1st post
HELP! I don't know if I got a virus or did something else to my computer. My desktop will not work at all & I'm writing this on my laptop.
Tried to load a newly bought game on computer & it wouldn't load. Loaded on laptop, so thought maybe I needed updates on desktop-kids use it & hasn't updated in awhile. Tried to do the auto updates & halfway through installying, it would freeze up. I would quit & try again -over & over,same thing. BTW it was freezing during 'service pack 3' installation, I have service pack 2.
Then I made the dumb mistake of thinking I needed to turn off firewall in case it was stopping updates (we have dsl).Turned firewall off for apx 5min before deciding it was a bad idea & turning back on. Tried to do the updates again with same problem.
At some point after this I did get one of those screens to "send error report" & I clicked on it!! Computer froze up & I had to turn it off then back on. I then received this error message -
DLL C:\WINDOWS\system 32\SASRV.dll is not a valid windows image. Please check this aginst your installation diskette
When I clicked on the x to close, the screen goes black. I've tried turning off & on but it does the same. I tried the F8 togo back, but it still does the same thing. Don't know anything about starting in safe mode.
Do I have that sasser virus or is there something else wrong? I cant even get the computer running to do any scans or anything else - HELP!!??
(they told me to run the malware removal), this is my 2nd post:
After this happened, I did some internet research from my laptop & my problem sounded like what they described for the sasser virus, but I also found info that said trying to install 'service pack 3" on a computer with 'service pack 2' can also cause a lot of problems. So I don't know what is wrong or where to even start, I've NEVER had a problem like this on my computers!
Also, I can't do ANYTHING on this computer! When I turn it on, it brings up this error message & when I close it the screen is totally blank. I can't access the computer to do anything to fix it or test it.
Now, I did forget to mention that I read some of the posts about clicking the F8 key & starting up in safe mode(which I know nothing about) or going back to when the computer was working. I did try both things a few times, but each time it does the same thing - I get this errore message
DLL C:\WINDOWS\system 32\SASRV.dll is not a valid windows image. Please check this aginst your installation diskette
and then the screen goes black. I can't get it to do ANYTHING!
Sorry this is so long. I would really appreciate it if anyone can tell me if this is a virus or some other problem & if there is a way to get this thing going so I can DO something to fix it, or if I'm going to have to wipe everything out & start over again(as a friend said I would have to do)
Thank you,
Judy (PS- I'm not good with tech talk at all, so you'll have to pretend I'm computer
illiterate!)