The nice tech who helped me with many various virus problems suggested I post in here. I had a very bad bunch of viruses and malware that about killed my computer. The first tech I was working with did everything he could possibly do and we were still getting errors so he suggested I restore to factory default and I agreed. I did it and all seemed to be working perfectly. Then I must have inadvertently clicked something that had more viruses and I got whomped, again. We seem to have everything virus-wise under control but the computer keeps giving me the Startup Repair tool, about every 10th time I reboot or turn on the computer. I have no clue what is going on but the 2nd tech suggested I post in here and give a link back to us working on the viruses, etc. So, here it is. I hope someone can help stop all of this.
More data…
Computer is an Acer laptop, model Aspire 6930 running Windows Vista, Home version with 4 GIG RAM. It has a split HD and the C drive is 143 GIG, the D drive is 139 GIG.
The computer was bought, new, in 2009.
Hi CoolCat, It looks as though you have been unlucky, getting infected again, it may be that you can fix the current problem without having to do another "restore to factory" so let's try by using chkdsk with the r switch to check disc integrity and for any bad or missing clusters etc.
Once this has completed it would be wise to run sfc with the scannow switch in order to repair replace any missing or corrupted Windows protected system files that the infection may have caused.
1 Open a command prompt with elevated privileges (right click and select run as administrator)
2 Type the following:
chkdsk /r (note the space, it needs to be there)
3 press enter key
4 at the warning press Y 5 Press enter key
type the following: exit 6 Press enter key
close down your machine (a full shutdown not a sleep hibernate etc)
7 wait for 2 minutes with a blank black screen then restart your computer
8 chkdsk will run, do not interrupt it, it may take several hours to complete all 5 passes. do not switch off your computer, or allow it to be switched off, or try to use it in any way until chkdsk has finished….
9 chkdsk will automatically restart your computer when it has finished….
10 follow step 1 above to open a command prompt with elevated privileges
11 Type the following: sfc /scannow
(note the space, it needs to be there)
12 press the enter key to execute the sfc /scannow command
sfc will check your protected system files and repair (if it can) any damaged or missing ones… there is nothing for you to do)
13 when sfc has finished it will report if file validation is completed, and if any repairs were made.
14 type the following command: exit 15 press the enter key and the command window will disappear
16 manually restart your computer
carry out a complete test by performing your normal work for some time, and let us know if this has done the trick for you.
Regards
paws
Well this did not work. After running the tests and fix, I got the same Windows Recovery Tool message which wanted to run System Restore, again. I backed out of that, twice, after rebooting twice as it came up both times. After the 3rd reboot, I hit F8 multiple times before the splash screen loaded then picked "restore to last known good configuration" or whatever that is that is quite similar to what I just typed. The computer booted up fine, then. So far!
I did locate the CBS file. Do you want to see it?
Thanks!
That's encouraging well done!
Lets see how things go for a while… no need to see the CBS file at this stage (the repairs, if performed are automatic.
Regards
paws
Well, the problem is still ongoing and happens at least once a week. I have been trying to head it off by just hitting F8 whenever the computer seems to slow down.
Somehow, I got infected with a PUP.Optional malware and this may have happened when a friend shared a link on Facebook via messaging. Later, we figured out his account is either hacked and/or someone put a keylogger on it as things started popping up in the message that he did not post and he was shocked.
I found the PUP.Optional with Malwarebytes and it seems to be cleared up now. No sooner did I reboot as instructed and run Malwarebytes again (my idea) all H broke loose. I was reading email, minimized it and saw I had a full blue screen and a memory dump going on. I did manage to copy what was in the small Windows box after rebooting using the F8 key, again. Things seem to be running a bit slow, again. Here is the message I got.
Lets see how things go for a while… no need to see the CBS file at this stage (the repairs, if performed are automatic.
Regards
paws