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Peter Stahl
10-28-2005, 6:20 AM
I just brought back my daughters old PC (which is newer than mine) from our visit to see her in Ottawa. I know this thing has a lot of spyware on it, running MS Antispyware and it finds something evertime it runs. The weird thing with this PC is when I shut it down via the Start button and click the Shut Down button it goes through the motions like it should gives the shutting down screens, CPU turns off and screen turns off too but, a couple seconds latter it restarts it self. This is a Gateway PC , Pentium 4 with XP Home on it. Do you think this is a result of some type of virus or something on it? I haven't had the time to put my ethernet card it from my old PC so I can hook it to the Internet. Going to run as many Antivirus and Antispyware programs that I can think of. She's still unpacking from a recent move so she doesn't know when the software that came with it is. It hasn't been used in a while, she was at Alert in Northern Canada for 4 months then when she got back she moved to another condo then bought a laptop so it's been sitting for a while. Thanks for any help.

Pete

Ron McNeil
10-28-2005, 6:29 AM
Peter, I'm not a computer expert but are you sure when you go to start and then shut down that its not set on restart. I once had it set on restart and it would just shut down and restart until I realized what the setting was set on.
I'm not sure if that is what it is just something to check.

John Miliunas
10-28-2005, 7:04 AM
Peter, just MHO but, it does NOT sound like a hardware issue regarding the restarting, but rather, some type of malware. Chances are that, if MS continually finds an issue with each run, it's one of the more obnoxious ones. They entrench themselves in very deep, dark nooks of the system files.:mad: You can try the Adaware and Spybot but, not to discourage you, don't be surprised if that doesn't take care of it. Also, don't feel too bad if you can't rid the machine of the anomaly, as many folks "in the field", who do this daily, don't always succeed. My rule of thumb is: If I'm spending more than one to one and a half hours trying to clean up a box, it's time to scrub it and reinstall! :) In your case, it may actually be quicker to wait for your daughter to find the resoration cd's than to try and eliminate the problems yourself!:D :cool:

Peter Stahl
10-28-2005, 9:26 AM
Peter, I'm not a computer expert but are you sure when you go to start and then shut down that its not set on restart. I once had it set on restart and it would just shut down and restart until I realized what the setting was set on.
I'm not sure if that is what it is just something to check.

Ron, I double checked, I think it may be more like John said below. Thanks for the reply.

Peter Stahl
10-28-2005, 9:33 AM
Peter, just MHO but, it does NOT sound like a hardware issue regarding the restarting, but rather, some type of malware. Chances are that, if MS continually finds an issue with each run, it's one of the more obnoxious ones. They entrench themselves in very deep, dark nooks of the system files.:mad: You can try the Adaware and Spybot but, not to discourage you, don't be surprised if that doesn't take care of it. Also, don't feel too bad if you can't rid the machine of the anomaly, as many folks "in the field", who do this daily, don't always succeed. My rule of thumb is: If I'm spending more than one to one and a half hours trying to clean up a box, it's time to scrub it and reinstall! :) In your case, it may actually be quicker to wait for your daughter to find the resoration cd's than to try and eliminate the problems yourself!:D :cool:

John,

I think you may be right. She still has lots of pictures on there. Believe it or not, she works on PC's at her job in the Navy! Kids. Beings that it may take a while to get the restore disk I may try to rid her PC of these Trojans or Malware. Thanks for the reply.

John Miliunas
10-28-2005, 9:39 AM
John,

I think you may be right. She still has lots of pictures on there. Believe it or not, she works on PC's at her job in the Navy! Kids. Beings that it may take a while to get the restore disk I may try to rid her PC of these Trojans or Malware. Thanks for the reply.

