Windows Installer Service and UAC not working

Discussion in 'Malware Help - MG (A Specialist Will Reply)' started by dwnew, Oct 26, 2011.

  1. dwnew

    dwnew Private E-2

    My wife's laptop uses Vista Home Premium/SP 2/32 bit. Avast anti-virus. Advanced SystemCare 3 is also loaded, but as far as I can tell is not in conflict with the anti-virus program.

    It won't download any Windows Updates nor many other programs; the error message says the Windows Installer Service is not running/cannot be accessed. I followed a MS forum suggestion to start the Installer Service via "Services and Applications" in the "Manage Computer" console tree, but the problem remains.

    A Windows Security alert says that the Windows Firewall is turned off; and I get an "Access is denied" message when I try to turn it on. As far as I can tell there are no other software firewalls running.

    I can't access the "Add or remove user accounts" to create a new account or edit my wife's existing user profile.

    I was able to follow your list of steps without problems until MGtools (which was refused permission to download to the C drive---I downloaded it to the desktop instead). And then I was unable to disable User Account Control.

    Any suggestions or instructions would be very much appreciated. Thanks.
     
  2. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Go to the link below and scroll down to # 94 on the left-hand side (Windows Installer Fix) and run it. Save the REG File to your hard disk. Double click it and answer yes to the import prompt.

    http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
     
  3. dwnew

    dwnew Private E-2

    Tim,

    Thanks so much for taking on my problem.

    I tried downloading the Windows Installer Fix to the C drive and got this message, "You don't have permission to save in this location. Contact the administrator to obtain permission. Would you like to save in the Dina folder instead? (yes/no)" The file would not download to the "Dina" folder either.

    My wife "Dina" has the only profile on her lap top, and she has administrator privileges. When I click on "Add or remove user accounts" in the Control Panel, a new window/frame flashes around the perimeter of the existing "Control Panel" window/frame and then disappears.
     
  4. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    I am not sure this is a malware issue, but just to check, please attach the logs from running:
    SAS
    MBAM
    ComboFix

    And then do this:
    Download OTL to your desktop.


    • Double click on the icon to run it. Make sure all other windows are closed and to let it run uninterrupted.
    • Vista and Windows 7 users Right-click OTL and choose Run as Administrator)
    • When the window appears, underneath Output at the top change it to Minimal Output.
    • Check the boxes beside LOP Check and Purity Check.
    • Click the Run Scan button. Do not change any settings unless otherwise told to do so. The scan wont take long.


    When the scan completes, it will open two notepad windows. OTL.Txt and Extras.Txt. These are saved in the same location as OTL.

    Attach both of these logs into your next reply.
     
  5. dwnew

    dwnew Private E-2

    Tim,

    I've attached four of the five logs (MBAM said nothing was found).

    After Combofix fix was finished running an error message appeared "Can't execute 'CEC_MAIN.exe' Please reinstall this program"

    Also, when I tried to access anything (Firefox, system restore, Windows explorer, Internet Explorer) this message appeared, "Illegal operation attempted on a registry key that has been marked for deletion." I restarted the laptop and was then able to access normally.

    Thank you once again for your generous help with my problem.

    Dwight
     

    Attached Files:

  6. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    I am not finding any malware in your logs. Where you able to run MGTools.exe?
     
  7. dwnew

    dwnew Private E-2

    I was able to run MG Tools and have attached the correct log, I hope.

    Thanks again for your help.
     

    Attached Files:

  8. Kestrel13!

    Kestrel13! Super Malware Fighter - Major Dilemma Staff Member

    Hi there. Tim wants to see the complete C:\MGlogs.zip not individual files from out of the zipped folder. Please attach it for him. :)
     
  9. dwnew

    dwnew Private E-2

    Oops. Took me awhile to find it, but here it is---I hope.

    Much thanks Tim (and Kestrel13!),

    Dwight
     

    Attached Files:

  10. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Your logs are clean. Any remaining issues should be addressed in the software forum.

    We can do a little light cleaning:
    * 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 needs to update to a new version, make sure you allow it to update.
    * Open Notepad and copy/paste the text in the below code box into it (make sure you scroll all the way down in the code box to get all lines selected ):
    Code:
    KILLALL::
    File::
    C:\Windows\temp\sig1A54.tmp
    C:\Windows\temp\sig5476.tmp
    C:\Windows\temp\sig9F6B.tmp
    C:\Windows\temp\sigC487.tmp
    C:\Windows\temp\sigF5E3.tmp
    C:\Windows\temp\sigFE6B.tmp
    
    Folder::
    C:\Users\Dina\AppData\Local\temp\17cjvqpl.tmp
    C:\Users\Dina\AppData\Local\temp\1g7ex3km.tmp
    C:\Users\Dina\AppData\Local\temp\bd08lf4c.tmp
    
    * 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.
    If it asks you to overide the previous file with the same name, click YES.
    * Now use your mouse to drag CFscript.txt on top of ComboFix.exe
    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v666/sUBs/CFScriptB-4.gif
    * 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.

    Note: If after running Combofix you discover none of your programs will open up, and you recieve the following error: "Illegal operation attempted on a registry key that has been marked for deletion". Then the answer is to REBOOT the machine, and all will be corrected.

    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 real time protection. They do not use any significant amount of resources ( except a little disk space ) until you run a scan.We recommend them for doing backup scans when you suspect a malware infection.
    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 of 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, 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:


    Malware removal from a National Chain = $149
    Malware removal from MajorGeeks = $0


    Majorgeeks Geek Wear. Hats, T-Shirts, Hoodies

    MajorGeeks on FaceBook
     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2011
  11. dwnew

    dwnew Private E-2

    Tim,

    I so appreciate your help with my computer problem. Thank you for your expertise and forbearance. I'm relieved to find that the problem is unrelated to malware, and will continue on to the software forum.

    Much thanks, Dwight
     
  12. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    You are most welcome. Safe surfing. :)
     

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