Re: IS this caused by a virus?

Tech-Archive recommends: Speed Up your PC by fixing your registry

Thanks a lot. I wrote a lengthy response to the first poster who provided me
helpful suggestions. That response is meant for you, too. Thanks a gain.

"Patrick Keenan" wrote:

"DFIGTREE" <DFIGTREE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:88C5C333-25A3-4941-89C2-CEF431C6BED6@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I run Zonealarm which has been cleaning a few viruses lately. Checking out
from some e-store the other day, ZoneAlarm detected a dialup connection
being
added. Long story short, I had to pull the plug to get the computer to
shut
down. Since then, when I boot and reach the point where the wallpaper and
icons should appear on my monitor, my monitor goes blank but I can hear
the
startups being loaded. Can a virus take over the monitor and blank it out
(and maybe use the mouse in secrecy)? The only ZoneAlarm info I still
have
is this ... TROJAN.DOWNLOADER.JAVA, TROJAN.IS.AGENTB, TROJAN=SPY
HTML.ANAL,
WIN32.ISBAR.450, WIN32.TROJAN.PSW.G... These have been deleted.

Any helpwould be appreciated. I am running in safe mode now but cannot
print
or use the sound card.

It could certainly damage the video drivers and registry settings. If the
screen has gone blank, that may mean that the resolution has changed to
something out of range of your monitor. At the screen where you can select
Safe Mode, there's another VGA mode, which will use a very generic driver
and let you set resolution and refresh rates correctly, in a way that you
cannot do in Safe Mode.

I'll suggest that the place for you to start is to remove the drive from
your system, and attach it to another system that has up-to-date virus
protection and lots of free disk space. This approach will safeguard your
data, and let you get directly to most malware without it trying to fight
you. You can use a USB2 drive case or connector, or attach it via IDE or
SATA cable. You may have to change jumper settings.

Once that's done, back up your data to the other system. The active
antivuris will detect any malware during the copies. Be sure that you get
all of your data, including emails and address books. You may possibly
need to Take Ownership of various folders, and the method for that is here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421

Then, locate all the "content.ie5" folders and cache folders for other
browsers, and empty them. Likewise empty all temp folders. Empty the
recycle bin. There are one or two large files in the root directory,
which can be deleted - pagefile.sys and hiberfil.sys. If they are there,
they can be deleted; Windows will recreate them as needed, and not having
them will speed up the next steps..

Now, you're ready to scan that drive for viruses. Use the installed AV
scanner and then use the Trend Micro Housecall scanner at
http://housecall.trendmicro.com

This should uncover most malware, with the malware in a dormant state.

Finally, you can defragment the drive while it's attached to this other
system. That'll be a little faster than doing it after you put it back.

Re-install the drive in the original system, and start it up in VGA mode,
and set the video correctly, and then check your other driver problems.
You may need to reinstall basic board drivers, or just drivers for the
printer and sound card.

HTH
-pk



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: IS this caused by a virus?
    ... It could certainly damage the video drivers and registry settings. ... Safe Mode, there's another VGA mode, which will use a very generic driver ... antivuris will detect any malware during the copies. ... locate all the "content.ie5" folders and cache folders for other ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: IE runs at 99%
    ... have used all the utilities in normal mode, Safe Mode, etc but no luck. ... What you see as the desktop *is* Explorer. ... but to disable the malware that's running. ... temp folders and the content.ie5 folders. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
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    ... start and store information for drivers and services; ... Malware can also use the win.ini and system.ini for hiding startup locations. ... In Windows NT/XP: ... You might want to start in Safe Mode to run your antivirus and anti-spyware ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics)
  • Re: XP Performance Problem
    ... Some drivers do not load in Safe Mode and an Event Viewer Report in the System log much like this will tell you the extra drivers loading in normal mode that may be problematic. ... given that most malware does not run in Safe Mode then the probability is that it is a malware problem and this needs to be eliminated as a cause. ...
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