on the Service Control Panel, this way you will have a clean legible log of your services with their current status and startup status displayed clearly.

then follow these screenshots:

http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/25710/2004354597223598127_th.jpg
http://aycu24.webshots.com/image/22423/2004359291873226844_th.jpg
http://aycu22.webshots.com/image/23621/2004370938504627551_th.jpg
http://aycu37.webshots.com/image/22836/2004313915076438407_th.jpg
http://aycu08.webshots.com/image/24807/2004345741414183631_th.jpg