Long delay after booting

[Lurker]

After I removed some malware from a Win2000 machine (using Sysclean, SpyBot
S&D and Ad-aware) I now have a problem for which I couldn't find an
explanation on Google.
Every time Windows loads, it will freeze for about 15 minutes. After logging
in, the blue desktop and the taskbar would appear, but no icons. I can open
the boot menu, either with the "Windows" key on the kybd or with the mouse,
and try to start some application. Some would start (Notepad, Word)
immediately, other would be delayed until the "freezing" is off (Explorer,
MSIE). After 15 minutes or so every window I tried to open comes up, desktop
icons appear, and everything starts working regularly. It would appear that
windows explorer is waiting for something. No errors on event viewer.
During the "freezing", task manager indicates no CPU activity, while the HDD
led blinks very shortly every two minutes or so. This happens even after I
removed every application from HKLM/Software/Windows/Current Version/Run,
but not in safe mode.
Also, after I disconnect from ADSL, every activity will again be impossible
for some 10-15 minutes. In this case it would be impossible to start any
application, and the taskbar becomes completely grey, with no icons on it.
Thus, possibly the problem is caused by some odd network configuration. The
system is networked with another machine (cross cable), but everything
appears to work correctly, apart from this issue.
Any ideas?

Thanks (and excuse me for my English).
Marco.

 

[Phillip Windell]

It may be trashed. Spyware is known to trash systems sometimes even worse
than a virus could. That is why so much effert should be put into preventing
it to begin with because "clean-ups" are not a sure thing.

It sounds like you have not succeeded in cleaning it up,..or you have a
virus in additon to the spyware,..or still have both at the same time. It is
impossible for me to say. With our machines here I can re-ghost them or
swap them out with another clean machine much faster than screwing around
with it. In the machines I replace them with (or in the new Ghost image) I
have used more thorough methods to prevent the spyware than I had before
which mostly consist of running Spybot on the machine with the
"immunization" maintained and keeping the browser security settings high and
teach the user how to use the Trusted Sites Zone. I don't expect there will
ever be a perfect solution.

 

[Fran]

Marco,

Time to reinstall. Use XP Pro (sp2) if you can. I have resurrected
many a machine by using the System Restore feature and creating
periodic points in a Scheduled Task.

Although System Restore does not get rid of the garbage files that
most sypware installes on your system it does seem to render it
useless by restoring all of the old registry settings and removing
anything that would have autoloaded. I've run some real-time tests and
it has worked in all of my situations.

Phillip is correct. You will not beat spyware/adware/malware. I got
tired of trying Spybot, SpySweeper, AdAware, et. al. They slowed the
system down and only work on 60% of the junk my users could find. The
hype is great but the reality is that the creators of this junk will
beat those products all the time. Go buy a copy of Ghost and make
images of your workstations (or the latest from Symantec called Live
State Recovery...[formerly V2i Protector]. This was so much better
than Ghost that Symantec bought PowerQuest!) It may seem expensive at
first but when you add up the lost productivity, YOUR time and the
potential for exposure to opening up your network to outsiders with
nefarious intents it's well worth the money! You can have a machine
back to clean state in 15 minutes or less.

The only way to beat spyware is to train users WHY they get into these
troubles and keep a clean backup for the times when they do. After
market products simply don't do the job (although I have to give MS
kudos for their latest beta entry [it's free, by the way]. It does a
fairly good job.)

HTH

-Fran-