Strange happenings

[Paul]

A friend of mine has a desktop running XP Pro SP3. He also had office 2000
installed until recently. Anyway he had to unistall Office due to some
problem or other but since then he has the following faults:

1. He can connect to the internet but after about 5 mins it just times out
everytime he tries to go to any website.
2. His pointer constantly has the small hourglass showing as soon as he
starts his computer, as if the computer is trying to do something. I checked
in task manager but there are no programs running. I had a look earlier but
ran out of ideas.

He tried using system restore to roll back to efore he uninstalled office
but still the same fault. I have tried re-installing office fresh but no
difference.

I can't find anything wrong with his internet setup and office will now run
fine.

Could this be a lost file or virus, he runs AVG free but this does not show
anything.

Any help would be appreciated before we have to do a clean install of windows.

Many thanks

Paul

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

...desktop running XP Pro SP3.

Did his problems start after SP3 was installed?

...he had to unistall Office due to some problem or other

What problem? Did uninstalling Office resolve it?

 

[Paul]

He tried to install publisher from the office 2000 discs he has but it kept
hanging during install. he then decided to try and uninstall all of the
office suite. At this point he started with the internet problem, just spoke
on phone and problem still there (keeps timing out).

He then tried to roll back using system restore but he still had internet
problem and also the pointer issue (working in background pointer displays as
soon as windows starts and won't go to normal arrow).

When i 1st looked no office programs would start, they kept asking for CD to
be inserted. Once i re-installed office worked, didn't try to install
publisher.

Paul

 

[Twayne]

A friend of mine has a desktop running XP Pro SP3. He also had

office 2000 installed until recently. Anyway he had to unistall
Office due to some problem or other but since then he has the
following faults:

1. He can connect to the internet but after about 5 mins it just
times out everytime he tries to go to any website.
2. His pointer constantly has the small hourglass showing as soon as
he starts his computer, as if the computer is trying to do something.
I checked in task manager but there are no programs running. I had a
look earlier but ran out of ideas.

He tried using system restore to roll back to efore he uninstalled
office
but still the same fault. I have tried re-installing office fresh
but no difference.

I can't find anything wrong with his internet setup and office will
now run fine.

Could this be a lost file or virus, he runs AVG free but this does
not show anything.

Any help would be appreciated before we have to do a clean install of
windows.

Many thanks

Paul

If not a virus, you may still have something in the family of trojan,
spyware, general malward, but ... it doesn't really point in that
direction unless he was online when some of that stuff was being done.

That said, I would still run another updated AV scan and at least three
spyware scanners and probably Windows Defender since they're all easy to
find download and install. I can recommend Adaware (lavasoft.com),
Spybot Search & Destroy (spybot.com) , Spyware Guard (gorget where it
is; use a search engine) to mention a few of the decent ones. NONE of
them are any good though if they aren't known to be completely up to
date.

Have you checked Event Viewer for any hints in the logs?
How about firewall logs?

If none of the above helps, I'd suggest it to be faster and more
efficient to simply do a reinstall, starting right from deleting the
partition/s and rebuild it all. Unless of course you have drive images,
but, if you do, be careful; use one that pre-dates the problem. If it's
malware, it's going to be in the images, too. That's my 3 ¢ anyway.

HTH

Twayne

 

[Paul]

Many thanks i will try the malware scan and check event log to see if I can
find the problem.

I think you are right though i will have to do a re-install for him. God
only knows what he has done, it has baffled me.

Many thanks.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Repost:

Did his problems start after SP3 was installed?

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315

Run a /thorough/ check for hijackware, including posting your hijackthis log
to an appropriate forum.

Checking for/Help with Hijackware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=5878
http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal_and_Prevention:_Introduction
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/data/prevention.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/tshoot.html
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm
http://defendingyourmachine2.blogspot.com/
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

When all else fails, HijackThis v2.0.2
(http://aumha.org/downloads/hijackthis.exe) is the preferred tool to use.
It will help you to both identify and remove any hijackware/spyware with
assistance from an expert. **Post your log to
http://forums.spybot.info/forumdisplay.php?f=22,
http://castlecops.com/forum67.html,
http://forums.subratam.org/index.php?showforum=7,
http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30, or other appropriate forums for review
by an expert in such matters, not here.**

If the procedures look too complex - and there is no shame in admitting this
isn't your cup of tea - take the machine to a local, reputable and
independent (i.e., not BigBoxStoreUSA) computer repair shop.

 

[Paul]

Have sorted pointer problem, graphics control program glitch (thank god for
SELECTIVE START UP). Still have internet fault so here is the whole problem.

He has a DSL connection. For some reason the connection is fine for 15
minutes but after that I loose the connection because everytime I change
websites or refresh the current page i get a message that the page has timed
out.

The connection still shows as being connected on the task bar but wont let
me connect to the internet. I have tried using Internet explorer and Firefox
but still have the same problem with both.

Have tried running Spybot and adaware, there was a few problems so cleared
them, restarted but still had the same problem. Sometimes after restarting
the computer it will work for 15 minutes ish and then stops, but other times
still won,t play the game. Have checked all network settings, uninstalled
and re-installed browsers and internet connection.

All ideas kindly accepted