O
Offbreed
John said:
You have a CD burner?
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You have a CD burner?
J
John
I spent an interesting New Years day trying to fix the sister-in-laws'
old celeron (on dialup no less) running XP home. On reboot it had many
pop-ups wanting to fix 288 registry entries. This was caused by a
program called "Registry Cleaner" that she says she got in an email (Oh
boy here we go!) and she tried to uninstall the stuff because it would
only fix 20 of the 288 errors unless she agreed to pay for it.
Well the result is ...
1. It wont let task manager run in any mode, including all flavors of
safe mode. Nope, three finger salute or right clicking the task bar has
no effect.
2. Literally deletes the 'Highjackthis' (that I spent mucho time
downloading) executable when you double click to start it. Now that was
scary, no errors, the file just disappears in front of your eyes and
noooo it wasn't in the trash either. It simply no longer existed!!! So
.... unzip it and try again and you might get to one prompt before it
disappears, maybe not. Tried a whole bunch of times & LDMAOF.
3. Ignores any and all attempts at 'Last Known Good' or restore points.
Again no errors, its just ignored. But actually I don't know if restore
was even turned on as I couldn't find any references to it in the menus
and couldn't remember the name for the run prompt ... hehe!
4. Since I couldn't find any working anti-virus I downloaded AVAST!. But
when you double click the installer file, accept the agreement and
install directory, it either just dies -or- and here is the best one of
all - asks if you want to send the installer to the recycle bin --- SAY
WHAT !!! - Do you know how long it takes to get that on dialup???
5. Wont allow XP's 'help and support' to run in any mode. Couldn't
remember the executable name to try from the run prompt. The hour glass
doesn't even come on when selected from the start menu, just a big black
nothing and anyway I was getting tired by then.
The thing that gets me is that other than the occasional offer to delete
the Avast installer, there are no errors or messages of any kind when
doing these things ... just ... nothing happens? In all other ways the
comp runs, can get on line, surf, get/send email, can install &
un-install software -- as long as its not Hijackthis or Avast -- LMAOF.
It however does run really-really slow, but then again its a 3-4 year
old celeron on dial-up that was always slowwww.
I have two witnesses to this odd sh*t .... my wife and the computer
owner (the sister-in-law). She claimed to have anti-virus and a firewall
but all I could find where dead startup file entries, Norton AV and what
I can only guess were the remains of a McAfee firewall, she wasn't sure
which was which - yahoo!!
The wife said "bring it home and connect it up to our PC to fix it" -
LOL - I don't even want that sucker in my house without a priest and
lots of holy water nearby!
Who knows, maybe its (also) hardware related, it did loose the time &
date on one of the endless restarts I put it through. Though the bios
was considerate enough to tell me that it forgot - oops.
I have no idea?
John
old celeron (on dialup no less) running XP home. On reboot it had many
pop-ups wanting to fix 288 registry entries. This was caused by a
program called "Registry Cleaner" that she says she got in an email (Oh
boy here we go!) and she tried to uninstall the stuff because it would
only fix 20 of the 288 errors unless she agreed to pay for it.
Well the result is ...
1. It wont let task manager run in any mode, including all flavors of
safe mode. Nope, three finger salute or right clicking the task bar has
no effect.
2. Literally deletes the 'Highjackthis' (that I spent mucho time
downloading) executable when you double click to start it. Now that was
scary, no errors, the file just disappears in front of your eyes and
noooo it wasn't in the trash either. It simply no longer existed!!! So
.... unzip it and try again and you might get to one prompt before it
disappears, maybe not. Tried a whole bunch of times & LDMAOF.
3. Ignores any and all attempts at 'Last Known Good' or restore points.
Again no errors, its just ignored. But actually I don't know if restore
was even turned on as I couldn't find any references to it in the menus
and couldn't remember the name for the run prompt ... hehe!
4. Since I couldn't find any working anti-virus I downloaded AVAST!. But
when you double click the installer file, accept the agreement and
install directory, it either just dies -or- and here is the best one of
all - asks if you want to send the installer to the recycle bin --- SAY
WHAT !!! - Do you know how long it takes to get that on dialup???
5. Wont allow XP's 'help and support' to run in any mode. Couldn't
remember the executable name to try from the run prompt. The hour glass
doesn't even come on when selected from the start menu, just a big black
nothing and anyway I was getting tired by then.
