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justamadman View Drop Down
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Points: 1108 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote justamadman Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: computer help
    Posted: 19 January 2009 at 5:57pm
right guys this is slightly long winded so bear with me, i recently brought a fujitsu siemens esprimo mobile laptop running Vista home premium.

i installed a torrent of the latest norton internet security, and at first all was good, i'd run full system scans a few times and they picked up all threats, and the firewall was also spot on.

but in the last few days, my firefox searches have been redirecting to ad sites and various other crap.

i've run full system scans with norton, which usually scans 20,000+ items and it's only scanning 6000 odd items and saying all is fine.

i then used windows defender and it scans many more items before i get a blue screen saying there is an error and that my laptop needs to close to prevent damage and it does this everytime i run windows defender.

the error report gave me a list of files that were involved with the blue screen and they were all in the temp files list, so i deleted all the temp files to see if that helped but still no luck.

anyone got any ideas?

many thanks Ian.
in front of the bass bins baby
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odc04r View Drop Down
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Joined: 12 July 2006
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Points: 5483 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote odc04r Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 January 2009 at 6:10pm
I prefer spybot S&D and adaware for these issues. Norton is a pretty useless product, will pretty much just slow your system down for no extra gain.

If you can find the offending files research them using google, remove them with the software that detected them if possible, if not try killbox or deleting in safe mode.

Use noscript for firefox to prevent sites running unwanted scripts, and stop downloading dodgy exe files ;)

The blue screen I cannot advise on, sounds unusual.
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Phil.2008 View Drop Down
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Points: 331 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Phil.2008 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 January 2009 at 6:33pm
Cut your losses and install XP.  Vista is terrible.

Your laptop will run quicker then as well.


Edited by Phil.2008 - 19 January 2009 at 6:34pm
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jbl_man View Drop Down
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Points: 11043 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jbl_man Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 January 2009 at 6:49pm
^What he said...also its worth trying using AVG antivirus,its free,and its good...it will also find the ad-bot and suspect cookies causing the mis-directs .
Be seeing you.
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numtie View Drop Down
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Points: 585 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote numtie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 January 2009 at 6:53pm
sounds like the work of malware download http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php and use this tool proberly one of the best for getting rid of that sort of thing and norton is crap resource hungry program use avg free insted
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tallmike View Drop Down
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Points: 2684 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote tallmike Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 January 2009 at 7:35pm
I don't know if Firefox uses 'addons' like MSIE, but usually that search engine redirect script is an addon, often called something inconspicuous like 'research'.
 
 
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nickyburnell View Drop Down
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Points: 4410 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote nickyburnell Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 January 2009 at 7:49pm
Whoa, Do what Numptie says first. If it won't run then re-name it and run in safe mode.
Find another PC to download and while you are there do a search for combo fix. Download and run. Once again re-name if need be. Ignore the message about recovery console.
 IF and when it's all run and removed stuff go to IE tools, connections and make sure no proxy is set. I would also do a search for winsock fix and run that afterwards.
 Get all the Norton stuff off you PC, Download Kasperky free trial or NOD 32 free trial (my choice) and run it.
 IF all this works and you still get re-directed then Google Pack and download Spyware Doctor, this should weed out the rest.
 Combe Fix Is vicious, it can cock everything up, gotta try though. Maybe try with Malware Bytes and Spyware Doctor first?
 Saying get rid of Vista may well be good advice, nothing to do with this though, IE7 and Firefox are same as for XP and Vista, in otherwords vulnerable.
 When your done PAY for NOD32 or Kaspersky, £29 ish for a year, torrents for AV, your asking for it!Clown
 PS, Norton couldn't catch a cold. (allegedly)
 MODS, this needs moving to Computer section.
PS if Malwarbytes won't update change the mirror.
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Spuggy View Drop Down
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Points: 141 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Spuggy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 January 2009 at 11:50pm
Firstly - stop browsing dodgy web sites,  including porno, which is where most mallware comes from.  Facebook and other similar so-called community sites are also riddled with mallware.

