PC is being a bitch

[Amadeus]

Depending on your computer a back-up disk with registration keys and stuff usually only runs about 20USD from the manufacturer; however, you mentioned a back-up partition.... Would that be like your OS disk?

[Teacher]

Debaser - not sure if it is related but I at work there has been a panic over the last few days about IE and we have been banned from accessing thei internet because of a security hole. They have only just fixed it. Sounds like this allowed a trojan in on your PC.

I stopped using IE on my personal PC 2 years ago as it is more trouble than it is worth. I really recommend you go to Mozilla Firefox. It is vey user friendly and much more secure than IE. Plus it is also free! You can currently get version 3 at

http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/

Hope you get it fixed. Happy Xmas.

BTW I sent you a "special pressie" by PM and email to help you enjoy Xmas.

[Debaser]

Do you have your Windows XP CD? You need the license key to reinstall it.

I have a CD that says "reinstallatiom CD, Windows XP home Edition, SP2".
At the top of the disk it says "OPERATING SYSTEM ALREADY INSTALLED ON YOUR COMPUTER".

I have no other discs except for a bundle that have microsoft works on them etc.

There is something called a Service tag written on my PC.

Tell us more about your computer and we'll help you find the drivers etc. that you need. Don't worry about it. I do it several times a year just to rid my system of accumulated junk. Best of all, you don't need to pay us

Thats a relief because im broke and need my PC right now.
Please tell me what you need to know, thanks.

Did you go through identiying and getting rid of CWS ?

Can you enable verbose firewall logging, reboot and post the log here :-

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875357

One final thing DB - download and install FF 2.2020 (or whatever is latest version 2). Turn off Windows firewall and tell us if you get same problem with that browser. Now if you turn on Windows Firewall, reboot, you should be prompted to allow FF access - make that permanent rule.

The rules I have in place to even get IE to connevt to web are :-

1. Permit inbound UDP - any app, any service, any service, remote address:localhost, local address:any
2. Outbound TCP, Firefox, remote address:localhost local address:any

Until I had these settings, my firewall was blocking access for the browsers.

Hope this works (PS get rid of Windows FW and put a decent 3rd party one in).

Im really sorry but I didnt understand a word of that

you mentioned a back-up partition.... Would that be like your OS disk?

All I know is, I have a 30 GIG partition with just progs and my OS in it.

Debaser - not sure if it is related but I at work there has been a panic over the last few days about IE and we have been banned from accessing thei internet because of a security hole. They have only just fixed it. Sounds like this allowed a trojan in on your PC.

I heard the same.

BTW I sent you a "special pressie" by PM and email to help you enjoy Xmas.

Thanks, I look forward to that
Unfortunatly opening files like that is freezing my system.

Today I ttried putting zonealarm back on my PC, but after I click the .exe thingy, nothing happens anymore.

[emuler]

Give this one a shot too - you never know.

Threat Fire from PCTools. http://www.threatfire.com/ It has a rather good rootkit virus checker that might help.

What does the tag on your computer say?

Make/model no. (please post it here)

OEM Windows XP license key (don't post it anywhere, just tell us if it is there and in which format - eg xxxxx xxxxx OEM xxxxx etc.)

See if you have installation media (CDs and such) for whichever programs you will want to install. If not, put up a list here and we'll help you look.

[FLL]

The expert that fixed it last time created a partition for my OS, and told me that is the sensible thing to do.
Well it looks like it didn’t help me one bit, because here I am with a faulty pc again.

For what it's worth, a big reason a separate partition for the OS and programs is sensible is that you can reformat and reinstall the OS and programs without losing all your data. It doesn't by itself keep you safer. But it will still probbaly help you.

Another big reason it's sensible is so you can back up that partition in a way which will make it easier to recover without starting over from scratch with the OS disks, though apparently your expert didn't cover that or your setup doesn't lend itself to that. That's something we can talk about once you actually have recovered. Of course once people go through the hassle of recovering they don't feel like spending the extra time to back up, they just want to be done with it, it's human nature and happens all the time.

[Debaser]

I don’t want to get over excited here, but…......

Emuler, Threat fire appears to have found some shit that no other programs could... AVG, all my anti-spyware progs, Norton’s etc etc.

10 mins into running Threat fire, and this message appeared..

Threat - Hidden Folder
Location - C:\WINDOWS\system32\twain32
Status - Detected
Risk - High

After quarantining the threat I restarted my computer.
5 mins after my PC came back to life Threat fire sprang into action and gave the following message..

an application has performed an action that is potentially malicious

RISK: HIGH

NAME: TWEX.EXE

PATH: C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

After Threat fire disposed of that, my computer has never run so quickly!!!

Obviously I need to give things a little while longer, but so far it appears that Emuler has saved the day.
Although I am grateful to everyone’s help here!

[loverboy]

Well done db & emuler ......we'll keep our fingers crossed
Now as others have mentioned, download & have a play with Firefox......inherently more secure than IE7 & highly customizable.

[emuler]

Yee! Haw! Best bit of news I've had all day. Glad everything is running fine now.

I second loverboy's (and everyone else's) recommendation. Firefox + Adblock Plus + NoScript.

[Debaser]

This is great.
My computer actually runs faster than before the problem!

I always had concerns about anonib, and a PM from an FLM member told me of his concerns about it as well.

Within five mins of visiting Anonib yesterday, AVG stopped two Trojans and Threat Fire also stopped something.

I’m pretty sure Anonib has caused half the trouble.

Firefox
1. I have never used a different browser before, so I have a few questions…..
2. I have about 200 favourites; can I transfer them from IE in one go?
3. Once Firefox is installed, do I simply uninstall IE?
4. If I install Firefox, will I find people trying to advise me on getting an even better browser than that?
5. Why is Firefox the best browser you can possible use?... IE is now working fine with the new security patch.
6. Whats so important about the type of browser we use?..... after all, Google is the bit that does the searching.

[emuler]

1. go ahead
2. yes. File> Import
3. if you like, but you can also just leave it alone. If you don't use it on unsafe sites, there is no risk.
4. Yes. Don't listen to them.
5. Customisation - whole boatloads of addons available. Plus less integration with the OS, so fewer possibilities of as yet undiscovered security holes.
6. It is the browser that connects to the site and requests data. It is the browser which decides (based on your settings) which data to accept and use, and which to block or discard.