Another "Help me please"

[OpenMind5]

On one of my many computers here at my house, (My parents) they are experiencing problems. They have windows xp, they enter their password, and then the screen (backgournd) pops up, and nothing else. And eventually logged them off. Some user names can't even get on! I brought the question to all of you guys and gals, to hopfully find the error and make me look smart in front of my parents.... SUGESTION?

 

Op5

[IrishEyes]

Can you do a system scan from another computer to find out which virus you have? Notice that I didn't ask *if* you have a virus, just assumed that you do. That's one of the things that I have come to expect with my LINUX hubby, especially after using XP and *getting* a virus (or three) last spring, while running a firewall and antivirus software...

[alexander]

aah, 3 viruses with firewall and antivirus, only windows can get that, acutally i run my pc with no anti virus software, and 1 trojan in over a 6 month period, and yes it's been disabled, and LINUX is the solution of 99.9% of problems microsoft users experiment. P.S. Irish is awesome :(... i guess it depends on how you run your system, but here's what to do:

1) dont panic

2) boot into safe mode (using F8)

3) log in as an admin

4) open up a run

5) do msconfig

6) go into boot and disable any program that you have starting that you have no idea what it is

7) reboot

8) hope for the best, tell me the results, there is many more things you can do,

shoot got to run, see ya!

[nemo]

OpenMind5,

I'd have to agree with Irish on this one... I've seen more than one virus with that behavior. I would suggest one of two courses of action on this one, depending upon your choice of operating systems and hardware.

• Mount the infected hard drive from a 'good' windows box. This can be done in a number of ways, but the two I tend to use are network (share out the entire 'C' drive to anyone after you've plugged it into a stand-alone hub - then plug another machine into the hub, mount the drive and run an AV scan) or pulling a PC apart and physically connecting the infected hard drive as a slave to a good windows drive and running an AV scan.
  
• Get your hands on a copy of Knoppix. Mount the infected drive while booted into Knoppix. The problem you are running into is that the malicious software is located in your startup directory / folder - it executes before anything you would use to get rid of it. Symantec generally has well-written procedures for manual removal of virii (http://securityresponse.symantec.com/); I would investigate their site for malicious code warnings that sound like what you've got, and follow their steps while running Knoppix from CD.
  

If you're still having issues, continue posting to this thread and I'll continue answering.

[pgrmdave]

I've had a problem similar to this. I would log on, but only the background came up. What I did was hit ctrl-alt-del, which brings up task manager - from this, you can launch any program, inf File - New Task, then hit Browse. I ran all my anti-viral and anti-spyware programs, and was able to get rid of it.

[tdth]

I also saw this problem before. Do as PGrmdave said, and then when you log in, run regedit to clean any strange name. By this way you can completely get rid of that virus

[OpenMind5]

I can not open up a task manager...

[nemo]

okay - do you have another Windows machine, or a run-live operating system (such as Knoppix or Windows PE)?

[GAHD]

if you cannot open task manager, then boot to safe mode, you can do this two ways : pressing F8 in the boot cycle right after the screen switches from the basic tests....or by half booting it, and hitting the reset switch halfway through the boot(hard on your HDD, but it works...)

[OpenMind5]

I tried to run the computer in safe mode, but all that happened was the computer locking up and freezing. ANd no i do not have a a run-live operationg system, i have other computers that run with windows, (hence me posting)

 

Any more ideas before we end up taking it in?

[IrishEyes]

do what nemo suggested and you shouldn't have to take it in. i say this because when my computer got infected, that's what he did for me, and it worked. he set up a scan remotely, and pushed all sorts of fix-it stuff on, and then it was all better. and then i had him put on Linux. of course, it took me a while to get used to the new OS, but I didn't get any more viruses...

[pgrmdave]

Can you boot the computer from a CD? Or reload Windows, so that you dual boot two Windows, then fix it from the working one?

[nemo]

ok. you've got a working computer and a not-so-working computer. since you can't get the NSW computer to boot to the point you would be able to share out the C: drive, I'd suggest updating your AV signatures on the working box, and attaching the hard drive of the NSW machine as a slave drive. Boot the working machine, scan / fix the additional drive and reinstall it to the old machine.

[OpenMind5]

Me, not being the greatest computer wiz...but knowing enough...took it to a good friend of the family who is a big time programmer for a bank...(can't tell u to much...you know :cup:) HE worked his magic and found that alot of the problems were spyware prgrams that had gone corrupt, and a few virus! YOWCH! Thank God it wasn't my computer. Its my Parents. LOL! I belive i am safe. I use FIrefox and multiple scans now on mine, and He is reinstalling the whole windows and cleaning the computer. FUn sTufF!

 

LOL

Thank you everyone, for coming to my aid when i need u the most. I can't wait to do the same for all ya'll!

 

Op5