The thing that gets me is that other than the occasional offer to delete
the Avast installer, there are no errors or messages of any kind when
doing these things ... just ... nothing happens? In all other ways the
comp runs, can get on line, surf, get/send email, can install &
un-install software -- as long as its not Hijackthis or Avast -- LMAOF.
It however does run really-really slow, but then again its a 3-4 year
old celeron on dial-up that was always slowwww.
I have two witnesses to this odd sh*t .... my wife and the computer
owner (the sister-in-law). She claimed to have anti-virus and a firewall
but all I could find where dead startup file entries, Norton AV and what
I can only guess were the remains of a McAfee firewall, she wasn't sure
which was which - yahoo!!
The wife said "bring it home and connect it up to our PC to fix it" -
LOL - I don't even want that sucker in my house without a priest and
lots of holy water nearby!
Who knows, maybe its (also) hardware related, it did loose the time &
date on one of the endless restarts I put it through. Though the bios
was considerate enough to tell me that it forgot - oops.
I have no idea?
John
B
Bill
I spent an interesting New Years day trying to fix the sister-in-laws'
old celeron (on dialup no less) running XP home. On reboot it had many
pop-ups wanting to fix 288 registry entries. This was caused by a
program called "Registry Cleaner" that she says she got in an email (Oh
boy here we go!) and she tried to uninstall the stuff because it would
only fix 20 of the 288 errors unless she agreed to pay for it.
Her problem is not virus related. It's a carbon based error.
Regards,
Bill
J
John
agreed, but I thought you all would get a kick out of it.Bill said:Her problem is not virus related. It's a carbon based error.
Regards,
Bill
D
David H. Lipman
From: "John" <[email protected]>
|
| I spent an interesting New Years day trying to fix the sister-in-laws'
| old celeron (on dialup no less) running XP home. On reboot it had many
| pop-ups wanting to fix 288 registry entries. This was caused by a
| program called "Registry Cleaner" that she says she got in an email (Oh
| boy here we go!) and she tried to uninstall the stuff because it would
| only fix 20 of the 288 errors unless she agreed to pay for it.
|
| Well the result is ...
|
| 1. It wont let task manager run in any mode, including all flavors of
| safe mode. Nope, three finger salute or right clicking the task bar has
| no effect.
|
| 2. Literally deletes the 'Highjackthis' (that I spent mucho time
| downloading) executable when you double click to start it. Now that was
| scary, no errors, the file just disappears in front of your eyes and
| noooo it wasn't in the trash either. It simply no longer existed!!! So
| ... unzip it and try again and you might get to one prompt before it
| disappears, maybe not. Tried a whole bunch of times & LDMAOF.
|
| 3. Ignores any and all attempts at 'Last Known Good' or restore points.
| Again no errors, its just ignored. But actually I don't know if restore
| was even turned on as I couldn't find any references to it in the menus
| and couldn't remember the name for the run prompt ... hehe!
|
| 4. Since I couldn't find any working anti-virus I downloaded AVAST!. But
| when you double click the installer file, accept the agreement and
| install directory, it either just dies -or- and here is the best one of
| all - asks if you want to send the installer to the recycle bin --- SAY
| WHAT !!! - Do you know how long it takes to get that on dialup???
|
| 5. Wont allow XP's 'help and support' to run in any mode. Couldn't
| remember the executable name to try from the run prompt. The hour glass
| doesn't even come on when selected from the start menu, just a big black
| nothing and anyway I was getting tired by then.
|
| The thing that gets me is that other than the occasional offer to delete
| the Avast installer, there are no errors or messages of any kind when
| doing these things ... just ... nothing happens? In all other ways the
| comp runs, can get on line, surf, get/send email, can install &
| un-install software -- as long as its not Hijackthis or Avast -- LMAOF.
| It however does run really-really slow, but then again its a 3-4 year
| old celeron on dial-up that was always slowwww.
|
| I have two witnesses to this odd sh*t .... my wife and the computer
| owner (the sister-in-law). She claimed to have anti-virus and a firewall
| but all I could find where dead startup file entries, Norton AV and what
| I can only guess were the remains of a McAfee firewall, she wasn't sure
| which was which - yahoo!!
|
| The wife said "bring it home and connect it up to our PC to fix it" -
| LOL - I don't even want that sucker in my house without a priest and
| lots of holy water nearby!
|
| Who knows, maybe its (also) hardware related, it did loose the time &
| date on one of the endless restarts I put it through. Though the bios
| was considerate enough to tell me that it forgot - oops.
|
| I have no idea?
| John
If you are using any version of Sun Java that is prior to JRE Version 5.0,
then you are strongly urged to remove any/all versions that are prior to JRE
Version 5.0. There are vulnerabilities in them and they are actively being exploited.
