PC is being a bitch

[Debaser]

I click on IE, and I have almost a 25 second delay before it runs.
Once running its fine, until of course I close the window, then its another 25 second delay to open again??

Yes I have checked all add-ons etc, and nothing has changed since IE was running fine.

Zone alarm has gone tits up. It Keeps asking me if I want to run loginproxy.exe & wmi.

………..and WTF is a.exe?

Cant be a virus as AVG didn’t pick it up.
And ill be dammed if I can find a.exe it in my add remove programs folder thingymgic.

FFS what’s going on with zone alarm????
Everything wants to access the internet tonight!
I cant even open a word doc without it asking me if it wants internet access about 3 times!!!

Off to bed now, cheers.

[Amadeus]

.exe is an execution file. Did you try a system restore?

[Debaser]

Ok, excuse me while I start to get stressed.

It actually takes closer to 50seconds b4 IE opens.

It all started going tits up this evening!

main issues.

Zolealarm keeps saying:---

WMI is trying to access the internet

&

WLLoginproxy.exe is trying to access the internet

It all appears to have gone wrong after I installed a windows security update for windows xp (KB96O714)

Although I have just done a system restore back to yesterday, but the issues remain!, plus now windows wants me to do the security update again!

And this fucking zone alarm keeps asking me if I want every single program I open to access the net, which it never did b4 tonight!
And I don’t mean the usual programs, I mean progs like WORD that don’t usually ask, let alone ask 3 times after you select NO.

And now I am going to bed pissed bloody off!!

Goodnight!

[Amadeus]

Service Pack 3 fucked off more programs than I care to remember. It's in your Add/Remove Programs. I never allowed Updates after I uninstalled that piece of crap on my old computer.

[FLL]

Quite frankly Amadeus, you're confusing Debaser and not helping at all, the problems you've had with SP3 almost certainly have nothing to do with Debaser's problem, there's no indications at all that's what it is.

Debaser, "a.exe" is a huge fucking red flag shouting "something is on my system which shouldn't be here". There's a good chance it's adware/spyware which is redirecting all IE pages via its website so it can insert ads etc. If the website is inaccessible then that could explain why it takes so long to open IE. It could be attempting to attach to other programs, that would explain the constant Zonealarm popups. I don't know for certain obviously, but it all fits.

This page: http://www.symantec.com/security_respon ... 99&tabid=1 describes such a beast, and mentions a.exe as one of the filenames it uses.

Personally the first thing I would do is run a spyware killer seuch as Adaware or Spybot Search & Destroy, I think AVG now has a spyware program too. That might just solve your problem.

[emuler]

Did you Google for a.exe virus?

Try one of the free online virus scanners like Housecall from TrendMicro.
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/?ui=/ho ... cale=en_GB

http://www.trendmicro.com

Panda Antivirus also has a free scanner:
http://www.pandasecurity.com/

[EDIT] FLL beat me to it.

[FLL]

emuler, my thinking is his AVG anti-virus would have probably picked up a virus but anti-virus checking by itself usually misses spyware/adware.

[emuler]

It should have, but probably didn't. If you click on the infected file, the antivirus assumes you know what you're doing. Happens to the best of us - one brain fart is all it takes. I downloaded a 'cracked version' of a program and ran it despite warnings, and it installed a rootkit virus. What a mess.

Any way, I'd do whatever it takes to get rid of the infection, THEN back up my files that I want to keep and install Windows again, selecting the option to do a full format of my C partition.

Currently I am using the trial version of Norton Internet Security 2009. This is much better than previous versions of Norton products which were resource hogs of the worst kind. You get free access to Symantec's Virus Removal Service (or so I'm told).

Neat list:
http://www.24hsoftware.com/free-online-scan

More help at http://www.majorgeeks.com

[ptguardian]

i don't usually comment on tech related topics. but this has to be said. ie is the worst browser and very unsafe. i and everyone i know uses mozilla firefox. no browser is completely safe but with a good anti virus and with the many add ons for firefox it is a good way to go. no script, adblock plus just to name a few.
add aware is a good free program for finding those pesky bugs. also if you didn't try to add a program to your computer and you get a exe. trying to install. it is most likely a virus of some sort. don't worry we all get them. stay calm and i am sure we and you will take care of it. it appears you have many friends here to help.

[Debaser]

Sorry but I get really stressed when my computer doesn’t play ball.
I really need my computer over the Christmas holidays!

Service Pack 3 fucked off more programs than I care to remember. It's in your Add/Remove Programs. I never allowed Updates after I uninstalled that piece of crap on my old computer.

I still have SP2

Debaser, "a.exe" is a huge fucking red flag shouting "something is on my system which shouldn't be here". There's a good chance it's adware/spyware which is redirecting all IE pages via its website so it can insert ads etc. If the website is inaccessible then that could explain why it takes so long to open IE. It could be attempting to attach to other programs, that would explain the constant Zonealarm popups. I don't know for certain obviously, but it all fits.

This page: http://www.symantec.com/securi.....mp;tabid=1 describes such a beast, and mentions a.exe as one of the filenames it uses.

Personally the first thing I would do is run a spyware killer seuch as Adaware or Spybot Search & Destroy, I think AVG now has a spyware program too. That might just solve your problem.

I Googled a.exe. They say it’s not always malicious, plus AVG didn’t pick up on it anyway.
I run Adaware and Spybot religiously!
Yes AVG has a spyware program, and its running 24/7!

I really don’t want to try another antivirus program, as I already have one.

Now my whole computer keeps running slow, not just IE!
Everything froze when I decided to click on the START menu.


A work collegue suggested I remove zonealarm as it is causing no end of problems for people around the world, and just rely on XP’s firewall.
He also advised I update Windows to SP3.

I don’t see why I should reinstall my OS again. I already paid out £20 for that to be done by a mate (took him all night due to some virus on my PC), and that was just one month ago.
Then it took me another week to put all my movies back on.
Screw doing that again!

If anyone actually knows the problem here, please let me know what button I push to fix it!, otherwise im pissing off for a month as im tearing my hair out looking at this stupid machine!