General Chat

Just an update

I have now got my Computer back from shop.

It did need wiping and reloading with Xp it was very corrupted.

It is now all up and running very well,I must admit it was not nice having no working Computer in the house.

Thankyou for all your help and advice :-D

Susan :-D

I now have MSConfig.exe back where it should be.

I realy think I have my Computer running better than ever.

Restore points did it I think.

Thankyou for your help.

Hi Errol

I went in search of Belarc after it was mentioned I do already have it ,in the search two came up Belarc and Belarc Advisor.

I am still toying around as to what is the best way to go ,it all cost money i do not have at the moment.

I did manage to delete my past restore points all but the last one .
I reran my Malwarebytes again and this time it found 76 bugs in File and the registry.
They are all the same bug
A little Green bug first then it says in Red .....PUP.Optional Pri some have Sp after them some have Ne and Co after them .
I am treating these as a virus ,they are now all in the quarantine area of malwarebytes.
I am not familiar with hijackthis software.
Thankyou for your help ,it all teaches me the Computer :-D
All the little things I am doing is improving things on my Computer bit by bit:-D

Sue

What do you mean by "just plain belarc"?

Have you decided which route to go down?

Also, are you familiar with hijackthis software?

Errolsheep

Thankyou for your offer,it is very nice of you .

This computer terrifies me ,there is so much to learn.

I am convinced it may have something to do with restore points ,every time my computer plays up if I have done something I should not have I do go to Systems restore so if I could delete the old restore point as Rollo said I may get ride of the problem.

Am I clutching at straws or what ?

I do have Belarc Advisor and just plain belarc...all my components are up to date and according to belarc my computer is running fine ...no nasties found .
I have updated all I can see with the Windows updater.

Errol is correct about Belarc.
Get it here:
http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
As well as Windows serial it will display the registration details of all yr software and a lot of other useful stuff besides.
For most people using XP all of the data and documents will be in "My Documents". The easiest way to back it up is to CD-R or DVD-R depending on how large the folder is. Another method is to use a 2nd hard drive.
N.B. make sure your antivirus software is running and up to date before restoring your data.

There are various ways of backing up browser data depending on the browser you use. Make sure you do this as losing history and favorites can be annoying.

tip: Microsoft have a technology called ClearType. This runs automatically in Vista, Win7 & 8. With XP it must be set to run by the user. It makes a dramatic difference to font rendering.

Thankyou Rollo

I will get the disc reloaded,best way to go as you said .
It is nice to know that at my age I can still learn , never let it happen again.
Thankyou very much.

There is one very important thing to remember which has not been mentioned. If you perform a complete reinstall you will LOSE EVERYTHING.
Also, don't go poking around in the registry unless you really have to and know EXACTLY what you are doing because one slip-up and you can totally stuff the machine - there are far easier, more sensible and safer ways to find product keys. Belarc Advisor is very good.
There is no need to do a (drastic and radical) reinstall at this moment - run decent anti-virus, anti-malware, management tools etc.
More than happy to help if you get stuck.

It is impossible for msconfig.exe to be missing it is part of the Windows operating system. To run it do Start | Run and type in msconfig.
If that does not work then do this:
Start | Run and type sfc /scannow
sfc is Microsoft system file checker and it would be a good idea to run it anyway. After running it reboot.

If msconfig still does not run from the start menu after the above then post here. It should not be necessary to download it because there is a copy on your CD. Downloaded versions may be the incorrect version for your system or contain a virus.

Assuming that you have activated Windows and installed SP3 Microsoft have a handy free facility called "FixIt" which will cure a lot of problems but for XP only up to this April. Fixit requires using IE8 or better.

Microsoft have a system of "restore points" which hold versions of the OS prior to changes. The idea is that when in a fix you can go to the Windows boot menu ( press F8 during boot ) and select a restore point. All well and good but some malware gets itself saved into a restore point. Using a smidgeon of code ( usually in the browser or user temp folder ) the malware then resurrects itself on boot from the RPO even if it has been deleted. It is near impossible to create a clean computer from one which has been compromised - a fresh install of XP is def. the best way to go.

