System.exe virus?

  • Thread starter Thread starter chuck
  • Start date Start date
C

chuck

My computer, running Windows 2000 Professional, is
running really slowly. The CPU usage is nearly 100% and
mainly comes from the system process. I've tried checking
for a possible sasser or blaster infection but nothing
turned up. I restarted my computer this morning and now,
I can only run windows in the safe mode. I looked in the
system32 folder for new files (I usually find new viruses
in the system32 folder) but found nothing. Would really
appreciate any suggestions on how I can start dealing
with this problem. Thanks.
 
Hi Chuck.

There are boatlaoads of viruses and malware that can cause such a problem.
If it works in safe mode then you have something that is causing the problem
or a conflict of some sort with an application/service/driver. You can use
msconfig to try selective startup to pin down offending application.
Msconfig can either be downloaded or obtained from an XP box. Search Google
for "msconfig download" otherwise.

You also need to do a full system scan for viruses with a program that has
the latest virus definitions from the publishers website and they can change
every day. I would also scan for parasites with something like he free
AdAware or SpyBot Search and Destroy which has advanced options/tools for
the more experienced user but be sure to use the latest new version with
current updates which I believe scans for over 12,000 items. The links below
may also help. --- Steve

http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/ --- a free tool to scan/remove many common
viruses
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm --- parasites and how to get
rid of them.
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/ -- general advice to protect
your computer
http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/default.asp?productid=symhome&langid=ie&venid=sym
--Symantec's online security checker including virus scan

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/autoruns.shtml
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/procexp.shtml -- tools for more
advanced users to find errant proccess and startup programs.
autoruns
 
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