XP(HE) & SP2 - catch 22?

[Len Dolby]

SP2 loaded and installed (nearly 2 hours just to install ?!!) and so far
only 1 problem detected.

Every boot, same 5 messages appear from Spybot, asking to allow/deny the
following registry changes.

Delete - NWIZ.exe/install
Delete - NVCPL Daemon
Delete - SSC_USER PROMPT
Delete - Global Browser toolbar (hex 00)

and
Value change - from C:\Windows\System32\Blank.htm to
C:\Windows\System32\Blank.htm (exact same value!!)

On initial SP2 installation, got a whole raft of Spybot messages, and
allowed all registry changes.

What puzzles me - after allowing the above changes (every time) it MUST be
that the registry gets changed back on every run session (else Spybot would
not keep asking to allow further changes, would it?) So, what's the problem?

Repetition could perhaps be avoided (by ticking the "remember decision" in
Spybot) but that only hides the problem. doesn't solve it. First 3 items are
Symantec (NU 2004), the 4th and 5th MAY be related to the Google toolbar
which has become attached to my standard IE toolbar - (don't know how, it
just appeared - is it an update or the result of my daughter's activities?)
I have "automatic updates" set to d/l and install, but, oddly, this setting
did NOT pick up SP2, had to d/l and install it manually.
My "home page" is indeed "Blank.htm".
It's a home PC, no network, single user.

Another possible solution is to uninstall/reinstall Norton, but surely SP2
should have been designed to handle NU without such action being necessary?
And, what guarantee is there that re-installation would work any better,
anyway?

Appreciate any input as to a solution ...

 

[Ron Martell]

SP2 loaded and installed (nearly 2 hours just to install ?!!) and so far
only 1 problem detected.

Every boot, same 5 messages appear from Spybot, asking to allow/deny the
following registry changes.

Delete - NWIZ.exe/install
Delete - NVCPL Daemon
Delete - SSC_USER PROMPT
Delete - Global Browser toolbar (hex 00)

and
Value change - from C:\Windows\System32\Blank.htm to
C:\Windows\System32\Blank.htm (exact same value!!)

On initial SP2 installation, got a whole raft of Spybot messages, and
allowed all registry changes.

What puzzles me - after allowing the above changes (every time) it MUST be
that the registry gets changed back on every run session (else Spybot would
not keep asking to allow further changes, would it?) So, what's the problem?

Repetition could perhaps be avoided (by ticking the "remember decision" in
Spybot) but that only hides the problem. doesn't solve it. First 3 items are
Symantec (NU 2004), the 4th and 5th MAY be related to the Google toolbar
which has become attached to my standard IE toolbar - (don't know how, it
just appeared - is it an update or the result of my daughter's activities?)
I have "automatic updates" set to d/l and install, but, oddly, this setting
did NOT pick up SP2, had to d/l and install it manually.
My "home page" is indeed "Blank.htm".
It's a home PC, no network, single user.

Another possible solution is to uninstall/reinstall Norton, but surely SP2
should have been designed to handle NU without such action being necessary?
And, what guarantee is there that re-installation would work any better,
anyway?

Appreciate any input as to a solution ...

Another possible explanation for your situation would be that every
time you use the computer it gets reinfected with the spyware, either
from some web site that you go to or from some rogue application that
you have installed.

Have you also tried using AdAware SE (free) from
http://www.lavasoft.de? It can sometimes catch spyware items that
Spybot misses (and vice-versa).

See MVP Jim Eshelman's Spyware Quick Fix page at
http://www.aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm for a step by step procedure for
cleaning up your system.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."

 

[Len Dolby]

Ron, many thanks. Reason for delayed response is the time it took to read
(and action) the links ...
I maintain my PC by all recommended means - up to date AV (auto-updated),
Spybot, Ad-Aware, and frequent (background) defrags - nevertheless, after
doing al this, the "boot-up" problem remains - and I'm confident that NO
mal-ware/spyware or other nasties are on my PC.
Guess it's one of those "glitches" I'll have to live with - to date it's not
proved to be more than a petty annoyance, I've found no functionality errors
(though I did read in another post that XP should start up faster with
long-term use - written by a comedian? Full start-up is around 4 minutes !!
One process I could get rid of - I have Pop-Up Stopper loading - is this
superfluous with SP2 installed ?