Windows Vista Machine - Suddenly Disabled

tommy1974 · 08-03-2008, 12:07 AM

Hello, I am having a very strange problem with my Windows Vista PC that practically makes it useless. Something is apparently hogging a lot of the physical memory. When I boot up the computer, right away and without having done anything (and no Sidebar), the Task Manager says 80% or so of the physical memory is already used. The Task Manager also says sidebar.exe is running (even though I turned it off), and so is dwm.exe (the Desktop Window Manager), and explorer.exe. I'm not surprised that those are running, but I'm surprised that they are apparently taking a lot of memory - each one in the Task Manager shows 10-20K at least. IE will also use a lot of memory if I start it.

Without even starting any applications, I'll get warnings from Windows saying that I'm low on memory, and it will tell me to close applications such as Desktop Window Manager, Windows Sidebar, and Windows Explorer. Obviously, that's pretty basic stuff that I shouldn't have to close in order for my computer to function normally. If I do start applications it gets even worse, and sometimes the computer will not even let me do that. If I try to start an application, like MS Word or Adobe Acrobat, sometimes it will just be killed. The window will try to come up...and then it's gone. Sometimes if a window does succeed in coming up, it doesn't fill in; just the outer part comes up.

Also, Windows will sometimes force me from the Aero feature back to Basic.

Sometimes these things are accompanied by warnings but sometimes not.

I don't know what is causing all this.

I went to the forum www.malwareremoval.com, and the person who helped me there had me scan the computer with just about everything in existence, including Hijack This, Deckard's System Scanner, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, and ComboFix. The only thing I couldn't do is the Kaspersky scan, because something kept killing it (terminating the window, as I described) every time I started it.

The Malwarebytes Anti-Malware did find a "Rogue-Installer" at the following location: C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{F94234DB-FD06-42C3-B88D-6FC4DC9F988C}\setup.exe (Rogue.Installer), and was able to quarantine and delete it. But the system is still behaving the same way. They said I was clean, couldn't find any malware, and referred me to this forum. So I'm hoping it's just a really bad registry entry or setting somewhere. (That's also why I posted here and not under the security or HJT forum).

All I did with that machine before this was go to YouTube (I don't know if you can pick up anything from there or not), and my wife said she might have downloaded something without thinking. But as I said, the malware folks can't find anything and they tell me I'm clean.

They said I could refer you to my Malware Removal thread, if you wanted to see the logs or anything else there, so here it is:

http://www.malwareremoval.com/forum/...p?f=11&t=32856

I'm running Windows Vista Home Premium, SP1. It's an HP machine, so it boots up with this "HP Invent" program v. 5.04, and has an HP Easy Core Setup program that you can't uninstall.

Please help if there is any way you can possibly do so. My wife and I are relegated to using this little MacBook because that computer has become totally useless.

Any help you could give would be very much appreciated.

08-03-2008, 12:07 AM	#1 (permalink)
tommy1974 Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1 OS: Windows Vista Home Premium SP1	Windows Vista Machine - Suddenly Disabled Hello, I am having a very strange problem with my Windows Vista PC that practically makes it useless. Something is apparently hogging a lot of the physical memory. When I boot up the computer, right away and without having done anything (and no Sidebar), the Task Manager says 80% or so of the physical memory is already used. The Task Manager also says sidebar.exe is running (even though I turned it off), and so is dwm.exe (the Desktop Window Manager), and explorer.exe. I'm not surprised that those are running, but I'm surprised that they are apparently taking a lot of memory - each one in the Task Manager shows 10-20K at least. IE will also use a lot of memory if I start it. Without even starting any applications, I'll get warnings from Windows saying that I'm low on memory, and it will tell me to close applications such as Desktop Window Manager, Windows Sidebar, and Windows Explorer. Obviously, that's pretty basic stuff that I shouldn't have to close in order for my computer to function normally. If I do start applications it gets even worse, and sometimes the computer will not even let me do that. If I try to start an application, like MS Word or Adobe Acrobat, sometimes it will just be killed. The window will try to come up...and then it's gone. Sometimes if a window does succeed in coming up, it doesn't fill in; just the outer part comes up. Also, Windows will sometimes force me from the Aero feature back to Basic. Sometimes these things are accompanied by warnings but sometimes not. I don't know what is causing all this. I went to the forum www.malwareremoval.com, and the person who helped me there had me scan the computer with just about everything in existence, including Hijack This, Deckard's System Scanner, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, and ComboFix. The only thing I couldn't do is the Kaspersky scan, because something kept killing it (terminating the window, as I described) every time I started it. The Malwarebytes Anti-Malware did find a "Rogue-Installer" at the following location: C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{F94234DB-FD06-42C3-B88D-6FC4DC9F988C}\setup.exe (Rogue.Installer), and was able to quarantine and delete it. But the system is still behaving the same way. They said I was clean, couldn't find any malware, and referred me to this forum. So I'm hoping it's just a really bad registry entry or setting somewhere. (That's also why I posted here and not under the security or HJT forum). All I did with that machine before this was go to YouTube (I don't know if you can pick up anything from there or not), and my wife said she might have downloaded something without thinking. But as I said, the malware folks can't find anything and they tell me I'm clean. They said I could refer you to my Malware Removal thread, if you wanted to see the logs or anything else there, so here it is: http://www.malwareremoval.com/forum/...p?f=11&t=32856 I'm running Windows Vista Home Premium, SP1. It's an HP machine, so it boots up with this "HP Invent" program v. 5.04, and has an HP Easy Core Setup program that you can't uninstall. Please help if there is any way you can possibly do so. My wife and I are relegated to using this little MacBook because that computer has become totally useless. Any help you could give would be very much appreciated.