It is possible that is how you got infected with malware.
Therefore, it is highly suggested that if there are any prior versions of Sun Java
to Version 5 on the PC that they be removed and Sun Java JRE Version 5.0 Update 6
be installed ASAP.
http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp
For non-viral malware...
Please download, install and update the following software...
* Ad-aware SE v1.06
http://www.lavasoft.de/
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
* SpyBot Search and Destroy v1.4
http://security.kolla.de/
After the software is updated, I suggest scanning the system in Safe Mode.
I also suggest downloading, installing and updating BHODemon for any Browser Helper Objects
that may be on the PC.
* BHODemon
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloadget.php?id=3550&file=11&evp=245a87539eea8ed6904332b4b8b8442d
For viral malware...
* Download MULTI_AV.EXE from the URL --
http://www.ik-cs.com/programs/virtools/Multi_AV.exe
To use this utility, perform the following...
Execute; Multi_AV.exe { Note: You must use the default folder C:\AV-CLS }
Choose; Unzip
Choose; Close
Execute; C:\AV-CLS\StartMenu.BAT
{ or Double-click on 'Start Menu' in C:\AV-CLS }
NOTE: You may have to disable your software FireWall or allow WGET.EXE to go through your
FireWall to allow it to download the needed AV vendor related files.
C:\AV-CLS\StartMenu.BAT -- { or Double-click on 'Start Menu' in C:\AV-CLS}
This will bring up the initial menu of choices and should be executed in Normal Mode.
This way all the components can be downloaded from each AV vendor's web site.
The choices are; Sophos, Trend, McAfee, Kaspersky, Exit this menu and Reboot the PC.
You can choose to go to each menu item and just download the needed files or you can
download the files and perform a scan in Normal Mode. Once you have downloaded the files
needed for each scanner you want to use, you should reboot the PC into Safe Mode [F8 key
during boot] and re-run the menu again and choose which scanner you want to run in Safe
Mode. It is suggested to run the scanners in both Safe Mode and Normal Mode.
When the menu is displayed hitting 'H' or 'h' will bring up a more comprehensive PDF help
file. http://www.ik-cs.com/multi-av.htm
* * * Please report back your results * * *
|
| I spent an interesting New Years day trying to fix the sister-in-laws'
| old celeron (on dialup no less) running XP home. On reboot it had many
| pop-ups wanting to fix 288 registry entries. This was caused by a
| program called "Registry Cleaner" that she says she got in an email (Oh
| boy here we go!) and she tried to uninstall the stuff because it would
| only fix 20 of the 288 errors unless she agreed to pay for it.
|
| Well the result is ...
|
| 1. It wont let task manager run in any mode, including all flavors of
| safe mode. Nope, three finger salute or right clicking the task bar has
| no effect.
|
| 2. Literally deletes the 'Highjackthis' (that I spent mucho time
| downloading) executable when you double click to start it. Now that was
| scary, no errors, the file just disappears in front of your eyes and
| noooo it wasn't in the trash either. It simply no longer existed!!! So
| ... unzip it and try again and you might get to one prompt before it
| disappears, maybe not. Tried a whole bunch of times & LDMAOF.
|
| 3. Ignores any and all attempts at 'Last Known Good' or restore points.
| Again no errors, its just ignored. But actually I don't know if restore
| was even turned on as I couldn't find any references to it in the menus
| and couldn't remember the name for the run prompt ... hehe!
|
| 4. Since I couldn't find any working anti-virus I downloaded AVAST!. But
| when you double click the installer file, accept the agreement and
| install directory, it either just dies -or- and here is the best one of
| all - asks if you want to send the installer to the recycle bin --- SAY
| WHAT !!! - Do you know how long it takes to get that on dialup???
|
| 5. Wont allow XP's 'help and support' to run in any mode. Couldn't
| remember the executable name to try from the run prompt. The hour glass
| doesn't even come on when selected from the start menu, just a big black
| nothing and anyway I was getting tired by then.
|
| The thing that gets me is that other than the occasional offer to delete
| the Avast installer, there are no errors or messages of any kind when
| doing these things ... just ... nothing happens? In all other ways the
| comp runs, can get on line, surf, get/send email, can install &
| un-install software -- as long as its not Hijackthis or Avast -- LMAOF.
