this is madness

my computer is trying to kill me. and i do hate to be a bother, but i cant really find this in another forum.

first of all a few weeks ago my internet explorer started be a pile of poop. basically ive determined that for some strange reason i cant delete the index.dat folders and i cant open the cache type folders or it will freeze. upon this i also discovered i cant do any type of disk cleanup, not with norton or with the standard thing. because when it gets to those folders it freezes. and i have to ctr alt dlt em.

i cant delete internet explorer either. so i got firefox,mozilla, everything was tolerable,.

until, the other night when trying to downloading a stupid winrar file i got some crazy w32jeefo virus it was called something different by avg. i couldnt delete it until it was fully downloaded, now that its deleted i dont belive i have a problem. but norton has gone bizerk. partially i think, because during this time i downloaded service pack 2.

everytime i try to get that stupid service pack something goes wrong.
well, right now, i cant delete it. i cant uninstall or install anything it seems. i dont have the normal search. i cant cut and paste. i dont even have a taskbar. i am a silly girl who cant live without her taskbar. i basically have to keep all my screens up,. i cant do system restore. and i cant play music. i can play videos with no sound so (this might be a seperate problem but it started at the same time.) i cant burn cds, (cause i would like to burn all my papers and stuff real quick.) it also takes a while to startup. from the logon screen.

i cant reinstall windows because it tells me my current version is higher than the one on the cd. and i am to get the norton disk from my friends house later and ill see what i can do with that.

its all really confusing, so anything needed to know, i will do my best to explain,. i really would like to stop using windows altogether and use linux or something, but id like to know what i was getting myself into first. not out of desperation. i just want to know whats going on.

and if this is the wrong board im sorry too.

thank you for your time.

 

feel free to im me, with any sort of solutions.

 

if someone could just help me make my music work, youd rock my world.

 

Well, looks like ppl are stumped... and to be honest I am not totally sure whats going on, but I can suggest a few things.

First of all, have you scanned your system with Ad-aware and/or Spybot S&D
(Ad-Aware: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=506)
(SpyBot: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2471)
Now if you have already done that, I am not really sure where to head, have you tried different media players? (I know that would only be a short term soloution...)

Hope thats some help, post back if that was no good :S

All the best

-Ciz

 

awe thank you, yes ive run the adaware and the spybot. its amazing what one problem can do, and change the whole computer to a big mess. i think i will just start over. but i do appreciate your thoughts.

(IVE TAKEN OVER MY ROOMATES COMPUTER with some old dat music files i have)

 

What operating system are your running? I also noticed that you mentioned both Norton and AVG. Having two antivirus programs running at the same time usually causes conflicts. Are you by any chance running Zone Alarm as a firewall? One of the earlier versions, 5.0, I believe caused problems similar to what you describe.
You also failed to mention what type of system that you have. If it is one of the name brands ( Dell, HewlettPackard, Compaq, etc. ) check their websites for your particular model to see if they have any patches recommened prior to the installation of SP2.

 

It sounds like I had the same problem that you are now encountering. I downlowded SP2 for windows XP pro, I had SP1. It seemed that I had all kinds of problems with SP2 and I heard through the grapevine it would be this November or later till all the querks are worked out. Most of my friends with compaqs, dells etc. experienced no problems with the service pack so I dont no if it has to do with the fact that mine is a custom built machine for A/V editing with raid drives or what. To try and make a long story short, I got a trojankillfile. that rocked my world. I deleted the files and thought all was well but the system acted strange, so I decided to go for a clean install but I couldnt due to the SP2 that I downloaded; the fix? I have a laptop that has XP home edition so I downloaded this onto my system. Why didnt I keep XP home? It does not support dual processors but XP home allowed me to reinstall XP professional back on my system. I dont know if this information will help but I read your forum and know how you must feel. I was frantic and it was a major setback not to mention time consuming. Anyway, I hope you get it fixed and that maybe this had helped somewhat.

 

i have windows xp, and a computer from ibuypower. i dont really know what else to call it,. i only got avg when norton started acting up, but i was able to uninstall it today where i hadnt been able to uninstall or install anything.

i am still unable to uninstall service pack two, it just provided me with an error saying it cant find the file specified, tho i have not messed with that nonsense.

the school will kick me off the system if i had a virus.

im not sure how to access any firewall information, the new icon that says windows firewall in my control panel (i believe from service pack two), tells me the settings cannot be displayed because the associated sevice is not running, and if i want to start it, if i say yes, its says it cannot.

i am not able to do windows update, it wont support firefox, and if use my broken internet explorer, it just sits there at the update website pretending its going to do something.

how can i get rid of it, there is no uninstall or anything, i think if i could delete internet explorer and reinstall it, it might have a chance.

also how do i make my computer load the norton cd before windows, i can press delete at startup, but i get a little confused from there on.

thank you all for your helpful coments. they help keep me calm.

after messing around with my sound properties and such, ive gotten my music to work,

so all thats wrong now,
-internet explorer
-norton is very confused
-i cant cut and paste
-i cant install or uninstall things
-the taskbar just sits there at the bottom of the screen, it is not locked.
-and when trying to open my cd burner thing, (NERO) it says, an error using com/ole occurs please check the installation of com on your computer
(i havent investigated this last one throughly yet)

we'll see what happens with time;

 

Please follow all the steps in this Sticky thread READ ME FIRST BEFORE ASKING FOR SUPPORT: Basic Spyware, Trojan And Virus Removal


If you already have any of the programs linked in the tutorial please double check your version to make sure you have the latest one and that you have any/all updates for the programs.

