Slow moving Windows XP [Solved]
#1
Posted 05 February 2013 - 12:11 AM
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#2
Posted 05 February 2013 - 07:13 AM
My name is OCD. I would be more than happy to take a look at your log and help you with solving any malware problems you might have. Logs can take a while to research, so please be patient and know that I am working hard to get you a clean and functional system back in your hands. I'd be grateful if you would note the following:
Please be advised, as I am still in training, all my replies to you will be checked for accuracy by one of our experts to ensure that I am giving you the best possible advice, this will be a team effort. This may cause a delay, but I will do my best to keep it as short as possible. Please bear with me, I will post back to you as soon as I can.
- I will be working on your Malware issues, this may or may not, solve other issues you have with your machine.
- The fixes are specific to your problem and should only be used for the issues on this machine.
- Please continue to review my answers until I tell you your machine appears to be clear. Absence of symptoms does not mean that everything is clear.
- It's often worth reading through these instructions and printing them for ease of reference.
- If you don't know or understand something, please don't hesitate to say or ask!! It's better to be sure and safe than sorry.
- Please reply to this thread. Do not start a new topic.
DO NOT use any TOOLS such as Combofix or HijackThis fixes without supervision. Doing so could make your system inoperable and could require a full reinstall of your Operating System and losing all your programs and data.
Important Note for Vista and Windows 7 users:
These tools MUST be run from the executable.(.exe) every time you run them with Admin Rights (Right click, choose "Run as Administrator")
Please stay with this topic until I let you know that your system appears to be "All Clear"
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#3
Posted 05 February 2013 - 02:32 PM
#4
Posted 05 February 2013 - 05:40 PM
Please download MiniToolBox, save it to your desktop and run it.
Checkmark the following checkboxes:
- Flush DNS
- Report IE Proxy Settings
- Reset IE Proxy Settings
- Report FF Proxy Settings
- Reset FF Proxy Settings
- List content of Hosts
- List IP configuration
- List Winsock Entries
- List last 10 Event Viewer log
- List Installed Programs
- List Devices >> select Only Problems
- List Users, Partitions and Memory size.
- List Minidump Files
Note: When using "Reset FF Proxy Settings" option Firefox should be closed.
Next
- Please download aswMBR.exe and save it to your desktop.
- Double click aswMBR.exe to start the tool.
- When asked if you want to download Avast's virus definitions please select Yes.
- Click Scan
- Upon completion of the scan, click Save log and save it to your desktop, and post that log in your next reply for review. Note - do NOT attempt any Fix yet.
- You will also notice another file created on the desktop named MBR.dat. Right click that file and select Send To>Compressed (zipped) file. Attach that zipped file in your next reply as well.
- Results.txt
- aswMBR log
- attachMBR.zip
- Did you experience the current issues prior to installing AVG?
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#5
Posted 05 February 2013 - 08:10 PM
#6
Posted 06 February 2013 - 10:47 AM
Unfortunately, I believe the primary cause of your issue is running Windows XP with limited resources (512 MB of RAM). Today's programs can be quite a strain on your resources. Perhaps adding additional RAM might help improve your performance. Please do not make any changes to your system until we have finished.
There are however a few things we can try to help increase the performance of your computer.
As you stated AVG seems to be working fine, and that may be the case. But, AVG is known to be tough on system resources. With that in mind I would consider switching to a different Anti-Virus program.
Here are a few FREE Anti-Virus programs. Just choose one:
Next
Your Bonjour Service from Apple seems to be having difficulty starting at times. Let's uninstall it, the reinstall.
- Please go to Start > Control Panel > Add Remove Programs.
- Locate the following programs:
- Bonjour (Version: 3.0.0.10)
- Click Remove and allow Windows to completely remove each one in turn.Then reboot your computer to complete this part of the process.
Reinstall the Bonjour Service from Apple
- Go to http://support.apple...jourPSSetup.exe and download the file
- Save it to your desktop
- Double-click the Bonjour setup file and click "Next" at the welcome screen.
