complete MS Antispyware breakdown

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Guest

I used to run MS Antispyware in WIN XP PRO without any problem. Suddenly the
application loads with just the background showing and no options available.

Furthermore if I choose a scan from the system tray it just shows the
buttons "Spyware Scan" "real time protection" "adnvanced tools" which don't
function either.

The issue cannot be resolved with re-installing the application
 
tried all of that to no avail

also removed registry gcas files but that also didn't work.It really baffles
me how it broke down and a reinstall didn't fix anything
 
So--what else has changed on your system? Did you update a driver or add
some new hardware which required a new driver to be loaded?

Consider using MSCONFIG to establish a clean boot--see the help for
msconfig. If you can make the symptoms go away with a clean boot--add stuff
back in in a systematic way to see which piece causes the symptoms to recur.
 
O'm afraid the clean boot didn;'t work either. I cannot be certain when the
problem initially accured so as to track down a certain change in my system.
For example I downloaded updates for MS Office and installed msn messenger.

At this point I will be waiting for a new version so as to try again
 
Hi! I have EXACTLY the same problem. I was working on a customer's
computer and there was a lot of Spyware and Viruses (she did not have
Anti-Virus nor Anti-Spyware protection).

I removed a LOT of the 99% of the parasites on her computer, but could not
get Microsoft Anti-Spyware to show anything but a BLANK SCREEN. In addition
the computer had the following (unsolvable) problems:

UNSOLVABLE PROBLEMS:
1. Microsoft Anti-Spyware shows BLANK SCREEN
2. Lavasoft Ad-Aware to run (fatal error)
3. NOD32 Anti-virus installer will not run

I have run just about every anti-virus/anti-spyware/anti-trojan software in
an attempt to fix this issue but nothing worked (see list below). I suspect
that the problem that you and I have is rootkit related. A new varient of
one of the following: VX2, "A Better Internet" (aka "Best Offers" or Aurora),
or most likely "Hacker Defender".

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=35528 - info on "Hacker
Defender"

BTW, I finally ran out of time and had to restore the OS from the factory
discs. Hope you have better luck.


Michael Yee
http://www.mikescomputer.com/


---
NOTABLE TOOLS USED:

Norton Antivirus 2005
McAfee 2005
Kaspersky Anti-Virus v5
Bitdefender v8
NOD32 v2 (run from another computer with infected disk mounted)
AVG Antivirus

Spybot Search and Destroy
Ad-Aware (run from another computer)
Spyware Doctor
Spysweeper
HiJackThis

Trojan Hunter
Ewido Security Suite
PestPatrol
VundoFix (a VX2 removal tool)
"A Better Internet" Uninstaller
Unhackme (a "Hacker Defender" removal tool)

Sysinternals RootKitReveler (great tool to show hidden registry and files)
F-Secure BlackLight Beta
IceSword (great Chinese anti-rootkit tool to delete HIDDEN registry and files)
 
Sorry to hear that didn't do the job--I was expecting that this was a
software conflict. I've Microsoft Antispyware running on lots of machines
with various Office versions on them, generally completely updated in terms
of patches--and MSN Messenger, as well--I would expect this issue to be with
some third-party app, rather than a Microsoft update or app--otherwise we'd
see more of this symptom--which is quite unusual.

Beta2 is coming.....
 
Interesting.

You should run Microsofts Malicious Software Removal tool on that system.
It deals with Hacker Defender with some success:

You can download it or run it direct from the web.

I've tangled with ABetterInternet before, and they are quite devious about
removal, but not too destructive, in current versions, I think.

I tend to feel that what we're seeing in this thread is a result of the
malware removal--but you may be right that there's still something active
uncaught, too.

Have you tried tools like BlackLight (F-secure) and RootKitRevealer
(sysinternals) on this machine?
 
In my case Ad aware worked with no apparent problem and couldn't detect
anything, nor could Norton Antivirus 2005.

I recently updated to ad-aware pro, but ad watch didn't do much more either.

Michael Yee's notion of malware urged me to use REGSUPREME PRO so as to
perform the clean registry option it provides. And that DID THE TRICK, MS
antispyware works flawlessly !

I'd like to warn,though that a complete backup of the system might be
necessary as the removal of registry keys might lead to several programs
needing to be reinstalled.

So it was probably malware in my case as well...
 
Thanks for letting us know what worked. I've hesitated to recommend registry
cleaners in public groups, because I don't trust them. I don't trust the
general concept, or that the specific actions that an unskilled user might
take will necessarily make things better, rather than worse.

However--obviously in this case it was helpful--maybe I'll take plun's
advice to start with CCleaner more seriously!
 
I've been experimenting this problem months ago and I got tired of the
anoying empty blue screen, so stoped trying to fix the problem. My
Windows\System32 folder is hidden (i don't mean that it has the hidden
attribute, i'm actually showing hidden files. It simply doesn´t show up in
explorer). I have XP SP2.

Finally i realized that it was impossible to run windows without System32 so
I found that ctrl+alt+supr wasn't showing up and then used few tricks to
'discover' System32 by placing the address directly in the address bar of
iexplore.

When that happened i decided to give a try to MSAntispyware to see if it was
patched to the blank screen issue, but still the same.

I'll try REGSUPREME since CCleaner didn't work.

So, since this discussion is getting a little old, the question is: is
there a known solution to this issue already, other than REGSUPREME?

thank you.
 
I don't have a good answer. I don't know what REGSUPREMO did for the
original poster. I don't know what malware was involved. I suspect that
with a better description of the symptoms--which you've provided--maybe
someone else will recognize what the root cause of the issue is and provide a
better fix.
 
I don't know how or if this is a fix or whether it was conicidental, but I
was having the same problem along with a few browser problems, and tried all
of the other ideals posted here with no luck, including using RegSupreme Pro.

Eventually, I uninstalled MS Anti-spy, went to my browser add-on manager,
disabled my java add-on, closed the browser, re-opened it, re-enabled the
java, and then re-installed MS Anti-spy. It works now, but maybe I didn't
need to do all of the above. By straightening out my java, it may have worked
without the uninstall/reinstall of MS Anti-spy.

I hope this helps.
 
Thanks very much. I can't say whether, or which, of your steps did the
trick, either.

However, there's a good chance someone else trying to fix the same issue
will find this message and perhaps be helped. Thanks for letting us know
what worked!
 
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