If you're going to attempt additional stuff, get your updates for your anti-virus program and anti-spyware apps, load them up and then try running all the checks and clean-ups in "Safe" mode. Also, if you're not aware of it, there's also another neat "discovery" tool called "Hijackthis". Download/install it and you can see a LOT of the nasty stuff, which get embedded in the system registry files. Like I said...Lots of nastiness out there! If it's any consolation, there are quite a few technically savvy people out there who get nailed with these things, as well! Trust me...I see it all the time!:) :cool:

Chuck Wintle
10-28-2005, 9:46 AM
I just brought back my daughters old PC (which is newer than mine) from our visit to see her in Ottawa. I know this thing has a lot of spyware on it, running MS Antispyware and it finds something evertime it runs. The weird thing with this PC is when I shut it down via the Start button and click the Shut Down button it goes through the motions like it should gives the shutting down screens, CPU turns off and screen turns off too but, a couple seconds latter it restarts it self. This is a Gateway PC , Pentium 4 with XP Home on it. Do you think this is a result of some type of virus or something on it? I haven't had the time to put my ethernet card it from my old PC so I can hook it to the Internet. Going to run as many Antivirus and Antispyware programs that I can think of. She's still unpacking from a recent move so she doesn't know when the software that came with it is. It hasn't been used in a while, she was at Alert in Northern Canada for 4 months then when she got back she moved to another condo then bought a laptop so it's been sitting for a while. Thanks for any help.

Pete

Download and run Ad aware and AVG as well. I find that no one program does it all. It takes the combined power of several to root out the spyware and viruses.

Jim Becker
10-28-2005, 10:32 AM
I vote for a complete rebuild as John suggests. This is a good idea anytime a machine changes hands, but in this case is the best way to put together a fully-stable system ready to use. If you have to buy a new copy of Windows...it's still less expensive than buying a new computer! I have a notebook I'm resurrecting for a lab machine as well as for use "elsewhere" in the house for surfing SMC, etc...no original OS media and I don't prefer to re-use a license from my regular machine for obvious reasons. I'll likely just pick up a copy of Windows XP-home for it since I don't need domain login capablity or encryption. Or maybe use Linux...no decision there at this point. The machine is "free" at least!

Chuck Wintle
10-28-2005, 10:49 AM
I vote for a complete rebuild as John suggests. This is a good idea anytime a machine changes hands, but in this case is the best way to put together a fully-stable system ready to use. If you have to buy a new copy of Windows...it's still less expensive than buying a new computer! I have a notebook I'm resurrecting for a lab machine as well as for use "elsewhere" in the house for surfing SMC, etc...no original OS media and I don't prefer to re-use a license from my regular machine for obvious reasons. I'll likely just pick up a copy of Windows XP-home for it since I don't need domain login capablity or encryption. Or maybe use Linux...no decision there at this point. The machine is "free" at least!

For Linux I have found Suse 9.3 to be a very well put together package. The interface can be set up to look almost exactly like windows. And the price is very reasonable.

Joe Pelonio
10-28-2005, 12:16 PM
Even with the 5 programs I run every day including 4 resident that are supposed to stop this stuff, AVG found/fixed a trojan this morning called
Skiller.exe - it seems impossible to keep them from getting in.

Andrew Ault
10-28-2005, 12:48 PM
For Linux I have found Suse 9.3 to be a very well put together package. The interface can be set up to look almost exactly like windows. And the price is very reasonable.
I just received a DVD-ROM yesterday with a distribution of SUSE 10.0. For my purposes, SUSE works great. It's fun to use and gets updated often. I paid $10 for the perfectly legal DVD-ROM copy, but I could have downloaded and burned an image if I felt like it. It includes everything I use often, OpenOffice, Firefox, editors, FTP clients, etc. My current installation is working just fine but it is fun to get the latest stuff. SUSE is easy to install and really refined in operation and appearance. It is now maintained by the OpenSUSE project, so community feedback gets rolled into every release.

It works pretty much like a Windows user would expect. For a teenager it is great because it is much harder to ruin with spyware and downloaded junk. It has the normal office tools needed for school and good internet software. There are plenty of games and interesting learning tools.

