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Arcstarter

Sun Jul 31 2011, 01:44AM

Registered Member #1225 Joined: Sat Jan 12 2008, 01:24AM
Location: Beaumont, Texas, USA
Posts: 2253

As of the past week or so i have been having these rather annoying generic host crashes. I am running Windows XP SP3, and i update it regularly. I also update Firefox regularly (this should be somewhat relevant due to updated security etc.), last time being this morning. I use Malwarebytes and AVG, whos databases are also both updated regularly.

Before all of this happened (started about 3 weeks ago), i have been having problems with google searches. When i search something on google and click the results, about every other time instead of it going to the website i click on, it redirects me to some website called findquickresults.com, which sometimes tries to upload trojans and other assorted infections, which always seems to get caught by malwarebytes luckily. I am not terribly sure if this is relevant to the problem, but according to the searched they are almost surely interrelated.

Another phenomenon that keeps happening is malwarebytes keeps popping up with the speech bubble saying that it has successfully block some possibly hazardous file. I am used to this happening, but sometimes it gets very bad, and there is a speech bubble opened continuously. When i restart, it usually gets better, but it almost invariably gets worse after some time.

Yesterday, i started a scan with malwarebytes. After checking 40,000 files or so it did find an infection, but about half way through (about 120,000 files had been checked out of some 200,000) my computer decided to crash, showing the blue screen of death. After this i booted in safe mode, and it found one infection, and it didn't crash, so i deleted the infection. I also ran AVG with the command prompt, but this took over an hour so i was away from the computer, and i did not see if it found any viruses.

I think the only thing that i can do is try to get rid of any possible malware or spyware, but perhaps malwarebytes cannot find the underlying problem. I am officially stumped, and all of the google searches seem to turn up with the same answers, which is scanning your computer for malware. Has anyone had such problems? Any suggestions how i can fix it or what program i can use to help (it must be free, i am broke like a joke)? Thanks in advance!

Chip Fixes

Sun Jul 31 2011, 02:41AM

Registered Member #3781 Joined: Sat Mar 26 2011, 02:25AM
Location:
Posts: 701

Yeah sounds like you have a virus, or several. You can keep scanning your computer but I have found that even AVG can't catch them all (personally I only use Microsoft Security Essentials, AVG just slows down my computer and doesn't catch much; in fact, I have had less viruses since I stopped using AVG). If you have it, a system restore works wonders. Back up all your important files to a hard drive or cloud server and then do a complete hard drive wipe or "restore to factory settings," This will fix it.

Also, sometimes your computer may have a "wipe free space" option; I don't know why but this has fixed the problem for me before.

As for free software: check CNET Downloads, they have some great software for free with editor and user reviews

Arcstarter

Sun Jul 31 2011, 09:20PM

Registered Member #1225 Joined: Sat Jan 12 2008, 01:24AM
Location: Beaumont, Texas, USA
Posts: 2253

Yea, i think it is about that time to reinstall windows. I was chatting on the IRC, and i went away for about 30 minutes and when i came back it had crashed again. When i turned it back on, i realized it had gotten rid of my soundcard driver. I just reinstalled it last night because i did this previously, but i thought it was only because i ran advanced uninstaller, because this has happened before.

I will load it with Windows 7 this time. I need to back everything up, luckily i only have about 70Gb of files and i have USB2.0. Only takes 2 minutes to send 2gb, so hopefully it shall only take an hour-hour and a half. Now if only i could get the wireless internet on my laptop working (70 minutes is far too long without internet!).

Thanks for the reply!

Chip Fixes

Sun Jul 31 2011, 09:29PM

Registered Member #3781 Joined: Sat Mar 26 2011, 02:25AM
Location:
Posts: 701

Yeah no problem, if you need anymore help let me know. Some laptops require a wireless card so you may or may not need one... If you have a router it may be easier to just run a cable from the router to your laptop. If you still can't figure out how to get internet, go to the library, they usually have computers that you can use for at least an hour.

Ash Small

Sun Jul 31 2011, 09:43PM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

The only time I ever had serious problems was when I had AVG installed. Other people reccomend it, though. I distrust all free software, especially free security software.

Others here have said you need at least two security programs installed, as none seem to find everything.

I've always distrusted Norton too, but I'm running a 'legit' copy at the moment, and I have to say it does find a lot of stuff. I've even stopped the HP generic security from automatically updating (I pay for internet access by the gigabyte on a mobile dongle) because Norton 360 seems to catch everything. ( I had turned the automatic updating off, but was having some problems and turned it back on, it sorted everything after one download and scan)

I also used to have two hard drives, one with the OS on, and everything else on the other one. If I had problems I'd remove the hard drive with everything else on, re-format the other one, and re-install the OS, then re-install and scan the other one. The serious infections were only ever on the one with the OS on it.

Chip Fixes

Sun Jul 31 2011, 10:46PM

Registered Member #3781 Joined: Sat Mar 26 2011, 02:25AM
Location:
Posts: 701

Ohh Norton... I inherited my current desktop from my parents who used (we're Norton free now) Norton extensively. The computer was so slow by the time I got it that it took 40 minutes from the time I turned it on to the time i could open a program. I had to wipe everything off the hard drive and re-install the OS in order to wipe Norton from my computer. Now it takes less than 2 minutes

Arcstarter

Mon Aug 01 2011, 06:39AM

Registered Member #1225 Joined: Sat Jan 12 2008, 01:24AM
Location: Beaumont, Texas, USA
Posts: 2253

Yea, i liked AVG after it deleted some pretty crazy viruses, but after all of this im not so sure. I like Malwarebytes still, but i think it would have been the program that would find the viruses.

Well i am now running win7, and i am more than happy with it. Sweet, now it is faster than my old OS even with AVG scanning my computer (this slowed my computer down quite a bit previously). I still had a very fast computer, seemed to be faster than everyone elses in the house, but now i can load almost any webpage in less than a second.

Ash Small

Mon Aug 01 2011, 10:22AM

Registered Member #3414 Joined: Sun Nov 14 2010, 05:05PM
Location: UK
Posts: 4245

Camp Badger wrote ...

Ohh Norton... I inherited my current desktop from my parents who used (we're Norton free now) Norton extensively. The computer was so slow by the time I got it that it took 40 minutes from the time I turned it on to the time i could open a program. I had to wipe everything off the hard drive and re-install the OS in order to wipe Norton from my computer. Now it takes less than 2 minutes

I've a lot more ram on my laptop than my old desktop. I think this is why Norton doesn't slow it down as much as it did the old one. You are right, though, it slows it down a bit.

Thomas W

Mon Aug 01 2011, 02:07PM

Registered Member #3324 Joined: Sun Oct 17 2010, 06:57PM
Location:
Posts: 1276

i run avast free and comodo firewall they dont seem to take much power off my computer.

Shrad

Mon Aug 01 2011, 08:26PM

Registered Member #3215 Joined: Sun Sept 19 2010, 08:42PM
Location:
Posts: 780

just an idea here

knowing micro$oft and AVG a bit (part of my job and IT formation), the reason microsoft security thingy seems to reduce virus number might be that it catches less than AVG (what it doesn't show is what stays there)

I had same issues with malware and the thing kept redirecting malwarebytes update site to an infected malware site...

I had to run a live CD with cleaning tools and update the live CD tools to wipe the nasty malwares away (that's the only solution before reformat)

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