The Restore Points take up a lot of disk space in older systems, often 10-15% of total space. The folder is hidden but can be unhidden and older RPs deleted. By deleting the most RPs you will of course also delete any nasties hiding in them. The OS itself will automatically create fresh RPs.

Malware Bytes is good at detecting problems not fixing them.
Spybot can be safely downloaded here:
http://www.safer-networking.org/
but its target is advertising malware in browsers it is not a universal panacea. To repeat the only fix for a badly compromised system is a fresh installation. Allowing an unknown online techie access to yr computer is about as bad as it gets.

Rollo

Do you think I should delete Malware and downlaod Spybot,there is a lot of sites that you can downlaod it from but I am a bit worried of using the wrong site to do it .
What do you think I should do,I would like to try and see if I can find a virus that has caused all this.
I have been having a good clean out today at least it seem a bit faster.
Should I downlaod msconfig.exe again as it seems to be missing.

Thankyou for all this help you have given me ,I really do appreciate it :-D

Sue

There is no need to delete the log in "Events viewer". Doing so will make no difference to the performance oif the machine at all. The content can be very useful for support people. Malware Bytes is good but far from perfect when it comes to dealing with root kits. It definitely will not find all malware which has lodged itself in browser code and obscure locations in User Files. Spybot is quite good at that ( free ).

Hi Rollo

Thankyou for all that.

I am happy to hear about Xp extended to 2015 .

I already have IGB,I do have a number like you posted inside the booklet that came with my XP disc so I guess I am OK with that.
I think I may get my Computer man out to do all this for me ,he is the one that built my Computer from new in 2006.

Checked AVG vault. One Virus....came in (22/12/2013 9.04.47 Luhe.Fihg.A
...License key -JMK-2767-adobe,ZIP)
I have no idea what the Virus is.

Just done full scan of Malwarebytes ...nothing found,so I might be Ok for virus's.
Scaned 258440 files.

Shirley
Thankyou but My Computer has Printers and Faxes as the third one down,I am running Home addition so may be dif than yours.
I would really like to find this little sucker it is driving me nuts.

Anyone
Looking for Event Viewer then Applications on XP Home Edition.

Sue :-D

Edit
Found Event viewer..I have in Applications 3275 listed items, is it possible to clean them all out in one go ? Without doing any damage ,I can see where it say clear all ? can I go for it ?

It is perfectly ok to stick with XP for the moment and if yr computer is 4/5 years old or more probably the better bet asa there can be all kinds of driver problems with WIndows7 and later on older computers. For instance many scanners which are happy with XP won't run on Windows 7 and later.

If your computer has only 512 MB of memory then it is a cheap and worthwhile upgrade to increase this to 1 GB ( 2 x 512 ) or better 2 GB ( 2 x 1 GB ). The machine will start and run a lot more quickly.

Microsoft will be dropping bug fixes for XP from April 2014. However they have had a change of heart about security fixes and now the life of XP has been extended to April 2015 which gives you time to save up for a replacement.

By April 2015 Windows 9 will be in beta if not on the market. Windows 9 will allow users to run Windows pretty well as it has always been with proper windows ( even for apps ), menus start and so on. If you can't win ... bring back XP lol.

Given what has happened to yr machine you are strongly advised to do a fresh installation of windows. Copy all important data to a CD-R or to SkyDrive or similar.

It is advisable to have the key available. It will likely be on a yellow label and in the format of 5 groups of letters/numbers
eg: WE556-QQ39K-BH97T-22QLKJ-KD45E ( NOT a valid key )
If you cannot find it I will post how to get it from the registry.

In order to make a fresh installation of WinXP do the following:

1. Ensure that yr computer can boot from the CD. Power the machine off then restart, the usual keys for getting to the BIOS are either F2 or DEL. Once in the BIOS ensure that the first boot drive is the optical disk.

2. restart

3. Windows will load from the CD. Depending on whether you have a full CD or OEM repair CD you will get slightly different options. If possible choose "fresh installation" and later on tell it to remove the current partition and reformat.

After about 90 mins you will have a new install free of malware.

4. remove the CD from the drive, restart

After that you will need to activate windows, install SP3 and required updates. Next install any required drivers either from disk or the OEM site NOT any of the many driver sitez.

Make sure you install a reasonable anti virus product and windows firewall.
If you are installing "free" apps go through the installation very carefully and slowly opting out of the many extras which will be suggested. These are a particular pain with IE but no browser is immune.

Do NOT use IE8 on XP. It really has had its day and is unsafe at any speed as well as having all kinds of compliance issues. Use any of Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Maxthon. If you are used to IE8 then Firefox is easiest.

good luck

Remember, just like banks, Microsoft never ring you up or e-mail you out of the blue offering to update your system. Neither do they authorise other people to do the same. If you have a Microsoft support contract your bank balance will be well aware of it lol.

Thankyou all

I have a bit of thinking to do ,what to update to? Windows 7 or 8.

I would love to stick with XP :-(

There is a firm, in India, who hold themselves out to be approved by Microsoft, they come up when you do a search for help with a Microsoft problem, and they offer to - as they put it, deep clean your computer of all items causing problems, checked with Microsoft who said they were not a Microsoft approved company.

What they offer to do you can do yourself with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, the company in India would charge you at least £100 :-(

Microsoft do not do this sort of thing - you have been had.

Hi Rollo

I do not do internet banking ...have never trusted it,good job.

I did pay for the updater on the internet but it was with a secure site,it was recommended by microsoft itself.
I cannot see Mobogenie anywhere on the computer,so do not know why the Qt core keeps coming up .
I do not do a lot of searching around the net so cannot understand why my Computer has gone all silly on me .
Still trying to find Event Viewer to check the Applications the guy was telling me about ,something was at 100% according to him.
Thankyou for your help .
sue

Disc details are Microsoft windows Xp Home edition version 2002
Part No on label at bottom reads
0304Part no X10-52148 it is the original disc

It did take for hours to update all the Drivers. :-(

I am busy right now but will get back to you later.

In the meantime dig out the disk and post what it says on the disk.

It is important to know whether it is a Microsoft XP Installation DVD or the recovery disk sometimes issued by the computer maker. If it is the latter you will find the reset process much easier.

Jeez ...

>>>>> disconnect your pc from the internet at once. <<<<<

find beg borrow another pc ( or go to the library most have net access NOT a net cafe they are full of malware and piratez ) ; if you have a smartphone it may do

reset all passwords

if - as many people do - you had bank / card details on the machine then change PINS etc immediately and check your account(s). Banks will usually give a refund if notified quickly. If you didn't have such details then gold start 2 u.

You will def. have to reinstall XP from scratch allowing the install to remove the existing partition and reformat ( in case of root kit being installed).

Once you have it installed ( make sure you have the serial key before you start ) then add drivers either from OEM disks if you have them or from the OEM web site NOT general purpose driver sitez which are full of scammerz.

Once you have the drivers installed you will need to activate XP and install SP3. Be aware that currently doing all the updates for XP from Microsoft Updates takes ages - hours and hours, be patient. I think they are trying to drop a hint that XP is dying swan.

Then of course you have all yr apps to reinstall.
Have fun ...


<3

Rollo Thankyou
I purchased a microsft Driver updater of the net,he told me all that is wrong with my computer.
The Qt Core comes up everytime i start my computer and I knew it came from mobogenie so I did delete it or so I thought .
I do have original disc thank the lord but i am a bit to worried about reloading it myself ...Is it very difficult to do ?