Chris B. said:
Hello,
I am running Windows XP Home Edition
I keep getting, duplicates and more, of Red X window entitled
"RUNDLL"
with "Error loading winupd.dll The specific module could not be
found". With OK button.
I can get ride of these little windows by Xing them all out.
These
returns upon rebooting.
You have malware on your system. Here are general removal steps:
1) Scan in Safe Mode with current version (not earlier than 2003)
antivirus using updated definitions;
2) remove spyware with Spybot Search & Destroy
(
www.safer-networking.org) and Ad-aware (
www.lavasoftusa.com). These
programs are free, so use them both since they complement each other.
You may also want to run CWShredder and HijackThis from
http://aumha.org/freeware.htm. Although CWShredder is no longer being
updated, it will still clean older variants of the CoolWebSearch
malware. If you do not have success with this, there are new removal
steps at
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_cwsremoval.html. A combination
of HijackThis and About:Buster (
http://www.majorgeeks.com) works well
in removing homepage hijackers. Always read the instructions before
running a spyware removal tool. Be sure to update these programs before
running, and it is a good idea to do virus/spyware scans in Safe Mode.
Make sure you are able to see all hidden files and extensions (View tab
in Folder Options);
3) If you are running Windows ME or XP, you should disable/enable System
Restore because malware will be in the Restore Points. With ME, you
must disable System Restore completely. With XP, you can delete all but
the most recent (presumably clean) System Restore point from the More
Options section of Disk Cleanup (Run>cleanmgr).
4) make sure you've visited Windows Update and applied all security
patches. Do not install driver updates from Windows Update;
5) run a firewall.
Malke
