T-Kay-O

Ok, so everything regarding XP was running fine (I'm on a Advent 3408A machine by the way) until I ran a disk defrag overnight (although I doubt this is responsible)

First problem that occurs is a box that appears during startup, it has what looks like chinese symbols in the corner & an ok button, if I hit ok, startup seems to do it's thing fine.

Secondly, all my program shortcuts on the desktop/start-menu have changed into .lnk files, meaning to open them I have to double-click & select program from list, then locate the appropriate file in the c-drive. Bit of a pain to be honest.

Thirdly, hardly anything in control panel wants to work, security centre, firewall, system settings etc etc, won't open at all.

I think that's about it

Thanking you in advance...

T-Kay

Deleted090308

Hi, welcome to TSF.

It sounds like you have malware in your computer.
Follow the 5 steps here: http://www.techsupportforum.com/secu...sting-log.html
Post the logs in a new thread in the HJT log help forum.

T-Kay-O

Hey thanks for your reply!

I'm going through the steps currently, have had to skip step 1 as add/remove programs won't open. Am trying to do the panda active scan & am getting an error message every time

T-Kay-O

Come to think of it, I've had problems installing softwares since these problems began. I tried installing CCleaner & itjust wouldn't have it at all.

Deleted090308

I have moved this thread to the Security forum, where they can help you.

tetonbob

Hi T-Kay-O

If you have trouble with any of the steps from the link given by eneles, simply move on to the next one. Most important will be this one:

Download Deckard's System Scanner (DSS) to your Desktop. Note: You must be logged onto an account with administrator privileges.

1. Close all applications and windows.
2. Double-click on dss.exe to run it, and follow the prompts.
3. When the scan is complete, two text files will open - main.txt <- this one will be maximized and extra.txt <-this one will be minimized
4. Copy (Ctrl+A then Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) the contents of main.txt in your thread in the HijackThis Log Help Forum, not here.
5. Please attach extra.txt to your post.

To attach a file to a new post, simply

1. Click the[Manage Attachments] button under Additional Options > Attach Files on the post composition page, and
2. copy and paste the following into the "Upload File from your Computer" box:

   C:\Deckard\System Scanner\extra.txt
   

3. Click Upload.

What DSS will do:

• create a new System Restore point in Windows XP and Vista.
• clean your Temporary Files, Downloaded Program Files, and Internet Cache Files, and also empty the Recycle Bin on all drives.
• check some important areas of your system and produce a report for your analyst to review. DSS automatically runs HijackThis for you, but it will also install and place a shortcut to HijackThis on your desktop if you do not already have HijackThis installed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please note that the HijackThis Log Help forum is extremely busy, and it may take a while to receive a reply.

__________________

** PC Safety and Security--What Do I Need? **

Proud Member of ASAP since 2005
Proud Member of UNITE since 2006

T-Kay-O

Thanks for moving the thread accordingly, I'm such an amateur

Right, I've ended up at step 5 now, and still can't get anything to install. When I try install DSS, i get the option of run/save. If I click run it takes me to windows file association page & claims to not recognise the file. And if I save it to desktop for example, I'm left with an exe file, when I click that it asks me what program to open it with!

HELP!

tetonbob

You may be a candidate for a repair install, as there appear to be several issues.

Let's see if we can gather a bit of information first.

1. Download DAFT and save it to your Desktop.
2. rename it to daft.com (right click, rename)
3. Double-click the daft.com icon. Read the disclaimer and click okay.
4. Click on the Scan button. Click on save a logfile. By default, it will save as daft.txt.

Post the contents of that file with your next post.

__________________

** PC Safety and Security--What Do I Need? **

Proud Member of ASAP since 2005
Proud Member of UNITE since 2006

T-Kay-O

Nightmare! A few hours later I've managed to get .exe files opening again, so am going to go through these 5 steps (again), and see what happens!

Thanks for the help guys, take care.