Programs running in background drainging resources

[Guest]

Have experienced significant problems with a couple of programs that appear
to be running almost continuously in the background significantly affecting
the response of my computer-BIG TIME
Was able to find two .exe files running, not necessarily at the same time,
which appeared to be using memory and resources. They are cinfo.exe and
dosnut.exe both located in Prefetch folder under Windows. Don't know why they
are running or what they do except make life unbearable. Tried running
Service Update 2 but it would not load successfully which has led to other
problems.
At first they would not stop when "end process" was attempted under Window
Manager. Just kept restarting and running . Was finally able to get them to
stop after several reboots. They restart every time the computer is shutdown
and restarted though.
Can anyone provide any insight as to what's going on? Using Windows XP Home
Edition ( Version 5.1.2600 Build 2600)

 

[Charlie]

Try running AdAware .....

 

[Kelly]

Start here:

Run Ad-Aware SE, Spybot and HijackThis:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads31.html

Note: Update each program, once installed, before running.

Note2: To avoid the False-Flag for the DSO Exploit (W3), open
Spybot/Advanced Mode/Settings/Ignore Products. On the All Products Tab,
scrol to DSO Exploit and check that item only. Randy (silj)

Free Online Virus Scan
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

For EXE info: http://www.processlibrary.com/

XP Startup Tracker: http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_u.htm#xp_util
--
All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

 

[Malke]

Have experienced significant problems with a couple of programs that
appear
to be running almost continuously in the background significantly
affecting the response of my computer-BIG TIME
Was able to find two .exe files running, not necessarily at the same
time, which appeared to be using memory and resources. They are
cinfo.exe and dosnut.exe both located in Prefetch folder under
Windows. Don't know why they are running or what they do except make
life unbearable. Tried running Service Update 2 but it would not load
successfully which has led to other problems.

(snip)

You have malware on your computer. Installing SP2 on an infested machine
is one of the worst things you could do. Instead, you must first clean
up your computer. Run through all the following steps (links follow the
steps), making sure all scans are run in Safe Mode:

1) Scan in Safe Mode with current version (not earlier than 2003)
antivirus using updated definitions.

2) Remove spyware with Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-aware. These
programs are free, so use them both since they complement each other.
There is a new version of CWShredder from Intermute. I would not
install the other Intermute programs, however. Alternately, there are
CoolWebSearch malware removal steps at SilentRunners.

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).

HijackThis is an excellent tool to discover and disable hijackers, but
it requires expert skill. See below for HijackThis links. A combination
of HijackThis and About:Buster works well in removing the About:Blank
homepage hijacker. Again, this is an expert tool and novices should get
help with it.

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.

Links to help with malware:

Software/Methods:
http://www.safer-networking.org - Spybot Search & Destroy
http://www.lavasoftusa.com - Ad-aware
http://www.majorgeeks.com - good download site
http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract/cwshredder_download.html
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_cwsremoval.html. - SilentRunners

HijackThis:
http://www.aumha.org/a/hjttutor.htm - HijackThis tutorial by Jim
Eshelman
http://spywarewarrior.com/viewforum.php?f=5 - Spyware Warrior HijackThis
forum
http://www.lavasoftsupport.com/index.php?showforum=44
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/
http://forums.tomcoyote.org/
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/

General:
http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://forum.aumha.org/ - look under "Security" for various forums
http://www.pchell.com/
http://www.spywareguide.com/index.php
http://scumware.com/
http://www.aumha.org/a/parasite.htm - The Parasite Fight
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm
http://rgharper.mvps.org/cleanit.htm

Malke

 

[Kelly]

That's a whole buncha stuff there, Malke!

--
All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

 

[Guest]

UPDATE
Adware and SpyBot didn't work. Was able to eventually stop these files from
running by deleting contents of the Prefetch Folder in Windows. Still don't
know what programs these files are associated with or what started these .exe
files.
Thanks

 

[Kelly]

Interesting! Thanks for the feedback. )

--
All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com