- Review the license agreement and click "I accept the terms in the license agreement" to proceed.
- Click "Install."
- Click "Finish" once installation has completed. You have now reinstalled Bonjour for Windows.
Disk Defragmenter for XP
- Open My Computer.
- Right-click the local disk volume that you want to defragment, and then click Properties.
- On the Tools tab, click Defragment Now.
- Click Defragment.
- Any change in performance?
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#7
Posted 06 February 2013 - 03:01 PM
#8
Posted 06 February 2013 - 07:30 PM
It is a relatively easy process. The actual steps will be slightly different depending on whether your computer is a Tower or a Laptop. The only difference being the steps taken to access the RAM modules. Once you locate the RAM modules the steps are nearly identical.just for my info, is adding additional RAM an easy thing to do?
Crucial.com is the site I have used for many years, you can download their free Memory Advisor tool that will scan your system and tell you what they suggest adding based on your system.
Memory Advisor - will give you recommendations of upgrade options.
System Scanner - will give you the specs for your system.
Desktop PC installation Video
Laptop Installation Video
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#9
Posted 08 February 2013 - 08:29 PM
#10
Posted 09 February 2013 - 10:07 AM
Glad you are seing some progress. Let's run a few scans to make sure we haven't missed anything.
= = = = = = = = = =
Please download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware to your desktop.
- Double-click mbam-setup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
- At the end, be sure a checkmark is placed next to Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, then click Finish.
- If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.
- Once the program has loaded, select Perform quick scan, then click Scan as shown below.
- When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results.
- Be sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
- When completed, a log will open in Notepad. Please save it to a convenient location and post the results.
Please run Eset Online Scanner
Administrator rights are required to run ESET Online Scanner
- Place a check mark in the box YES, I accept the Terms Of Use
- Click the Start button.
- Now click the Install button.
- Click Start. The scanner engine will initialize and update.
- Do Not place a check mark in the box beside Remove found threats.
- Click the Scan button. The scan will now run, please be patient.
- When the scan finishes click the Details tab.
- Copy and paste the contents of the C:\Program Files\ESET\log.txt into your next reply.
- MBAM log
- ESET log.txt
- Any remaining issues?
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#11
Posted 12 February 2013 - 07:49 AM
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#12
Posted 12 February 2013 - 03:01 PM
#13
Posted 14 February 2013 - 01:05 AM
#14
Posted 14 February 2013 - 12:38 PM
Your log appears to be clean. We have a few items to take care of before we get to the All Clean Speech.
Clean up with OTL:
- Double-click OTL.exe to start the program.
- Close all other programs apart from OTL as this step will require a reboot
- On the OTL main screen, press the CLEANUP button
- Say Yes to the prompt and then allow the program to reboot your computer.
You can now delete any tools and/or logs remaining on your desktop.
Next
- Please go to Start > Control Panel > Add Remove Programs.
- Locate the following programs:
- Java 7 Update 11
- Click Remove and allow Windows to completely remove each one in turn.Then reboot your computer to complete this part of the process.
- Get the current version of Java (Version 7 Update 13) by going to http://java.com/en/d...d/installed.jsp
- Select the Verify Java Version button and follow the onscreen instructions to update.
Even though I just had you update Java, this next step needs to be carried out.
There is a vulnerablilty with regards to Java and web browsers. Therefore, we recommend to disable java in web browsers.
More information can be found here: http://www.techsuppo...ers-683721.html
Disable Java in Web Browsers
- Click on the Start button and then click on the Control Panel option.
- In the Control Panel Search enter Java Control Panel.
- Click on the Java icon to open the Java Control Panel.
Disable Java through the Java Control Panel
- In the Java Control Panel, click on the Security tab.
- Deselect the check box for Enable Java content in the browser. This will disable the Java plug-in in the browser.
- Click Apply. When the Windows User Account Control (UAC) dialog appears, allow permissions to make the changes.
