Virus/Worm

[Julie Wright]

HELP !!!!

My browsers keep shutting down... What can it be?? I am running windows ME (I know, it Stinks!!) But for now thats what I have running..

Any Ideas? I have Norton running and a Firewall...

Thanks in advance...

[Dan Mages]

Have you run live update and scanned the computer? I also reccomend installing Spybot Search and Destroy. It will free your computer of spyware and other mallicious code sent from the internet.

Dan

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Julie, a recent worm sent out caused that exact symptom. If you have an active Norton antivirus you might try downloading the most recent updates and scanning your computer. John M., could you advise her?

[Hal Flynt]

I would suggest that you go here and click on the "House Call" scan now link

http://www.trendmicro.com/en/home/us/personal.htm

It's free and up to date.

[John Miliunas]

Julie, what the other guys said. Fresh definition files and do scans. It sounds as though you have a "trojan", which is causing the issues. If the browser you're using is Internet Explorer, there's a good chance it's a trojan specific to IE. I would definitely try "Adaware" and "Spybot S&D" first. If those don't work, get a copy of "cwshredder". If you go to this site, you're very likely to find a solution: http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html

Now, the problem may be if you've only got IE on your machine and it doesn't let you get to the site long enough to do it. You may need to get on a different machine and get a copy of some of the above apps and load them up on your machine. Keep us posted on progress.

[Julie Wright]

Its STILL NOT working..... It seems to be getting worse!!
When the popup said do you want to send an error message, I said no (I've already sent about 1000 ) then the puter rebooted.....

Then the next time I got an error explorer has caused an unknown error..

I hvae updated Norton antivirus, run Spybot and adware... and went to Merlin all come up clean ?? ???

I have some work to do, I can't keep a borwser open long enough to get anything done..

I have both Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers, BOTH crash!!
Now what??? FORMAT the Hard DRIVE??

[John Miliunas]

Drat and double-drat! OK, two things: 1) Does it reboot or act "weird" when you're NOT online? 2) Worse case (before formatting), try to do the "Recovery" in ME. I don't use that POS operating system, so I'm not even sure where that feature is located, but I think if you go to the "Help" section under "Start", you should find it.

[Julie Wright]

So far it only acts weird when online. However I havent done to much offline..

[John Miliunas]

Julie, before doing too much more of *anything*, make sure you have backups of any and all important data! If you don't yet, do so NOW! I don't mean to scare you, but if it's happening under both browsers, it could be something quite serious. It may very well be sectors on the hard drive starting to go belly-up, in which case, you need to be sure you have copies of important data.

Also, if you can, send along whatever error message(s) you're getting (if any). Good luck!

[Chuck Wintle]

Julie,
I found this info online and posted it here

1.Do the Windows Update routine again and see what turns up.
2. Update all your device drivers again.
3. Ensure you have latest antivirus updates and run a full system antivirus scan.
4. Run the IE Repair Tool (Run: msinfo32)>opens the System Information Tool>Tools>IE
Repair>check Repair IE>OK.
5. Periodically dump your cache>browser>Internet Options>General tab>delete button.
6. Use the Settings button to double the amount of cache memory.

[Julie Wright]

I am getting <Explorer> has caused an unknown error, Please reboot..
Yes, it does it off line as well as in both browsers. I'll be lucky if I can get this out

I have updated all virus software.. run it all !! YIKES
Glad the new 80GB drive is here>>

I put new memory 256MG memory in and a new VGA card. Could this be software incompatablilitie?? Pkg insert says compatiable with windows ME.

GeForce FX5200 128MB card, I was getting some errors before I put the card in, but now the happen Very OFTEN!!!

[John Miliunas]

Julie, it sounds like you've got the bulk of your upgrades in place, *except* the MOST IMPORTANT one: Put XP on that machine and get rid of that piece o' crap Win ME once and for all! Before doing so, drop me an email for some specific tips to help keep you out of trouble.

[Chuck Wintle]

It could be faulty memory causing your problem. My kids computer had exactly the same problem and it was faulty memory. Luckily there was 2 sticks of memory and it was easy to isolate the faulty one. I agree with John to upgrade(clean install) soon to Win XP with the new hard drive and your problems will largely disappear. Win ME is so bug ridden it is considered to be the worst of all operating systems ever sold by Microsoft. Also be sure to install WinXP SP1 for the critical updates contained in it. Personally I would partition the drive into 3 or 4 partitions. That way you can store important files etc on extra partitions and, should you ever need to reinstall WIN XP in the future, those files on the other partitions will remain intact. You may need to use the install disk from the hard drive maker to prepare the drive for WIN XP installation.

[Dan Mages]

Here is another thing you should check. Go to the device manager in the control panel and check for any hardware with an exclamation mark or a question mark. Delete those items and reboot. It will reload the correct hardware.

Dan

[Julie Wright]

Thanks Dan,
I did that last night. There were none...

Here is another thing you should check. Go to the device manager in the control panel and check for any hardware with an exclamation mark or a question mark. Delete those items and reboot. It will reload the correct hardware.

Dan