View Full Version : My puter has a bug and I cant get rid of it!
Knipples
17-08-2008, 11:01
HELP!
I am pretty good when it comes to sorting things out on my PC, when you liv on your own you have to learn these things.
I have AVG version 8.0 and windows defender, both of which claim to be running normally and have done their daily scans, BUT the PC is very slow and I know it is sick. It is nearly 5 years old and that is part of the slowness, but I just know theres something up with it, plus for the last 3 days I keep getting this pop up link to some spybot thing (which just opens in a new window) that claims to remove harmful stuff on my PC. I havent clicked on anything on this page, and when it appears I just close the window.
What can I do to get my poorly PC better again, up until the last week or so everything has been running fine, and I have had no problems with the AVG or with the Windows defender. I'd really rather not go changing either of these because they have worked for so long but something is clearly on here which they arent finding and removing.
The AVG has found the odd thing in the last fortnight or so, trojans and stuff but its caught them and I have removed them.
Any advice thankyou please?
Stan_Lite
17-08-2008, 11:42
Sounds like a trojan to me. Do you have Adaware or Spybot S&D installed? If you do, try running both of them in safe mode.
I'm not familiar with AVG does it have an option to run a boot time scan like Avast does? If it does, run that and let it go all the way through. I did this with Avast on the work laptop on the rig and it got rid of stuff that other programs didn't even pick u
Knipples
17-08-2008, 11:59
I have had both on this PC but stopped using them and removed them about a year ago because I was told that windows defender and the AVG together would keep things clean. And it has until now.....
Am downloading the new version of Adaware now (my definitions were 306 days out of date! :D )
Knipples
17-08-2008, 13:25
Adaware found nothing (bar the usual cookies)
What to do?
Stan_Lite
17-08-2008, 13:57
I would try Avast. Download it, disable AVG, install Avast, it needs to reboot but it will ask you if you want to schedule a boot time scan. Say yes and reboot. Avast will then scan the PC before it boots up and any nasties can load up and hide themselves. Keep an eye on it and if it finds anything, it'll ask you what to do - I just told it to delete anything suspicious it found. When it's finished, it'll boot the machine, then all you have to do is uninstall it (assuming you want to keep AVG).
I'm not saying it'll find anything but it's worth a try and it won't do any harm :)
That's about all I can think of for now.
Knipples
17-08-2008, 14:03
Can I have a link so I know I get the right thing?
Thanks for your help Stan, am away with work for a week from tomorrow but will do it when I get back.
The thing just popped up again, heres what I get
*link removed*
Stan_Lite
17-08-2008, 14:30
Give this (http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=116484) a try first. If that doesn't work, you can download Avast from here (http://files.avast.com/iavs4pro/setupeng.exe).
run hijackthis and post the log here, shall see if there is anything there.
Do what Bigstan said first. Sysprotect is known spyware and it's also well-known that AVG doesn't detect it.
PS - Knip - could you edit out that link from your post. It was helpful to determine the cause but I wouldn't want anyone clicking on that by accident.
Knipples
17-08-2008, 14:52
Have installed and run the thing and now rebooted.
(link also removed)
Knipples
17-08-2008, 14:54
run hijackthis and post the log here, shall see if there is anything there.
Can I have a link so I get the right one
Knipples
22-08-2008, 19:32
Have just got back from my week away and the scan started (obviously)
it found 4 of these
trojan horse Adload_r.AQ
have removed them from the PC, but why in the heck do they keep coming back, I take it means theyre hiding somewhere and coming back when it boots up?
I found this
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080820070401AAa7GfK
which seems to mean its coming back when it boots up as you said Stan. How do I turn off system restore so I can do that, or should I just get rid of AVG and get avast?
Open Control Panel and then System. Go to System Restore options and turn off System Restore. You'll probably get a warning - this is OK. Reboot in Safe Mode and run the scan again. Reboot once more and turn System Restore back on.
Knipples
22-08-2008, 19:36
Ok thanks, will do that.
Knipples
22-08-2008, 22:19
Aaaarrggh!
Have just spent blooming ages running the scan in safe mode after I turned off system restore, it found the same things, I deleted them, now am running the scan again in "normal" mode and theyre still sodding there!
edit, when that scan finished, it said to remove the objects it needed to restart, which I did, and then when it rebooted the windows defender popped up and said I had something which was vundo (which I know is not good) and so the defender removed that, and it needed to restart again.
Am keeping my fingers crossed for now, but am open to any suggestions - sodding thing!
another edit
Nope theyre still there! Now claiming to need another reboot to get rid of, but I dont believe that anymore.
My guess is something else has hooked into Windows startup and keeps re-infecting your system. You'll have to go the HijackThis route to dig that one out I'm afraid, and even then there's no guarantee. You may simply have to re-install Windows to get rid. :(
I don't have any experience of HijackThis unfortunately, so can't help with that either.
There are sites that you can plug HiJackThis logs into and they tell you what all the various bits are and if anything is suspicious.
The last thing that infected my PC (because of my sister) dumped loads of crappy files everywhere, which it was using to reinfect from. I only found them because I knew the time the virus got there and went through the PC with a fine tooth comb finding every file created/modified at that time and getting rid of them.
I've found autoruns to be quite handy in these situations as well.
Knipples
23-08-2008, 09:10
I've only been having problems since I upgraded the AVG from 7.5 to 8.0. I hadnt had any bugs for a year until then.
I think im gonna get rid of the AVG and get Avast, will that and windows defender be enough?
Thanks for everyones help by the way.
Stan_Lite
23-08-2008, 09:32
That's all I use on mine and it seems to work for me. I can't speak for AVG as I've never used it but I have been using Avast on all my machines for about 3 years and never had any problems. I do still run Adaware and Spybot S&D once a month to make sure but all they ever pick up are a few tracking cookies so the Avast/Windows Defender combo seems to be pretty effective :)
With the amount of time and effort you've put into trying to clear this with no luck, a format and re-install might be a quicker and more effective solution. Obviously you would need to back up all your personal data and it would mean re-installing all of your apps but it would ensure that your machine was free from any nasties.
Knipples
23-08-2008, 09:59
With the amount of time and effort you've put into trying to clear this with no luck, a format and re-install might be a quicker and more effective solution. Obviously you would need to back up all your personal data and it would mean re-installing all of your apps but it would ensure that your machine was free from any nasties.
The only thing with that is that I have no way to back data up, I dont have a burning drive and so I would lose all my pictures etc.
(I know I know thats very bad, and I need to sort it)
Will remove AVG and install Avast when I get home later today.
Knipples
24-08-2008, 18:38
Removed AVG, put Avast on here, got registration key, and theres a little "a" thingy going round on the toolbar, I take it that means its working and sorting itself out.
Oh and it did the boot thing when it got installed as well.
Anything else I need to know about, or do?
Oooooh theres a bug in the virus chest, how do I get rid of it?
And does it just scan it automatically like my AVG would (I told it what time to start the scan and then it just happened)
Theres a counter with "run time" next to it counting up, is that the scan running?
http://majorgeeks.com/download3155.html
worth a look even if it looks like you've cleaned it all up now.
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