- Click OK in the Java Plug-in confirmation window.
- Restart the browser for changes to take effect.
Next
Clear Java Cache
- Start button, select Control Panel.
- In the Control Panel, open the Java Control Panel.
- Click on Settings button under Temporary Internet Files.
- Click Delete Files button at the Temporary Files Settings window.
- Click on OK button at confirmation dialog.
- Exit the Control Panel.
Create a System Restore Point in Windows XP
- Click on Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > and click on System Restore.
- Click on the Create a Restore Point radio button and then click Next.
- Give your restore point a description.
- Next click the Create button and your restore point will be created.
- Exit out of System Tools.
Remove all old Restore Points except the most recent one.
- Click Start, Run and type CLEANMGR and press Enter
- Select the hard disk partition and press OK
- At the top of the dialog, click the tab More Options
- Under System Restore section, click the button "Clean up"
With the above items taken care of let's move on to the All Clean part of the process.
This infection appears to have been cleaned, but I can not give you any absolute guarantees. As a precaution, I would go ahead and change all of your passwords as this is especially important after an infection.
Any of the logs that you created for use in the forums or remaining tools that have not yet been removed can be deleted so they aren't cluttering up your desktop.
Here are some tips to reduce the potential for spyware infection in the future:
Make your Internet Explorer more secure - This can be done by following these simple instructions:
- From within Internet Explorer click on the Tools menu and then click on Options.
- Click once on the Security tab
- Click once on the Internet icon so it becomes highlighted.
- Click once on the Custom Level button.
- Change the Download signed ActiveX controls to Prompt
- Change the Download unsigned ActiveX controls to Disable
- Change the Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe to Disable
- Change the Installation of desktop items to Prompt
- Change the Launching programs and files in an IFRAME to Prompt
- Change the Navigate sub-frames across different domains to Prompt
- When all these settings have been made, click on the OK button.
- If it prompts you as to whether or not you want to save the settings, press the Yes button.
- Next press the Apply button and then the OK to exit the Internet Properties page.
Use and update an anti-virus software - I can not overemphasize the need for you to use and update your anti-virus application on a regular basis. With the ever increasing number of new variants of malware arriving on the scene daily, you become very susceptible to an attack without updated protection.
Free Anti-Virus
Firewall
Using a third-party firewall will allow you to give/deny access for applications that want to go online. Without a firewall your computer is susceptible to being hacked and taken over. Simply using a firewall in its default configuration can lower your risk greatly. A tutorial on firewalls can be found here. **There are firewalls listed in this tutorial that could be downloaded and used but I would personally only recommend using one of the following two below:
Online Armor Free
Agnitum Outpost Firewall Free
Make sure you keep your Windows OS current. Windows XP users can visit Windows update regularly to download and install any critical updates and service packs. Windows Vista/7 users can open the Start menu > All Programs > Windows Update > Check for Updates (in left hand task pane) to update these systems. Without these you are leaving the back door open.
Consider a custom hosts file such as MVPS HOSTS. This custom hosts file effectively blocks a wide range of unwanted ads, banners, 3rd party Cookies, 3rd party page counters, web bugs, and many hijackers. For information on how to download and install, please read this tutorial by WinHelp2002
Note: Be sure to follow the instructions to disable the DNS Client service before installing a custom hosts file.
WOT (Web of Trust) As "Googling" is such an integral part of internet life, this free browser add on warns you about risky websites that try to scam visitors, deliver malware or send spam. It is especially helpful when browsing or searching in unfamiliar territory. WOT's color-coded icons show you ratings for 21 million websites, helping you avoid the dangerous sites. WOT has an add-on available for Firefox, Internet Explorer as well as Google Chrome.
Finally, I strongly recommend that you read TonyKlein's good advice So how did I get infected in the first place?
Please reply to this thread once more if you are satisfied so that we can mark the problem as resolved.
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#15
Posted 16 February 2013 - 08:00 PM
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