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tri1ogy
tri1ogy
Join Date 01/2005
0

Dell surgery for a friend

need additional assistance

March 28, 2005 5:54:28 PM from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
I spent this weekend repairing a friends Dell. A family PC with 5 accounts. Quick background: someones brother came over and went to an adult site. The only security was Nortons Anti-Virus - and some kind of pop-up blocker (Defender?). And no, the guy didnt make recovery CDs either. Well, this wasnt how I was planning the repair, but...


Here's the story:
First thing I did was get rid of any malicious desktop shortcuts and their related program files. Secondly, I scanned the system. From there, I fine-tuned the settings in Internet Properties and in the Control Panel.

All was well, until I tried running a Disk Cleanup. The PC didnt like that idea. So, I went to My Computer and noticed that 24Gb out of 38 was available. It would start off fine and would get up to 3 progress bars and then not seem to do anything else. Each time I ran it, the Windows Task Manager would verify it was running, and the CPU load would vary between 81 and 99%. (So much for starting with a clean slate... )

From being in the Add/Remove Programs screen, I noticed that there were only a handful of updates on the PC. I tried running Windows Updates to see what I wanted to install - but they didnt want to install. (Moving along... )

Spybot was onboard, so I updated and ran it, only to find around 900 discrepancies. I suggested using Mozilla Firefox over IE6, so that was installed. After that, I downloaded Lavasoft Ad-Aware, Active@Eraser, CWShredder, and a firewall.

Before anything else, I kept noticing WSEM Update. Curious, I searched for this on Google, and it led me to a Symantec security response. Cool, off to the registry I go. One thing led to another and I fixed several items in there. (Of course, I ran their recommended tool as well.) After doing what I have done, and considering what layed ahead, I went into Disk Defrag. It analyzed the system and didnt recommend a defrag, but I did one. (I ran Spybot again since I had to go online.)

I installed, updated, and ran Lavasoft Ad-Aware to find over 1500 problems - but - it also found a virus (with the help of Norton). I cleaned the files up and clicked on the Bloodhound.Exploit.6 link on the Nortons pane. Supposedly it would go away if I could get the Windows Updates to work. From what I read, it 'wasnt that harmful'. By this time (8:30 pm on a Sunday), I decided to install the Zone Alarm firewall.

Eraser and CWShredder were installed. I ran the latter only to find that the PC was reported as okay (before running Lavasoft). All in all, it may not have been the ideal way, but you can sure tell a difference.


Problems/questions:
1) If someone could point me to a link, or explain my Windows Update difficulties...that would be great.

2) Anyone have a better clue than me why the Disk Cleanup wouldnt work, or how I can help it along? This really stumped me.

3) What else would be suggested to do, that I may have overlooked?

Thanks!
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tri1ogy
tjesterb
Join Date 12/2003
0
Reply #1 March 28, 2005 8:52:29 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
Try downloading and running HijackThis http://majorgeeks.com/download3155.html
Do a Google search for any questionable entries, or post the log on TweakXP.com.

Even if there's no hijacker, it can show you all kinds of other malaware.
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tri1ogy
Larry Kuperman
Join Date 04/2001
+43
Reply #2 March 28, 2005 9:17:21 PM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
I would recommend buying a removeable Hrd Drive. Back up the really necessary files (My Documents, etc.) Format and do a clean install.

Its a matter of the time value. No matter how thorough you are, you may not get all the "bad stuff." Bear in mind that Dell PC's come out of the box with Real Player and who knows what else pre-installed.

Also, the removeable disk with a back up program will be useful for years to come.
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tri1ogy
Akoloutheo
Join Date 01/2005
0
Reply #3 March 28, 2005 11:54:23 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
Larry Kuperman, whats wrong with real player? Should I uninstall it?
Hmm, feeling paranoid.
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tri1ogy
Eroticus Prime
Join Date 09/2004
0
Reply #4 March 28, 2005 11:54:30 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
1. This tool from Microsoft might be of use. Don't know though. Link
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tri1ogy
tri1ogy
Join Date 01/2005
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Reply #5 March 29, 2005 3:49:26 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
Thank you all for your time...I know that was a rather windy post, lol.

tjesterb: I actually thought about that. Since it was mentioned here, I'll do it this weekend.

