CPU and RAM being consumed by unstoppable process! Help needed.

[Captain Jinks]

A process called "apole.exe" is consuming most of the CPU cycles and the
vast majority of memory on my son's computer. If I end the process in
Task Manager it comes back to life after three or four seconds. The hard
drive is running constantly and the computer is virtually unusable
because it can take upwards of 20 seconds to respond to any attempt to
use the mouse or keyboard.

Normally I could track down and kill this sort of thing but the computer
is so difficult to use that an hour's work could take a couple of days.
I can find no reference to a process called "apole.exe" anywhere on the
web. I located a file by that name in the c:\windows\inf\ folder and
renamed it but that didn't do anything. I'm stumped and crippled here.
Has anyone out there got a clue as to what this thing is and how to
clear it up?

TIA

 

[Vilma]

A process called "apole.exe" is consuming most of the CPU cycles and the
vast majority of memory on my son's computer. If I end the process in
Task Manager it comes back to life after three or four seconds. The hard
drive is running constantly and the computer is virtually unusable
because it can take upwards of 20 seconds to respond to any attempt to
use the mouse or keyboard.

Normally I could track down and kill this sort of thing but the computer
is so difficult to use that an hour's work could take a couple of days.
I can find no reference to a process called "apole.exe" anywhere on the
web. I located a file by that name in the c:\windows\inf\ folder and
renamed it but that didn't do anything. I'm stumped and crippled here.
Has anyone out there got a clue as to what this thing is and how to
clear it up?

TIA

Doesn't sound good. I recommend getting a spyware scanner like Adaware
www.lavasoftusa.com

or Spybot S&D.
that and a virus scanner. AVG is a good free one.

 

[Captain Jinks]

Doesn't sound good. I recommend getting a spyware scanner like Adaware
www.lavasoftusa.com

or Spybot S&D.
that and a virus scanner. AVG is a good free one.

The first thing I did when he showed me the problem was to update his
AVG definitions, he thought it was doing it automatically, and found
that there were 10 infected files on the machine. These were cleaned
off. Then I ran Ad Aware and it found about a dozen instances of spyware
on the machine. Alas, the problem persists and I'm still looking for
something relating to "apole.exe". I guess I'm going to have to haul
the thing to my house and spend several evenings trying to slog through
the registry to find what's loading this beast. If the machine was
responsive it wouldn't be nearly as difficult to locate and manually
clean out whatever the infection is. But waiting 20 seconds for a mouse
click to register is really tedious.

Thanks

 

[wayne]

what you need to do is to run the av software and adaware in safe mode.
Adaware is also a little odd in that you need to log on as each user and run
it before you will get rid of all the spyware. Safe mode should work just
make sure adaware is update and the AV software is scanning all files.

Hold down F8 key while the computer is booting to get to safemode

Wayne

 

[Captain Jinks]

Wayne,
Thanks for the suggestion, especially since it's one that I can have my
son do without me driving over there. This is the most insidious
infection I've ever seen.

Cap

 

[wayne]

know how they can be I had a user whose computer would start and shutdown
over and over. Last know good fixed that (one of the few times) but he had
over 1000 instances of spyware and it took me well over 6 hours of scanning
to find all the spyware and 15 Trojan viruses.


Wayne

 

[Ron Martell]

A process called "apole.exe" is consuming most of the CPU cycles and the
vast majority of memory on my son's computer. If I end the process in
Task Manager it comes back to life after three or four seconds. The hard
drive is running constantly and the computer is virtually unusable
because it can take upwards of 20 seconds to respond to any attempt to
use the mouse or keyboard.

Normally I could track down and kill this sort of thing but the computer
is so difficult to use that an hour's work could take a couple of days.
I can find no reference to a process called "apole.exe" anywhere on the
web. I located a file by that name in the c:\windows\inf\ folder and
renamed it but that didn't do anything. I'm stumped and crippled here.
Has anyone out there got a clue as to what this thing is and how to
clear it up?

TIA

Get a "second opinion" re a possible virus by doing a free online
virus scan at http://housecall.trendmicro.com

To clean up spyware follow MVP Jim Eshelman's Quick Fix procedure at
http://www.aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm


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."

 

[Captain Jinks]

Get a "second opinion" re a possible virus by doing a free online
virus scan at http://housecall.trendmicro.com

To clean up spyware follow MVP Jim Eshelman's Quick Fix procedure at
http://www.aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm


Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada

Thanks for your input Ron. These are steps I normally take but they
become really difficult when the machine takes upwards of 30 seconds to
respond to anything. This parasite, "apole.exe" is consuming about 90%
of the CPU cycles and 95% of the RAM. The next time I'm in front of it
I'll just have to bite the bullet and try to work around the delays. If
anyone else has ever heard of an executable called "apole.exe", I'd like
to hear about it. I suspect it infected the machine through one of those
file downloading sites. Another lecture on safe computing is certainly
in order.

Cap

 

[Ron Martell]

Thanks for your input Ron. These are steps I normally take but they
become really difficult when the machine takes upwards of 30 seconds to
respond to anything. This parasite, "apole.exe" is consuming about 90%
of the CPU cycles and 95% of the RAM. The next time I'm in front of it
I'll just have to bite the bullet and try to work around the delays. If
anyone else has ever heard of an executable called "apole.exe", I'd like
to hear about it. I suspect it infected the machine through one of those
file downloading sites. Another lecture on safe computing is certainly
in order.

Cap

What were the results in Safe Mode as per Wayne's suggestion? Did
that find or resolve anything?


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."