I then attempted to run Windows Explorer to see what had changed in various folders. The window opened, the left pane displayed everything normally, but nothing appeared in the right pane. When I clicked on a folder in the left pane, the folder contents did not come up, but a very small square with a dot in the middle appeared in the upper left corner of the right pane. I tried to open the Control Panel, but the same thing happened - no icons. I restarted to Safe Mode and Windows Explorer worked fine, but I have no clue what had happened.
Seeing how much trouble this was becoming, I figured I'd save myself the headache and use System Restore. I was greeted with the following error message:
An error has occurred in the script on this page.
Line: 14
Char: 9
Error: Object doesn't support this property or method.
Code: 0
URL: res://rstrui.exe/start.htm
I attempted to run System Restore in Safe Mode, but the same message appeared. I then checked Microsoft's support concerning this and it suggested making a new restore point from a command prompt. No luck. It further suggested performing a clean boot and reinstalling WinME. Unfortunately, I could not do a clean boot. Something in the startup processes kept running.
A second problem had developed as well. I opened Windows Explorer to see if anything had been added or removed. I found some information regarding Buddy.exe along with its associates Solidpeer and Ceres. With information from various places, I removed a folder I found in Windows Explorer for Buddy.exe and removed a registry key titled "Ceres" (can't remember what section the key was in...sorry). I had a list of other registry keys that Ceres and Solidpeer add, but I did not find any of them on my machine.
I then proceeded to download the latest version of HijackThis. It found a few items under the Trusted Zone which I recognized as spyware/adware related from past cleanings and deleted them right away. Everything looked OK to me beyond that. The latest log file is included at the end of this message.
I'm not positive that all of these events are related, but seeing as they happened on the same day I tend to think they are. If anyone has any suggestions as to what else I can try to fix either or both of these problems, please send them on.
Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 8:37:41 PM, on 5/6/2005
Platform: Windows ME (Win9x 4.90.3000)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v5.50 (5.50.4134.0600)
Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KERNEL32.DLL
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSGSRV32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\mmtask.tsk
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MPREXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSTASK.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SSDPSRV.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\STIMON.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\ALWIL SOFTWARE\AVAST4\ASHSERV.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DEVLDR16.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RESTORE\STMGR.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RPCSS.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\COMMON FILES\REAL\UPDATE_OB\REALSCHED.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\TASKMON.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SYSTRAY.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\DELL\RESOLUTION ASSISTANT\COMMON\BIN\RXMON9X.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\LOADQM.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\MOTIVE\MOTMON.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ATIPTAXX.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT HARDWARE\MOUSE\POINT32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\HPZTSB06.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\ALWIL SOFTWARE\AVAST4\ASHMAISV.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\ALWIL SOFTWARE\AVAST4\ASHWEBSV.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WMIEXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SPOOL32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\RUNDLL32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RNAAPP.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\TAPISRV.EXE
C:\UNZIPPED\HIJACKTHIS[1]\HIJACKTHIS.EXE
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://mail.yahoo.com/
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page =
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings,ProxyOverride = 127.0.0.1
R3 - Default URLSearchHook is missing
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHELPER.DLL
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TkBellExe] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe" -osboot
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\QTTASK.EXE" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ScanRegistry] C:\WINDOWS\scanregw.exe /autorun
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TaskMonitor] C:\WINDOWS\taskmon.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [PCHealth] C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\Support\PCHSchd.exe -s
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SystemTray] SysTray.Exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LoadPowerProfile] Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [RxMon] C:\Program Files\Dell\Resolution Assistant\Common\bin\RxMon9x.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MadExe] C:\PROGRAM FILES\DELL\RESOLUTION ASSISTANT\COMMON\BIN\LaunchRA.exe -boot
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Speed racer] C:\Program Files\Creative\PlayCenter\CTSRReg.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [UpdReg] C:\WINDOWS\Updreg.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LoadQM] loadqm.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MotiveMonitor] C:\Program Files\Motive\motmon.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AtiPTA] Atiptaxx.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [POINTER] C:\Program Files\Microsoft Hardware\Mouse\point32.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HPDJ Taskbar Utility] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\hpztsb06.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ashMaiSv] C:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\AVAST4\ashmaisv.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AtariBanner] "C:\Program Files\Infogrames\Atari Anniversary Edition\Volume 2\Banner.exe" /0
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [avast! Web Scanner] C:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\AVAST4\ashWebSv.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MSConfigReminder] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\msconfig.exe /reminder
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [devldr16.exe] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\devldr16.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [*StateMgr] C:\WINDOWS\System\Restore\StateMgr.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [LoadPowerProfile] Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [SchedulingAgent] mstask.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [SSDPSRV] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ssdpsrv.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [StillImageMonitor] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\STIMON.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [avast!] C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashServ.exe
O4 - Startup: Microsoft Office.lnk = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\OSA9.EXE
O4 - Startup: Resolution Assistant.lnk = C:\Program Files\Dell\Resolution Assistant\MotiveAssistant\bin\matcli.exe
O4 - Startup: Adobe Gamma Loader.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe
O4 - Startup: PowerReg Scheduler.exe
O9 - Extra button: Dell Home - {EE117DAA-A30B-40FC-945C-38AE1B80C1FA} - http://www.dellnet.com (file missing) (HKCU)
O14 - IERESET.INF: START_PAGE_URL=http://www.dellnet.com
O15 - Trusted Zone: *.windupdates.com (HKLM)
O15 - Trusted IP range: 67.19.185.246
O15 - ProtocolDefaults: 'http' protocol is in Trusted Zone, should be Internet Zone
O15 - ProtocolDefaults: 'https' protocol is in Trusted Zone, should be Internet Zone
O15 - ProtocolDefaults: 'https' protocol is in Trusted Zone, should be Internet Zone (HKLM)
O16 - DPF: Yahoo! Euchre - http://download.game...nts/y/et1_x.cab
O16 - DPF: {AE1C01E3-0283-11D3-9B3F-00C04F8EF466} (HeartbeatCtl Class) - http://fdl.msn.com/z...s/heartbeat.cab
O16 - DPF: Yahoo! Backgammon - http://download.game...nts/y/at1_x.cab
O16 - DPF: {2B323CD9-50E3-11D3-9466-00A0C9700498} (Yahoo! Audio Conferencing) - http://us.chat1.yimg...v45/yacscom.cab
Sign In
Create Account