| It however does run really-really slow, but then again its a 3-4 year
| old celeron on dial-up that was always slowwww.
|
| I have two witnesses to this odd sh*t .... my wife and the computer
| owner (the sister-in-law). She claimed to have anti-virus and a firewall
| but all I could find where dead startup file entries, Norton AV and what
| I can only guess were the remains of a McAfee firewall, she wasn't sure
| which was which - yahoo!!
|
| The wife said "bring it home and connect it up to our PC to fix it" -
| LOL - I don't even want that sucker in my house without a priest and
| lots of holy water nearby!
|
| Who knows, maybe its (also) hardware related, it did loose the time &
| date on one of the endless restarts I put it through. Though the bios
| was considerate enough to tell me that it forgot - oops.
|
| I have no idea?
| John
If you are using any version of Sun Java that is prior to JRE Version 5.0,
then you are strongly urged to remove any/all versions that are prior to JRE
Version 5.0. There are vulnerabilities in them and they are actively being exploited.
It is possible that is how you got infected with malware.
Therefore, it is highly suggested that if there are any prior versions of Sun Java
to Version 5 on the PC that they be removed and Sun Java JRE Version 5.0 Update 6
be installed ASAP.
http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp
For non-viral malware...
Please download, install and update the following software...
* Ad-aware SE v1.06
http://www.lavasoft.de/
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
* SpyBot Search and Destroy v1.4
http://security.kolla.de/
After the software is updated, I suggest scanning the system in Safe Mode.
I also suggest downloading, installing and updating BHODemon for any Browser Helper Objects
that may be on the PC.
* BHODemon
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloadget.php?id=3550&file=11&evp=245a87539eea8ed6904332b4b8b8442d
For viral malware...
* Download MULTI_AV.EXE from the URL --
http://www.ik-cs.com/programs/virtools/Multi_AV.exe
To use this utility, perform the following...
Execute; Multi_AV.exe { Note: You must use the default folder C:\AV-CLS }
Choose; Unzip
Choose; Close
Execute; C:\AV-CLS\StartMenu.BAT
{ or Double-click on 'Start Menu' in C:\AV-CLS }
NOTE: You may have to disable your software FireWall or allow WGET.EXE to go through your
FireWall to allow it to download the needed AV vendor related files.
C:\AV-CLS\StartMenu.BAT -- { or Double-click on 'Start Menu' in C:\AV-CLS}
This will bring up the initial menu of choices and should be executed in Normal Mode.
This way all the components can be downloaded from each AV vendor's web site.
The choices are; Sophos, Trend, McAfee, Kaspersky, Exit this menu and Reboot the PC.
You can choose to go to each menu item and just download the needed files or you can
download the files and perform a scan in Normal Mode. Once you have downloaded the files
needed for each scanner you want to use, you should reboot the PC into Safe Mode [F8 key
during boot] and re-run the menu again and choose which scanner you want to run in Safe
Mode. It is suggested to run the scanners in both Safe Mode and Normal Mode.
When the menu is displayed hitting 'H' or 'h' will bring up a more comprehensive PDF help
file. http://www.ik-cs.com/multi-av.htm
* * * Please report back your results * * *
J
John
David said:From: "John" <[email protected]>
|
| I spent an interesting New Years day trying to fix the sister-in-laws'
| old celeron (on dialup no less) running XP home. On reboot it had many
| pop-ups wanting to fix 288 registry entries. This was caused by a
| program called "Registry Cleaner" that she says she got in an email (Oh
| boy here we go!) and she tried to uninstall the stuff because it would
| only fix 20 of the 288 errors unless she agreed to pay for it.
|
| Well the result is ...
|
| 1. It wont let task manager run in any mode, including all flavors of
| safe mode. Nope, three finger salute or right clicking the task bar has
| no effect.
|
| 2. Literally deletes the 'Highjackthis' (that I spent mucho time
| downloading) executable when you double click to start it. Now that was
| scary, no errors, the file just disappears in front of your eyes and
| noooo it wasn't in the trash either. It simply no longer existed!!! So
| ... unzip it and try again and you might get to one prompt before it
| disappears, maybe not. Tried a whole bunch of times & LDMAOF.
|
| 3. Ignores any and all attempts at 'Last Known Good' or restore points.
| Again no errors, its just ignored. But actually I don't know if restore
| was even turned on as I couldn't find any references to it in the menus
| and couldn't remember the name for the run prompt ... hehe!
