Hi,
Well, I fixed my problems and I thought I'd
let you know about it. I appreciate the
assistance I received and although it did
not help, I understand that sometimes,
one must determine what is NOT causing
a problem, before finding out what IS the
problem.
I did a bunch of scans with Pc Cillin,
Windows Defender, Ad Aware and Spybot,
but found nothing! Cleaned up the registry
with Registry Mechanic - no joy! I tinkered
with System Restore for quite a while - no
joy! Even checked out my video card - no
joy!
So, completely fed up with the mess, I did
a repair install of Windows and presto,
Windows began functioning normally again!
The next virus scan picked up six different
trojans - some had duplicates for a total
of ten installations! And a Windows Defender
scan found one more!
One trojan was even installed in the 'Gone
Fishing' Bitmap Image that comes with the
Windows installation. I doubt that the
trojan came with my original Windows
installation CD, but that's where it was
hiding!
I would not have known the 'Gone Fishing'
infection, except for the fact that I had
backed up important stuff on an external
hard drive and it was included in the most
recent virus scan.
So, I'm guessing that these trojans got in
through the hole that was plugged by the
most recent Windows update and that the
update caused a bottle neck for the bad
guys.
One of the trojans installed the Screenblaze
hit exchange program and that caused a lot
of confusion at first. I had never installed it
and I could not find it in 'Add/Remove
Programs.'
I figure I spent about 12 hours working on
that mess and I hope, by passing this on, I
can save some time for others
Kelly said:
Multiple issues here, Matt.
1. See the IE groups:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=FH;EN-US;FAQS
2. See the Updates groups:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=FH;EN-US;FAQS
3. What is System Restore and how it works:
http://www.rselby.net/xpsr.htm#sr
System Restore Issues Discussed Here:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_restore.htm
Troubleshooting System Restore in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;q302796&
System Restore by Anshul Rawat [MS]
http://microsoft.com/technet/itcommunity/newsgroups/faqsrwxp.asp
--
All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP/DTS&XP)
Taskbar Repair Tool
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm
Matthew said:
I am still running with IE 6 - I have not upgraded to IE 7
Since the most recent update (April 3/07) I can't use Internet Explorer or
Windows Explorer. Windows come up but remain blank. All other apps on my
computer seem to be working fine - e.g. Microsoft Word, Word Perfect,
Picture
Viewer etc. and I can open folders but I just can't open anything that
needs
a window.
I tried System Restore but the "System Restore" window comes up blank and
I
can't do anything there.
In "Add or Remove Programs" I uninstalled the last update but the problem
persists.
I've tried rebooting a bunch of times - no joy. I've opened in Safe Mode
and
tried to bring up System Restore but it's still a blank window.
Help!