Scribe Larry Kuperman: Sounds like a great idea to me. I dont think he'll go for spending any money, but back-ups are definite (ran outta time Sunday). Their PC is mainly for email and looking things up. Agreed...I didnt like some of the pre-installs.

Mr Eroticus Prime: Looks like a handy link. I'll take a look at it when I have more time.
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tri1ogy
Kevin_C
Join Date 11/2002
+7
Reply #6 March 29, 2005 9:00:33 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
whats wrong with real player?


The folks at Real have their good days and they have their bad days.. On their bad days their app will absolutely hijack any and all media formats on your PC if they want to be the associated program and I believe they install some "questionable" content along with the player. However, I think after getting lots of flack for this practive they cleaned their act up, at least for a while. Whether or not they still do any of this I don't know because I refuse to ever use the program again.


Good Luck!
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tri1ogy
Double Zero
Join Date 07/2004
0
Reply #7 March 29, 2005 9:25:14 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
The folks at Real have their good days and they have their bad days.. On their bad days their app will absolutely hijack any and all media formats on your PC if they want to be the associated program and I believe they install some "questionable" content along with the player. However, I think after getting lots of flack for this practive they cleaned their act up, at least for a while. Whether or not they still do any of this I don't know because I refuse to ever use the program again.


I agree 100%, and I also will never have that piece of Ummmm.."work" ..LoL on my PC again.

Also there is another utility that seems to work real well as far as disk cleanup goes. Ccleaner at http://www.ccleaner.com I found it through a thread posted here at WC. It not only cleans out your system but it also has a registry repair feature that works pretty good. I use it in place of disk cleanup now, along with the usual Anti Virus tools and Spyware tools.

Zero.
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tri1ogy
tri1ogy
Join Date 01/2005
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Reply #8 March 29, 2005 8:28:55 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
On their bad days their app will absolutely hijack any and all media formats on your PC if they want to


I forgot about that, but that is true here. *waves hand in air* For the longest time, I couldnt figure out why nothing would happen in my WMP, or why I couldnt burn discs. I removed Real and guess what...


Double Zero: Would using Ccleaner to clear the abundance of junk on my friends Dell set his Disk Cleanup utility straight??
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tri1ogy
Double Zero
Join Date 07/2004
0
Reply #9 March 30, 2005 12:10:27 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
Double Zero: Would using Ccleaner to clear the abundance of junk on my friends Dell set his Disk Cleanup utility straight??


I dont know if it would or not, I doubt it would if the utility was not working due to corrupted or missing files.
Ccleaner defintely could not hurt though, and I do think in that case it would be a huge help.

Did you run System File checker after you got rid of the Virus and installed all the other proggies?...
You may just need to replace system files that got damaged/lost/overwritten in all the madness..
Easiest way to do that is to run the SFC from the prompt.


Zero.
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tri1ogy
tri1ogy
Join Date 01/2005
0
Reply #10 March 30, 2005 7:00:34 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
Wow! I decided to dl and try out Ccleaner last night. I'm impressed.

One thing: I dont know everything, but I'd say I'm knowledgeable when it comes to computers. Is there a help forum for this? Dont want to wipe out the wrong things.

Thank you, thank you. Did I already say thank you? I'm definitely going to use this on my friends Dell!
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tri1ogy
Double Zero
Join Date 07/2004
0
Reply #11 March 30, 2005 8:52:38 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
Is there a help forum for this? Dont want to wipe out the wrong things.



It has been awhile since I have been to the Ccleaner site, but you may have a look around there to see if any forums have popped up..I personally dont know of any..
As far as wiping the wrong things..I have put that to the test and used it as wrecklessly as possible and have had no problems... I do recommend creating the registry backup before fixing issues in the registry though..
If you need to use the backup you save, just go to where you saved it (default is My documents folder I believe) right click and select merge..really is a piece of cake!

Enjoy!,
Zero.
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tri1ogy
tri1ogy
Join Date 01/2005
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Reply #12 March 30, 2005 12:43:59 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
As far as wiping the wrong things..I have put that to the test and used it as wrecklessly as possible and have had no problems...


He he...well, thanks again!
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