Possible OS problems

Approximately a month ago I either had a virus or malware

Could you provide more info on what you "had", and what you did to get rid if it?

And be as "detailed" as possible. It looks like that if this all started afterwards, something in the "cure" may be responsible for your current frustration.

I honestly don't think I ever had a virus. Every scan I've done, and I've done many, has come up clean of viruses. The night that it happened I was away from the computer. When I came back my spyware had done an automatic scan and came up with 5 instances. When I tried to clean them off it wouldn't let me clean them off at the same time … I had to do them one at a time. So, I cleaned off the first one and then the whole scan just disappeared and I couldn't clean the other 4. Naive me thought it must have cleaned them all since the whole scan disappeared like that. The computer was fine the rest of the night. It was the following morning when my husband turned it on for the kids that it all started then. I had been doing a Panda scan which was coming up with malware it couldn't clean. After about a week I finally found a couple scans which cleaned them off. Here's a few I wrote down. I was finally able to clean these off with Spybot and a few other good scans. FunWebProds FunWeb NoAdware MyWebSearch This was the one Panda couldn't clean off but it's finally gone now: Dope Wars in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\w/RegKey

Hmmmmm….

Until we find the precise source of the error, it's going to be difficult to fix it….

Please try this, go to:

Start > Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > Administrative Tools, double-click on Event Viewer.

In the left panel, click on Application. Then look at the items in the right panel. See if you can see any that might be related to AOL.

Errors in the log will have a red X to the left of them. If you double-click on these error entries, a more informative dialogue box will open up with a more detailed description of the error.

Please supply any info you can on any errors that might pertain to AOL. My guess is the error will be from WAOL.EXE, but it could be from almost anything.

I looked ay my log, and there are very few errors, so finding your problem may not be very difficult. Just for "grins", force AOL to make the error BEFORE you look at the log. Then (hopefully) the eror will be at the top of the list.

Cross your fingers (and toes ), and good luck.

I looked through the errors and none were from AOL. I even made the AOL error message pop up a couple times and the browser turn off. It didn't record it as an error. I went back to the night it all started (5-27-05) and found this error. I don't know if it's helpful but I thought I'd show it to you. This is what it said: Faulting application swdetect.exe, version 6.2.1063.1, faulting module hhctrl.ocx, version 5.2.3790.1280, fault address 0x000130db. I went through that event log and there are some errors from the 28th & 29th. I could post them for you to look at if you want.

I was so hoping the event log was going to help us out….

*SIGH*

One of my relatives was having AOL problems a few moths ago, although not the same as yours. As I discovered, it was because AOL"s "uninstall" doesn't work properly. I'm thinking this might be part of your problem.

The reason I say this is because of where your AOL files are located:

C:\Program Files\America Online 9.0a\

Note the "a" at the end of the AOL folder name.

My relative was all the way up to "m" or "n" on installs.

I fixed the problem by uninstalling the program, then looking in "C:\Program Files\", and manually deleting all the America Online 9.0x folders (where "x" is replaced by any alphabetic letter). After the uninstall & manual delete, I rebooted, reinstalled, and everything was OK after that.

Could you check in "C:\Program Files\" to see if you have more that one "America Online 9.0" folder to see if this may be happening to you?

I have AOL 9.0 and AOL 9.0a I thought the AOL 9.0a might have been because I had to upgrade. They had a newer version out from the one I have on disk. So that isn't the case then?

I truly believe the "a" is because the uninstall program doesn't function as well as it should… I know that from my recent experience with it.

OK … that was almost a disaster. I uninstalled and reinstalled as you suggested. Had a little glitch when I couldn't reconnect after I reinstalled. A little time spent with AOL and the problem is solved. However, if only our other problem would solve as easily. But no, I'm still getting the same error as before when I try to use the browser This is making me INSANE!!!

Help … ever since I uninstalled and reinstalled AOL I've been having problems with connectivity. I've had to uninstall and reinstall the "AOL connectivity" option three times now because I keep getting stuck at Step #2 in the AOL sign on process. Today, I tried to sign on to AOL through my IE window (AOL window was minimized) so I could do a computer check-up (I get the low memory error message if I do it directly through AOL). Once I signed onto AOL through IE my AOL minimized window turned off and then I had to reinstall the "AOL connectivity" again. Are my AOL and IE conflicting with each other somehow? When I unistalled and reinstalled AOL yesterday could something have reset and caused each other to conflict like that? I would just check if I could but I'm not sure where to look And, yes, I'm still having the same AOL error messages as before. This is so frustrating!!!!

