[Essexboy]

Also wondering whether you might be able to indicate what you believe may have caused the problem I had, and what remedies I might put in place to avoid it happening again

The main problem was a piece of malware tried to replace the proper explorer with its own version, however one of your protection tools stopped it. But, not before it had moved the original explorer to a backup position - hence no explorer for the system to use. A boot scan with Avast on the first alert may have cured the problem though

I'm not sure how Uniblue Driver Software is, or how it got on my computer, or whether it's useful or trustworthy, but I would welcome you're advice as to whether to keep it or uninstall it

This is a programme to update your system drivers, I am not a great fan of this as it wants to run all the time the computer is on, whereas a monthly check would suffice. For which I use drivermax

Similarly with Filehippo.com Update checker, which somehow got installed in the last week. IT's reommending lots of things to download and install. Any thoughts?

I use this but again it will only run when I want it to - which is about once a month, but it is a good tool

I´m running Avast free virus software and A'-aware. Once-a-week I run Malwarebtes. Do you think that's a good cocktail for anti-virus, -malware and -spyware?

Very similar to my setup I run Avast Internet Security Suite and (if I remember ) Malwarebytes

If you could now update Malwarebytes please and run a quick scan, posting the resultant log.. Then let me know what problems remain before I tidy you up

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I have run the Malwarebytes (in fact I mistakenly clicked on full scan before reading your suggestion to do a quick scan), and the log file of the result is attached. It said there were various infected files.I´ll be interested in your advice. The computer still runs a bit slow - it´s a 2 year old desktop running on an Intel Celeron 430 chip, 1.8 GHz, 1 gig of RAM. Often running at high % CPU usage-though right now it´s ok (8%).

I´ll be grateful for any adevice about the Malwarebytes log.

[jps4]

I have run the Malwarebytes (in fact I mistakenly clicked on full scan before reading your suggestion to do a quick scan), and the log file of the result is attached. It said there were various infected files.I´ll be interested in your advice. The computer still runs a bit slow - it´s a 2 year old desktop running on an Intel Celeron 430 chip, 1.8 GHz, 1 gig of RAM. Often running at high % CPU usage-though right now it´s ok (8%).

I´ll be grateful for any adevice about the Malwarebytes log.

[jps4]

I have run the Malwarebytes (in fact I mistakenly clicked on full scan before reading your suggestion to do a quick scan), and the log file of the result is attached. It said there were various infected files.I´ll be interested in your advice. The computer still runs a bit slow - it´s a 2 year old desktop running on an Intel Celeron 430 chip, 1.8 GHz, 1 gig of RAM. Often running at high % CPU usage-though right now it´s ok (8%).

I´ll be grateful for any adevice about the Malwarebytes log.

Attached Files

•  mbam-log-2011-08-02 (13-23-42).txt   2.81KB   109 downloads

[jps4]

As an ex-buddhist monk with not much of a profession (teaching meditation), I would love to know what kind of study you would recommend for me to understand the workings of the innards of these windows computer systems, registries etc, sop that I could fix such problems myself,like all these custom comand strings you recommended, where does one learn such things.

[Essexboy]

As an ex-buddhist monk with not much of a profession (teaching meditation), I would love to know what kind of study you would recommend for me to understand the workings of the innards of these windows computer systems, registries etc, sop that I could fix such problems myself,like all these custom comand strings you recommended, where does one learn such things.

I actually trained here but it did take a good 9 months to become even halfway proficient, as malware changes so fast nowadays it is difficult to keep track of all the new ones. But, teaching is a profession in its own right I know this and patience is definitely a must

Rerun Malwarebytes and delete everything it finds (most of it is mywebsearch that my analysis tool does not see)

Then once that is done and you are happy with the way the computer is behaving, we will look at speeding you up and clearing any junk files that you have along with my tools

[jps4]

I ran Malwarebyetes full scan a couple times and ´removed´everything, it seems to quarantine them but some of the same infectd files seem to remain.Attached find the logs of the last two full scans of Malwarebytes.
 mbam-log-2011-08-04 (02-07-17).txt   2.15KB   84 downloads
 mbam-log-2011-08-04 (09-07-59).txt   2.05KB   88 downloads

When you say you trained here´´ what course of training was it, a Microsoft systems courses? or something else?

Any other advice about working to improve the speed. I¨ll run the disk cleanup.

Thanks

[Essexboy]

There is a "university" on this website where we train up anyone who is interested in learning how to kill malware

http://www.geekstogo...-fight-malware/

OK I will remove my tools and tidy up now - let me know if that improves the speed

Subject to no further problems

I will remove my tools now and give some recommendations, but, I would like you to run for 24 hours or so and come back if you have any problems

Now the best part of the day ----- Your log now appears clean

A good workman always cleans up after himself so..The following will implement some cleanup procedures as well as reset System Restore points:

Start OTS. Copy/Paste the information in the quotebox below into the panel where it says "Paste fix here" and then click the Run Fix button.

[Unregister Dlls]
[Custom Items]
:Files
ipconfig /flushdns /c
e:\archivos de programa\mywebsearch
e:\archivos de programa\msn messenger\msimg32.dll

:end
[Empty Temp Folders]
[EmptyFlash]
[CreateRestorePoint]

Uninstall ComboFix

Remove Combofix now that we're done with it.

• Please press the Windows Key and R on your keyboard. This will bring up the Run... command.
• Now copy/paste this: ComboFix /Uninstall in the runbox and click OK. Note the space between the X and the /Uninstall, it needs to be there.
  

  

• Please follow the prompts to uninstall Combofix.
• This will uninstall Combofix, delete its related folders and files, reset your clock settings, hide file extensions, hide the system/hidden files and resets System Restore again.
• You will then recieve a message saying Combofix was uninstalled successfully once it's done uninstalling itself.

Run OTS and hit the cleanup button. It will remove all the programmes we have used plus itself.

We will now confirm that your hidden files are set to that, as some of the tools I use will change that

• Click Start.
• Open My Computer.
• Select the Tools menu and click Folder Options.
• Select the View Tab.
• Under the Hidden files and folders heading select Do not show hidden files and folders.
• Click Yes to confirm.
• Click OK.

Your Java is out of date. Older versions have vulnerabilities that malware can use to infect your system. Please follow these steps to remove older version of Java components and upgrade the application.

Upgrading Java:

• Go to this site and click Do I have Java
• It will check your current version and then offer to update to the latest version

SPRING CLEAN

Download and run Puran Disc Defragmenter
For the first run I would recommend a boot defrag and disk check


Now that you are clean, to help protect your computer in the future I recommend that you get the following free programmes:

Malwarebytes. Update and run weekly to keep your system clean

Download and install FileHippo update checker and run it monthly it will show you which programmes on your system need updating and give a download link

It is critical to have both a firewall and anti virus to protect your system and to keep them updated.

To keep your operating system up to date visit

• Microsoft Windows Update

To learn more about how to protect yourself while on the internet read our little guide How did I get infected in the first place ?
Keep safe

[Essexboy]

Since this issue appears to be resolved ... this Topic has been closed. Glad we could help.

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