NOTE: In order to resolve the issues you are having it is very important that you at least try to perform all the steps as outlined. If you have any difficulty please post back letting us know what steps you have completed, what you found while doing the scans if anything and details about any problems you have encountered in completing the steps. The more details you can provide the better.

 

Kodo has a VERY strong point

In my case when I got the Trojankillfile. it removed random dll. exe. and other files once the Trojankillfile. was deleted by Norton (witch caused a mess of problems) my system was free of the Trojan but the Trojan had done it's job, It had deleted necessary files for my operating system. So like Kudo said, if you can tell us the exact steps and what you come across, the more details the better.

 

well, according to that list of things to do,

1) system restore encountered an error trying to enable/disable one or more drives. please restart your machine and try again.
(when trying to turn it off)

2) unecessary, i have no hijacking or popups of anykind.

3)yes, i have that option already checked.

4)i have adaware, the only thing that comes up, is the cookies that i cant delete from explorer, upon trying to delete the program will freeze. just like if i do it through internet options.

i have spybot as well, the only thing it comes up with is DSO Exploit; which i just learner to remove, and i will have to update you when i restart, since i cant cut and paste and ive written words.

alright, im restarting, and running all those other programs.

i guess i just didnt believe that that was my problem. thank you kindly.

 

So you have Adware and Spybot along with Norton antivirus? How about a firewall, such as Zone Alarm?. Do you run AD watch at windows start up?. I have learned from experience that simple is actually better. I run Adware and Norton anti virus software and run my computers through a netgear double firewall router. At first I had done the same thing "testing out" different firewalls and adware software all at the same time....not good, atleast it wasnt a good experience for me. I had run adware, spybot, black ice and norton and noticed that things just were not right, throw Zone Alarm into the mix and it was a mess. So I guess what I am trying to say is that sometimes less is sometimes more and just because you have all that "stuff" doesnt really mean your are that much more protected. Maybe try and uninstall....say spybot and go from there. You will still have Adware.
Let us know how things are going.

 

This is actually in response to fxman's last post. Less is more, is beginning to make me wonder if I am overkilling my efforts to protect my computer. I run Avast on FULL SYSTEM SCAN everyday after start up (and sometimes before shut down depending on how many sites I've visited), then I run AdAware, then Spyware protection from AOL (full system scan), and then the quick scanning Spybot. This usually takes a while to do this (less than an hour) and I have found lately that AdAware and Avast are the only programs yielding results. I search for updates atleast 3 times a week. Usually, there aren't any but when there are it takes only moments to download anything (even on my dial-up connection). I keep spybot updated and Immunize whenever new updates are found. Lastly, I unplug my internet connection when I'm not on-line. Lately, my scans reveal some cookies and dataminers, but none to any great degree. Is this overkill, or "better safe than sorry"?

 

im going out on a limb and guessing that you deleted files that you didn't understand ... I had a friend who did this and had very similar symptoms ... so, if you see a file you don't understand the system most likely needs it for something ... only use wizards and programs like spybot to delete stuff unless you know what that file is

 

I have actually had great success just running ad-watch at windows start up and running an adware scan once a week. Afew may slip by but ad-watch does a very good job of keeping cookies etc. off your machine, be sure to read the help section in Ad ware on Ad-watch. Keeping it simple is my motto and has paid off in the long run.

 

Thanks fxman,

I've actually been here all day. I only just checked back a minute ago. Adwatch is a pay service. I didn't check into prices, but I am a single father of two very expensive girls . Does updating Spybot and immunizing do basically the same as Adwatch. In addition does the Avast program not function in the same manner as Adwatch. If not is it really worth the money
(by the way what is the cost)??

 

I know what you mean, I have a teenage son!. If you are interested in Adware 6 SE you can go to http://www.lavasoft.de/purchase/home/ it is $39.95 and comes with adwatch were as the free version does not. I really dont know alot about Spybot to be honest. It just seemed as though Adware was more thorough and more user friendly. I also didnt like the fact that Spybot kept coming up with the 5 eploits...what was that?. I have a friend in the business that has informed me that Adware is the best on the market and I must say It takes care of business and I dont worry near as much. I know the price is alittle high but I believe it is worth every penny!

 

Thanks for the response! I'll look into it ASAP. I've since put up a new firewall (Zone Alarm). I love it now that I'm used to it. Also, I got Ccleaner and WinPatrol. I've managed to reduce all that scanning I've had to do. Now all that is left is browser searching for Vloading and Relevant Knowledge. Both these things are currently denied access by ZA, but I want them gone just the same.

 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Same to you and all you love

 

Did everyone get their problems solved?

 

Pretty much. Still having issues with Vloading and Mcconnect, but I am going to do some research on my own and post a new thread if I run into problems.
Thanks for the concern.