Crap- I think I might have a virus.

Toonces · April 11, 2014, 07:40:09 PM

You guys probably shouldn't click on this thread, in case it's catching.

Oh wait....shit, sorry about that. ::)

More to follow.

Staggerwing · April 11, 2014, 07:51:59 PM

Do you have any idea what the culprit could be? If so pull the plug on the sick box, then download some scanner/fixer apps on another computer and put them on a thumb drive. After that boot up the victim with the thumb drive plugged in and start the cyberenema.

Greybriar · April 12, 2014, 03:13:44 AM

AVG's Anti-Virus worked for me. And it's free.

MikeGER · April 12, 2014, 03:51:36 AM

Quote from: Toonces on April 11, 2014, 07:40:09 PM
More to follow.

...in a heartbeat ;)

steve58 · April 12, 2014, 08:15:20 AM

Malwarebytes just recently put out a major new freebie update/version (2.x):

https://www.malwarebytes.org/

NOTE: When you install it, you will be given the option of activating the premium version trial for 30 days. Just stick with the free version. Not sure you really need the premium version and it may cause Norton and other antivirus programs to complain about conflicts.

Gusington · April 12, 2014, 09:31:15 AM

You could also try system restore if the virus is not too insidious.

mirth · April 12, 2014, 11:08:54 AM

Computer Hope has a forum staffed by volunteers who will walk you through virus removal. I worked with them once for a nasty bit of malware. It's completely free, but I ended up donating a little something to the guy who helped me because he put so much time into resolving my issue.

http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php/topic,46313.0.html

Toonces · April 12, 2014, 02:25:04 PM

Well, I have potentially good news to report. I think/hope I am virus-free.

It's weird. Just lately I started having this weird pop-up on the bottom right of my screen that said "This version of Windows 7 is not genuine". This came out of nowhere- obviously my copy of Windows is genuine and I've been using it for going on 3 years now with no issues. Shit like that always makes me think I might have been infected...when the computer just starts "acting funny".

But beyond that, I have this thing where sometimes Firefox will just hang. For no apparent reason. It just delays like crazy like it's thinking. It only does it sometimes, and it seems to be linked to when my computer is re-started. Like the first few times I use it it just doesn't work quite right.

Between the two I started to get that "uh oh" feeling. I have a subscription to AVG and also have Ad-Aware free, and they run weekly so I feel fairly secure. And I don't routinely visit untrustworthy websites, if you know what I mean.

I googled the Windows 7 thing and I found that if your System32 folder is marked "read only" that can cause the error. I installed a pretty hefty mod for Morrowind just before I got the error, and it required turning of UAC and restarting the computer. I think that might have done it. I made my System32 folder writable and the error seems to have self-corrected so far.

For Firefox, the most recent time it hung up it said there was a script that was causing my computer to freeze. Stopping the script and closing Flash seems to have fixed that. I don't know why it does that- some initialization of Firefox causes something to run that my computer just doesn't like.

So, it looks like we're good to go. A virus scan came up clean.

I think computers evolve personalities. Each computer I've owned seems to develop quirks that you just learn to deal with. This one, my current computer, just doesn't like being restarted for some reason. It's been like that since I bought it. Once it's up and running it's good to go for weeks at a time. But if it restarts it's like it needs to take a big dump and get all the garbage out before it starts running normally. I have no good explanation for it.

undercovergeek · April 12, 2014, 03:00:54 PM

ive been having the flash pause thing for a while now on both work laptop and home pc - stares at you for 45 seconds and then says the flash player has crashed - never got to the bottom of it, it just went away

Gusington · April 12, 2014, 03:28:06 PM

I stopped using FF because of all the grief it was giving me. I used to love it.

Staggerwing · April 12, 2014, 04:07:55 PM

Same here. FF was just bogging down and frequently required a Vulcan Nerve Pinch to recover from. I'm using mostly Chrome and Safari, depending on platform.

Arctic Blast · April 12, 2014, 04:16:58 PM

I'll be the third in a row to say the same thing. FF started bogging down, so I switched to Chrome and never looked back.

Toonces · April 12, 2014, 05:41:18 PM

Yeah, FF did that thing on me again coming out of sleep mode as I was logging on here. Maybe I'll give Chrome a try after all.

GDS_Starfury · April 29, 2014, 08:10:04 PM

Mr. Bigglesworth · April 29, 2014, 09:07:23 PM

Quote from: Staggerwing on April 12, 2014, 04:07:55 PM
Same here. FF was just bogging down and frequently required a Vulcan Nerve Pinch to recover from. I'm using mostly Chrome and Safari, depending on platform.

When my system bogs down I look in task manager. Often I find useless things like Spooler hogging memory. I have no printer on this PC. I have the driver unloaded. Probably some haxor is using the Microsoft programs to use my machine. For example I recently was getting pissed that every time I look in firewall it was saying a system admin was controlling my settings. WTF? This is a home PC with no network. There is no sys admin besides my account.

Windows is a swiss cheese of holes.