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Hello - Introduction

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Post #1
Hello WhattheTech world,

My name is Kevin and I'm a 21 year old Accounting student. As you can probably tell by the job I've chosen to get into, I am not really a technology expert. However, I've always had a bit of an interest in it and am interested in learning more.

A bit of history of my and my computer (Lenovo T-Series, purchased in 2008). After reading the terms and conditions, I hope this isn't a violation to admit, but: I am not a technosaint, and by that I mean I used to download stuff (mostly TV shows) illegally. I stopped that about two months ago for multiple reasons:


- I went into the workforce and got to see how business is run. I'm willing to watch advertising to support the shows.
- I realized it was completely unethical.
- I realized that it was actually one of the main causes for my Dad (a computer programmer) having issues getting people to pay for software.
- It exposed my computer to a world of viruses.

There were other reasons, but those are the top four. I'm admitting this now, because I want it to be out there. I admit it was wrong, and now I'm trying to fix it. I've deleted all of the downloaded stuff from my computer, and have been working to get my computer back in top operating capabilities, but it's slow going. I've currently got a few issues that I'm reading through archived threads about:

    - My internet just started having connectivity issues last night where it would start up for 10 minutes then hang up. This happened after installing MalwareBytes and removing the rogue 'System Tool'.
      - Excel won't load a file by double clicking on it, I need to open files by first opening Excel then File > Open (Office '07 - purchased)
        - The startup time after entering my password is really slow. It seems to just stop for a while and take a break before continuing startup.
          - (SOLVED) I just got the rogue 'System Tool' off of my computer last night using some information from this website.

          I'm glad to have joined and like I said before, I'm working through some of the archived articles before I make one of my own for each of these issues. If anyone has any articles that they saved the links of for the problems above, please let me know because any time saved would be really appreciated.
Post #3
Hello reciprical,

From your description of the chaos and changes your machine has recently gone through, I would still be concerned about possible Malware involvement.

You should be concerned about and take action to back-up any/all of your important documents, files, data, saved media, etc.

You might already have begun feeling confident that no Malware remains, if as you mention, you have followed various suggestions found in these Forums, and perhaps have also Scanned with a couple of online Antimalware scans such as ESET, Kaspersky, and others.

To confirm that your machine is malware free, you may be well advised to post to our Virus, Spyware & Malware Removal Forum.
This could give the machine a clean bill of health, and will also provide a great deal of information about the operating system and configuration that can be useful in additional diagnosis of remaining problems with slow boot and failures with applications such as Excel.

Boot problems can have many causes, but often involve corrupted drivers, and missing or mis-configured services.
Identifying and replacing such can be tedious, but is doable.

Last-resort repair strategies may involve Repair Installation of OS, and even complete re-install.
We don't jump to that "last-resort" in our first efforts, so will most likely be able to suggest less extreme steps to sort out the difficulties.

Mostly, if you do eventually call upon What The Tech folks to assist, we will need a great deal more information about your system.
Diagnosis of possible remaining malware will be a good place to start.
http://forums.whatthetech.com/index.php?showforum=27

Best Regards.