Download and install the free version of "Ad-Aware" and run it.  This software is designed to deal with issues such as yours and should kill it.  If the problem still persists, or even for your own 'peace of mind', download and install 'Spyware Doctor'.  (Make sure you download it from one of their own servers though, there's at least one other version of this that will actually corrupt you computer further!).  There are some issues with it if you decide to purchase it and install it for permanent protection (but nowhere as bad as Norton!),  however I've found that SD is currently the most effective at killing anything that shoudn't be there!

I would also agree with installing "NoScript" into Firefox.  Also "CookieSafe"  (which will give you control over your cookies - most these days can be blocked anyway, though some per session are still needed to keep track of e.g. your 'shopping trolley').  Also set your browsers to delete 'all temporary files on exit' or the equivelent.  Another usefull utility is 'ATF-Cleaner' (Google it for further info).

Given that it's a laptop, and recently purchased, I'm assuming that most software was pre-installed.  Obviously I don't know your level of IT expertise, but I'll just say that my Sony Vaio (about four years old now) went so bad so very quickly with it's preinstalled setup that within weeks of it's purchase I re-formatted the hard drive and set it up again from scratch.  Needed to purchase new set of oem CD's for everything though, as well as download a number of drivers.  But then I've enjoyed doing that sort of thing (and on servers as well) since MS DOS 3.3.

BTW, my daytime job is in IT Technical Support.
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JaKe View Drop Down
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Points: 684 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote JaKe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 January 2009 at 12:09am
Also make sure your using a router and not a crappy USB modem, the only sure way of getting rid of malware is to delete all partitions and start again, formatting the C: drive should do it though.
Kaspersky can be had on Ebay for about £15 for 3 user licence.
Your laptop may have a restore partition so be careful with just sticking a Vista/XP disk on as you may permanently destroy it, not a problem if you don't ever intend on using it - will free up some disk space if you do.
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levyte357 View Drop Down
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Points: 11743 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote levyte357 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 January 2009 at 12:18am
Originally posted by justamadman justamadman wrote:


i installed a torrent of the latest norton internet security


2x Biggest mistakes you ever made.

As someone else suggested, Get Kaspersky 3 user  Internet Security off ebay or Computer Fair for £20. Will be best money you ever spent.

Vista is a dog on most machines, but at least Kaspersky + Firefox + Noscript + legal copy of Windows + auto updates, will do excellent job of keeping you safe.

Also, if you intend to Install XP+SP3 instead, make sure you have located all the XP certified drivers for your laptop first.Wink




Edited by levyte357 - 20 January 2009 at 12:23am
"Who am I? I'm the guy who does his job.. You must be the other guy".
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Spuggy View Drop Down
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Points: 141 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Spuggy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 January 2009 at 12:27am
Sorry, I missed something there.  First step is to uninstall 'Windows Defender', as the running of this is what is causing the BSOD.  (Actually I find it useful to manually copy the first line of the BSOD message into Google on another computer, even though in these sort of cases it can mislead you into areas of hardware faults and driver conflicts - totally irrelevant here!).

Nicky's solution is a good one if you are in a BSOD situation after bootup but during loading of startup progs., and have the knowledge and experience to deal with the unexpected, as will surely happen.  Depending on what I see I sometimes prefer to go for either a parallel or even an overwrite re/installation of the OS.  (Both have their own problems, but I did once bring back to life a company's NT4 File Server with the parallel installation approach.  Yes, I was as delighted as they were!).   
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nickyburnell View Drop Down
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Points: 4410 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote nickyburnell Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 January 2009 at 12:49am
No bad language here please. NT4 indeed!
 Also, as said, Format and re-install or, "Resore disks" probably quicker.
  Also, off subject a bit but a good tip: If you have one of the, "Ready made" type of PC's with Vista RESTORE or make your own RESTORE disks, get a proper copy of Vista off someone, any one will do as long as it's real. That way you can run the automated repair stuff from boot. It will sort most MBR stuff.
 Anyhow, Windows 7 will soon be with us and we can forget Vista forever, resigned to the cupboard with Millenium....Unless 7 is worse....
It's everything, not everythink!
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