According to what AOL told my relative when they had problems, they were told ot uninstall the connectivity first, then the rest of the AOL software. Is that what they told you? After uninstalling software, it's usually recommended to reboot afterwards to complete the uninstall. Have you considered doing a "system restore" to a point in time before you started having problems? Do you have Windows CD's to reinstall/repair Windows? I have searched and searched for clues to a solution to this, racked my brain, and poked around in my registry looking for clues to help us, but so far I'm at a loss. I do know that AOL's "standard answer" is "It's a Windows problem" (whether it is or not). They told my relative to re-install windows when in actuality it was AOL's uninstall program that was the root of the problem.

I uninstalled my AOL software yesterday. I did reboot after the uninstall … in fact the computer automatically rebooted. Did the uninstall and manual uninstall of AOL like you suggested. Then I couldn't reconnect. The woman from AOL who helped me just had me uninstall the "AOL connectivity" and then it automatically reinstalls itself when you go to sign back on. After that everything was okay until this morning. Then it got stuck on sign on step #2. I called AOL again and it ended up being the same solution as yesterday. Then when I tried to read aol through IE it shut AOL down. Then I had to do the AOL connectivity uninstall again. I fooled around in IE and set the original computer default settings and checked the box for IE to check if it's the default browser. Now things seem to be fine. I was just wondering before when I asked if the AOL and IE could have been conflicting in some way because the IE was acting up … not opening web pages, etc. But it seems to be running okay now. I have not done a system restore … have no idea how to do it. I have my Window XP disk. It's version 1.1. I was reading the information on that link I gave you in the PM and it looks like I may have to make a backup CD of the service packs. Is that correct?

To create a restore point or restore your machine to an earlier point go to:

Start > All programs > Accessories > System tools > System restore

From here you have 2 options:

1. Restore my computer to an earlier time
2. Create a restore point

If you choose "Restore my computer to an earlier time", a calendar will appear with all availabe restore dates in BOLD. You could then choose one closest to BUT BEFORE the date you started having problems.

If you decide to try this, I would choose option 2 "Create a restore point" FIRST. That way you can get back to the state your machine is in right now (right or wrong) if you want to.

I've done a system restore twice.

Once because when I was gone, the "check your desktop for unused icons" utility popped up and my wife said "Yes remove unused icons"… Silly her … The restore got all the icons back. I've since turned that off so it won't happen again.

The other time was when I installed some software (incorrectly I think because of poor instructions supplied with the software) that did registry modifications.

I'm going to have to get help on the repair/reinstall because I've not done that, and I've seen conflicting instructions on how to do that. I'm not sure which is best.

Unfortunately it's entirely possible that even after trying a "restore" and/or "repair/reinstall" you still might have problems. I say this because we still have no clue as to the exact source of the problem.

and checked the box for IE to check if it's the default browser

Hmmm… I DON'T have that box checked in my IE settings….

Well I tried a system restore. Unfortunately my problem happened at the end of May and it wouldn't let me restore before June 1. So, I did a restore to Wednesday of this week just to correct any probs I may have inadvertently caused by uninstalling AOL. Once I did that then I went to add/remove programs to check how many AOL programs I had. I said I had zero but when I went into explorer I then had three. So, I did a system restore back to my backup I created. After I did that then I had the AOL connectivity problem again and had to uninstall and reinstall that again. Now I'm up and running again and all of that seems for nothing.

There is a "system file checker" built into XP.

Here's a link on how to use it:

How to Use SFC

If any sytem files are fixed, you'll need to reboot after the "SFC" is completed.

If that doesn't work, I don't know what else to try except to repair or re-install windows.

This link may help if you decide to do that:

Repair/reinstall help

Before you try either of these, BACK UP ALL YOUR PERSONAL DATA (pictures, documents, etc) to a CD!!!

Anytime you try something of this magnitude there is always a slim possibility you may have resort to reformatting the hard drive and starting over from scratch if things go awry…

I haven't done either of these (SFC or repair/reinstall), so I won't be much help in that area…

If you have the $$$ you could look for a PC repair place in your area for help…

This is interesting… I typed in sfc/scannow and it told me the file doesn't exist and to recheck and make sure I spelled it correctly. Then I looked at the way it was typed in the link you gave me and noticed it looked like there was a space so I typed it like this sfc / scannow. The information box popped up real quickly and then just disappeared … just like when I try to install McAfee.

This information is supposed to be part of my XP OS system right? So I wonder where it could have disappeared to? And, could this be leading us in the right direction as a possible source of my problem?

If you have the $$$ you could look for a PC repair place in your area for help…

LOL … I've been seriously considering this. If it comes down to this do you have any suggestions for choosing a reputable person/place? I've never had to do this before so any information would be great.