I'd like to plug OpenOffice. Since I installed this on my dad's computer a couple of years ago, he has not had a single problem with it. This is a BIG difference than his experience with MS Word. This has alleviated me from some frustrating phone calls and visits.

Peter Stahl
10-29-2005, 10:07 AM
thanks everyone for their replies. If I can get the disks then I'll do a complete reinstall. If not I'll try and rid this computer of it's demons! I'm hoping my daughter finds them and can send them to me.

thanks, Pete

Chris Fite
10-29-2005, 12:23 PM
If you cannot come up with the installation disks otherwise, you can usually get replacements from the manufacturer for a nominal fee.

Peter Stahl
10-29-2005, 3:26 PM
Thanks Chris, I'll have to check into that.

Peter Stahl
10-31-2005, 8:23 AM
I found out why this PC was not shutting down completely. In the BIOS there a setting under the Power settings call "Wake On PCI PME" which was set to Power ON, I reset it to Stay Off. This PC still seem a little flakey and when/if I get the System Restoration CD's I'll reformat it. I did run AVG antivirus and it for 19 Trojan/viruses. Also ran MS Antispyware plus a couple other spyware programs and found about a dozen or so. I also did a live chat with Gateway and also emailed them. They kept coming back with it being a software problem and one suggest I even try pulling the memory chip and sound cards out and reinsert them. I looked at so many thiings and after trying about everything I took a look in the BIOS. Thanks to everyone for their help!

John Miliunas
10-31-2005, 8:31 AM
Hey Peter, after you run your AV and/or Anti-spyware app(s) and it "cleans" stuff up, reboot and run it/them again, without logging on to the network or anything! If they come up "clean" this time, then you might be OK. If you run them right away and they find stuff once more, after a reboot, then chances are you've got something imbedded much deeper in the system.:( In either even, if you're running halfway decent, be sure you start backing up all important data (emails, docs, address book, etc...), with the thought in mind that, when the restore software becomes available, you will still want to scrub and do a clean install.:) :cool:

Peter Stahl
10-31-2005, 10:30 AM
Hey Peter, after you run your AV and/or Anti-spyware app(s) and it "cleans" stuff up, reboot and run it/them again, without logging on to the network or anything! If they come up "clean" this time, then you might be OK. If you run them right away and they find stuff once more, after a reboot, then chances are you've got something imbedded much deeper in the system.:( In either even, if you're running halfway decent, be sure you start backing up all important data (emails, docs, address book, etc...), with the thought in mind that, when the restore software becomes available, you will still want to scrub and do a clean install.:) :cool:


John, Thanks for the reply. I haven't had this PC hooked to the internet. Want wait till I can get the Restoration Disk if my Daughter still has them. I did run each several times but didn't try them in safe mode, is that worth doing? Quess it can't hurt huh!

John Miliunas
10-31-2005, 11:10 AM
John, Thanks for the reply. I haven't had this PC hooked to the internet. Want wait till I can get the Restoration Disk if my Daughter still has them. I did run each several times but didn't try them in safe mode, is that worth doing? Quess it can't hurt huh!

Hi Pete,

Well, if you were having major issues and were unable to rid the machine of some of the trojans, etc. then, I'd say to do it in "safe" mode. As long as the A/V, A/S apps aren't "finding" anything further after subsequent runs, it shouldn't be an issue. The "problem" comes in when one of them finds a "bot" or whatnot and can't eliminate it, because a file is in use. That's when "safe" mode needs to be used.:) In the end, a scrub and clean install would be the best thing for you, along with getting all the updates, patches, etc... CAUTIONARY NOTE: If you do install fresh at some point, make sure your installation already has Service Pack 2 on it. If not, you'll need to download install it, plus the rest of the stuff. If connecting on a fresh install, be sure you go into your Network Properties and "Enable" the firewall before hooking your machine up to the network at large!!! In the time it takes to get/install a patch, the machine can easily be compromised, even with only a dial-up connection!!!:mad: Good luck with it! Any more issues with it, give us a yell and/or update.:) :cool: