RandyL

Dee please wait for our experts on this matter. In my opinion though your system is a mess. Your Windows installation makes no sense. The hard drive it's installed on etc. For that matter both hard drives. I don't know who has been screwing around with this or what they have done to your computer, Windows or installation. But is not right. It seems to me by the information you provided that you do indeeed have a serious infection and a very strange Windows set up that could be complicating clean up measures. I suspect a cross installation infestation. If it were my computer I would back up all SAFE files (not unsafe programs) and do a total re-install. Granted you would still probably lose a lot including dodgy programs and also infestastions.

I can't say if you have malware or not. It's just a possibility that needs to be determined. Run the scans to check. With or without protection malware can be allowed in. If you install programs that are bundled with malware it's allowed to bypass security. If you use P2P or file sharing you may be allowing malware programs or infected files onto your system. But like I said it might be as simple as one of your firewall settings. Let us know what you find out please.

If you don't have Spybot Search & Destroy installed you can ignore that part. I'm not a fan of WebRoot SpySweeper. Do you have the full paid for version? If you have McAfee Enterprise you might very well have the firewall. You really need to check to see Dee. We can't guess what programs you have or what your settings are. The more detailed information you can give us would really help. I know Mcafee can be difficult to configure so if you have that poke around as it most likely has a soft firewall and it may be blocking you.

If it's not startup items or your firewall settings then it might be a malware issue. The fact System Restore doesn't have more points also concerns me. Reset IE and run the malware scans to see if that helps. You may have to run the scans before the IE reset. I f you can't connect with IE the Eset scan won't work but follow the rest of the guide anyway. How to Reset or Restore Adanced Settings in Internet Explorer 7. You need to access Internet Options. Here's how : In your Internet Explorer Browser Click Tools and then click on Internet Options, like this: http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn297/Mjfreepchelp/ietools.png Then click on the Advanced Tab, like this: http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn297/Mjfreepchelp/internetoptions2.png Then you can choose either Restore Advanced Settings or Reset depending on your situation. Warning: Reset will delete all temporary files, disable all browser add-ons and reset all changed settings. Your computer could be infected with Malware. Malware is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's informed consent. It is a combination of the words malicious and software. The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code. Required Cleanup StepsDisable the Spybot Search & Destroy TEA TIMER if you use it and if it is enabled Run a Temporary file and cache cleaner (ATF) Run 2 Anti-Malware scanners (Listed Below) Run an Online Anti-Virus / Anti-Malware Scanner (Listed Below) Clear out old System Restore points If continued Malware type activity is present you may be asked to post a TrendMicro™ HijackThis™ Log file, do not do so unless requested. The reason to run multiple scanners is to ensure that no single scanner is missing something. The time it takes will vary depending on your system and your internet connection speed. Typically the SUPERAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes scanners will take between 10 to 90 minutes. The ESET online scan should take between 1 to 3 hours. In most cases, these scans will suffice to clean and disinfect your computer. Heavily infected systems or slower PCs can take much longer to scan and clean. For best results print the following instructions and bookmark this Web page To keep this guide printer-friendly, use your cursor to highlight the contents below. From your browser select File - Print and in the printer dialog box under "Print range" click the Selection choice to print out these instructions for removal of malware. http://kixhelp.com/wr/images-freepchelp/printer-selection.gif __________________________________________________ STEP 1 Disable Spybot Search & Destroys' TEA TIMER: (if installed)Run Spybot-S&D in Advanced Mode. If it is not already set to do this Go to the Mode menu select "Advanced Mode" On the left hand side, Click on Tools Then click on the Resident Icon in the List Uncheck "Resident TeaTimer" and OK any prompts. Restart your computer. __________________________________________________ STEP 2 Follow these instructions carefully. Download ATF-Cleaner from Snapfiles.com to remove un-needed temporary files from your computer that may contain malware. You can also download it from Majorgeeks.com When you run ATF-Cleaner, check the items as shown below for Main. For FireFox, be sure to click on the FireFox tab on top and check the items as shown below for FireFox NOTE: If you don't have FireFox or Opera installed then they will be grayed out and can be ignored Then click on "Empty Selected". http://kixhelp.com/wr/images-freepchelp/atf-cleaner01.gif . http://kixhelp.com/wr/images-freepchelp/atf-cleaner02.gif __________________________________________________ STEP 3 Install and run the free version (not the Professional version) of SUPERAntiSpyware from SUPERAntiSpyware.com Accept any prompts to allow SUPERAntiSpyware to install the latest rules and infection definition files. You do not have to send them your e-mail address, just click next. You can leave the automated check for updates on. You can uncheck "Send a diagnostic report to research center" if you don't want to send the information. DO NOT allow SUPERAntiSpyware to protect your Home Page settings. On the Top Left select the Scan your computer button. Make sure there is a CHECK MARK on all Fixed Drives. Click "Perform a Complete Scan". Click "Next" to Repair issues found and reboot the computer when prompted to do so. __________________________________________________ STEP 4 Install and run Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware from Malwarebytes - (direct download) Accept all defaults for the installer Allow the program to update the definitions Click on the Quick Scan and click Next. If any items are found allow it to clean them and then Reboot your computer. __________________________________________________ STEP 5 Run an online scan with ESET from Free Virus Scan: Use ESET's Online Antivirus Scanner You must use Internet Explorer for this online scan. FireFox, Opera, etc will not work for this scan. If your computer is running Window's Vista, then you must first start Internet Explorer as an Administrator. To do so, right-click on the Internet Explorer icon in the Start Menu and select "Run as administrator" from the popup context menu. Accept the terms and click "Start". Once the scanner is ready, check "Remove found threats" AND "Scan unwanted applications". Click "Start" to begin the scan. When completed restart your computer __________________________________________________ Make sure your internet firewall security is enabled, and then please return to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help and tell us how the computer seems to be operating. At that time, you will receive instructions to assist you in removing malicious programs from your Add/Remove program list if warranted. Once you and the Technician agree that your system appears to be clean then you should delete all your System Restore points and recreate a new one. Please follow the instructions here How to turn off and turn on System Restore in Windows XP How to turn off and turn on System Restore in Windows Vista Seriously though I would check your firewall settings. You could disable them temporarily to see if that resolves your issue. As for System Restore points if they aren't showing you can't access them. They don't exist.

Hi; Samsung does have a utility to check quite a few of their drives. See if your drive is listed. Samsung drive diagnostics.

Bob is right. Scrub it. Cut your losses.

Dee if your getting these popup messages in safe mode you probably have a serious infection issue. Please wait for the techs to advise you further. In my humble opinion I would back up everything at this point just to be safe. A reinstall may be in order. Wait for the techs to get back to you first please.

As maynard said this could be an issue with not enough RAM or it's bad. Looking at it from another angle I'm wondering why you keep getting infected. You were infected and re-installed Windows. You installed your old programs and AV (Norton) and a day or two later you're system slowed down and you detected trojans again. Startup items are nil. Uninstalled Norton and grabbed a copy of AVG. AVG scan was clean (which doesn't say much for AVG). Computer is still slow. Re-installed Windows again. Installed 2 programs (FL Studio 8 along with 5GB of audio samples & Adobe CS3). You also said you installed AVG 8 full version before installing everything. Is this the same copy of AVG? Whether or not you have items in the startup programs matters little if your system is once again infected. They would most likely not show up there. There is obviously something that is causing your infections. Where are you getting these programs? Are you using P2P or bittorrent?

Consider it done.

WOW Goku. That's impressive. America salutes you Goku.

Thank you maynard. I'll point out your post to my grandson. He liked you before. He will like you even more now.

For those of us in the U.S. Happy Fourth of July. I know my 5 year old grandson is enjoying the fireworks.

I agree with seth on this one John. Your hard drive may be failing. What ever the cause I suggest backing up everything at this point just in case before doing anything else.

What do you mean by "(undocumented) Windows Repair option from the installation disk"? If you have a xp disk you can install the Recovery Console and attempt a repair. I doubt that will help though. However you said from the start that this is a fairly new setup with XP pre-installed on both computers and all you have is the Recovery CD. As such I suggest a re-install. The fact that these computers are new and shipped with XP instead of Vista concerns me. It's extremely rare to find XP systems at this time. Perhaps these new computers are in fact old computers even if you bought them as new. If you're not using the latest Windows Installer then that might be the source of some of your problems but it makes no sense that any computer sold today would not have that. The Installer has been out for quite some time. If after a re-install the second computer won't update then it's most likely due to the fact that it is an unlicensed copy and therefore can't use the same key. One computer-one key. If that is the case I would contact your place of purchase and question them as it doesn't seem right that a new PC won't update. Re-install since it's new. You have little to lose. If that doesn't work take it back. If they won't take it back contact the authorities. They may be engaging in illegal activities.

Hi mikey; I'm not a gamer so I can't offer anything. We do have some techs with some knowledge though. I see you have XP Home. What are your other specs? May I ask what does it say on your installation CD? I see it can be download as a demo or purchased but we need to know this information. The more we know the more help we can provide. So far we have very little information to go on. Please get back to us so we can help.

Jord I don't understand the meaning of your last post. Either way can you answer my original questions? What two programs picked up more malware? Have you followed all the steps in the guide? The forum members deserve clear answers. This is not just a personal issue for you.

It appears that you are not sincere in following our advice such as running all the tools or following all the steps and more. In addition you have declined to provide the information I requested. This is an open forum meant for all to read and learn and solve their problems. If you want one on one assistance without providing feedback for the benefit of all then I suggest you take it to a shop. If you prefer one on one support let me know and I'll close this thread.

No offence taken Jordan. I thought it might help if he had the information I asked about. It would also help anyone else that had similar issues and read this if the posts were more clear for everyone.

Hi Jord; Which two programs are you talking about? Please let us know and can you also let us know if you followed all the steps in the malware guide. Thanks.

ccleaner should work just fine for that aspect. Just use the Cleaner portion of the program. Do not use the Issues portion.

If you do not have Spybot Search & Destroy installed you can ignore step 1 and continue on caskin.

Have you downloaded any new Yahoo tools lately?

Hi Jord; I'm going to interject again on your issue. We are all happy that everything is all ok again. That's what the team and members do. Help. However no matter what you think your P2P puts you at risk. From internet slow downs to infections. I've researched yours and in my opinion you are not secure and your connection is being leached. I would say the same for any unless you are EXTREMELY experienced. Please backup all your files in order to re-install Windows or quit playing with P2P. You got lucky this time.

Hi Esteele. There should be a pink jack to plug the microphone into. In All Programs>Accesories look for the Sound Recorder that comes with Windows. Although the default time to record is 30 seconds that can be changed.

Hi zuki and welcome to the forum.