|
| 4. Since I couldn't find any working anti-virus I downloaded AVAST!. But
| when you double click the installer file, accept the agreement and
| install directory, it either just dies -or- and here is the best one of
| all - asks if you want to send the installer to the recycle bin --- SAY
| WHAT !!! - Do you know how long it takes to get that on dialup???
|
| 5. Wont allow XP's 'help and support' to run in any mode. Couldn't
| remember the executable name to try from the run prompt. The hour glass
| doesn't even come on when selected from the start menu, just a big black
| nothing and anyway I was getting tired by then.
|
| The thing that gets me is that other than the occasional offer to delete
| the Avast installer, there are no errors or messages of any kind when
| doing these things ... just ... nothing happens? In all other ways the
| comp runs, can get on line, surf, get/send email, can install &
| un-install software -- as long as its not Hijackthis or Avast -- LMAOF.
| It however does run really-really slow, but then again its a 3-4 year
| old celeron on dial-up that was always slowwww.
|
| I have two witnesses to this odd sh*t .... my wife and the computer
| owner (the sister-in-law). She claimed to have anti-virus and a firewall
| but all I could find where dead startup file entries, Norton AV and what
| I can only guess were the remains of a McAfee firewall, she wasn't sure
| which was which - yahoo!!
|
| The wife said "bring it home and connect it up to our PC to fix it" -
| LOL - I don't even want that sucker in my house without a priest and
| lots of holy water nearby!
|
| Who knows, maybe its (also) hardware related, it did loose the time &
| date on one of the endless restarts I put it through. Though the bios
| was considerate enough to tell me that it forgot - oops.
|
| I have no idea?
| John
If you are using any version of Sun Java that is prior to JRE Version 5.0,
then you are strongly urged to remove any/all versions that are prior to JRE
Version 5.0. There are vulnerabilities in them and they are actively being exploited.
It is possible that is how you got infected with malware.
Therefore, it is highly suggested that if there are any prior versions of Sun Java
to Version 5 on the PC that they be removed and Sun Java JRE Version 5.0 Update 6
be installed ASAP.
http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp
For non-viral malware...
Please download, install and update the following software...
* Ad-aware SE v1.06
http://www.lavasoft.de/
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
* SpyBot Search and Destroy v1.4
http://security.kolla.de/
After the software is updated, I suggest scanning the system in Safe Mode.
I also suggest downloading, installing and updating BHODemon for any Browser Helper Objects
that may be on the PC.
* BHODemon
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloadget.php?id=3550&file=11&evp=245a87539eea8ed6904332b4b8b8442d
For viral malware...
* Download MULTI_AV.EXE from the URL --
http://www.ik-cs.com/programs/virtools/Multi_AV.exe
To use this utility, perform the following...
Execute; Multi_AV.exe { Note: You must use the default folder C:\AV-CLS }
Choose; Unzip
Choose; Close
Execute; C:\AV-CLS\StartMenu.BAT
{ or Double-click on 'Start Menu' in C:\AV-CLS }
NOTE: You may have to disable your software FireWall or allow WGET.EXE to go through your
FireWall to allow it to download the needed AV vendor related files.
C:\AV-CLS\StartMenu.BAT -- { or Double-click on 'Start Menu' in C:\AV-CLS}
This will bring up the initial menu of choices and should be executed in Normal Mode.
This way all the components can be downloaded from each AV vendor's web site.
The choices are; Sophos, Trend, McAfee, Kaspersky, Exit this menu and Reboot the PC.
You can choose to go to each menu item and just download the needed files or you can
download the files and perform a scan in Normal Mode. Once you have downloaded the files
needed for each scanner you want to use, you should reboot the PC into Safe Mode [F8 key
during boot] and re-run the menu again and choose which scanner you want to run in Safe
Mode. It is suggested to run the scanners in both Safe Mode and Normal Mode.
When the menu is displayed hitting 'H' or 'h' will bring up a more comprehensive PDF help
file. http://www.ik-cs.com/multi-av.htm
* * * Please report back your results * * *
Ok I'll relay the message, though I somehow doubt she will understand.
Thanks,
John
J
John
Offbreed said:You have a CD burner?
Yes but she doesn't live nearby. Or did you have something specific in
mind?
John
O
Offbreed
John said:Yes but she doesn't live nearby. Or did you have something specific in
mind?
Nothing in mind, but it's usually more effective to download the
programs and hand them to her. Better yet if you can make up a clean
booting CD.