Boot time scan - virus or malware problem

[DavidB]

Hi

If I schedule a boot-time disc scan to run on drive C, upon next reboot I
get the following activity when the computer has completed the scan and
reboots for the first time:

Outlook 2003 will not open in normal or safe mode
Virus/malware scanners including Panda (including the online scan), McAfee,
NOD32, Adaware and Spybot search & Destroy will not operate although they
will load
The Control Panel cannot be opened
Task Manager shuts down if I try to view the Applications tab.

After another reboot (without a scan) everything runs correctly.

Event log shows no warnings for the period either.

Zone Alarm reports nothing unusual has tried to access the Internet during
the problem period.

Obviously this is some sort of virus or malware but after running all the
above programs both in normal and safe modes there has been nothing found.

The problem only occurs on a boot time scan of the C drive - if I schedule a
different drive (without C) to scan on boot there is no problem.

Has anyone any advice on what could be causing this and how I could detect
and/or fix this problem?

Many thanks

DavidB

 

[Guest]

Hi

If I schedule a boot-time disc scan to run on drive C, upon next reboot I
get the following activity when the computer has completed the scan and
reboots for the first time:

Outlook 2003 will not open in normal or safe mode
Virus/malware scanners including Panda (including the online scan), McAfee,
NOD32, Adaware and Spybot search & Destroy will not operate although they
will load
The Control Panel cannot be opened
Task Manager shuts down if I try to view the Applications tab.

After another reboot (without a scan) everything runs correctly.

Event log shows no warnings for the period either.

Zone Alarm reports nothing unusual has tried to access the Internet during
the problem period.

Obviously this is some sort of virus or malware but after running all the
above programs both in normal and safe modes there has been nothing found.

The problem only occurs on a boot time scan of the C drive - if I schedule a
different drive (without C) to scan on boot there is no problem.

Has anyone any advice on what could be causing this and how I could detect
and/or fix this problem?

Many thanks

DavidB

This could be the result of resource hog from the On Boot Scan, meaning your
system resource is limited and get worse from a lengthy Boot scan, hence
another reboot solve the problem/issue.
Try to run disk clean up and defrag in safe mode, then perform the On Boot
Scan and set your clock and see the time will be taken to finish this Job,
then see how the system will behave.

 

[DavidB]

Thanks for the suggestion nass - but any other programs I've tried open as
normal. The C drive only has 14 gig used as most of my programs and files
are stored on a different drive. The C drive scan takes less than 30
seconds due to a lot of memory and the lack of files to scan.

Unfortunately I can't pin down any new software that might have carried a
virus as with having so little on the C drive I rarely scan it and today was
the first time for some months. I've noticed no other unusual activity.

Thanks again.

DavidB

 

[Guest]

Hi Dave,
£0 seconds is not a pointer or boot scan , you need a real boot scan or full
boot sector scan like Avast Boot scan.
Try to go here:
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast-virus-cleaner.html
Download the scanner (offline) and run a scan on both Drives (partitions),
also you scan configure a Boot scan and see what will come up from it.
You can download Explorer Process from Microsoft and see in real time what
interfering and causing the system to halt, although there are lots of free
resources available.
HTH.
nass

 

[DavidB]

Thanks nass - I should have said 'when I schedule chkdsk to run at boot' - I
was unaware that there were virus scanners that could run at that point -
I'll certainly try what you suggest this evening.

Many thanks

DavidB