On Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:24:41 -0400, Chambers wrote:

> If anybody here could help me with some advice, I'd appreciate it.
> 
> Lately, I've been getting crashes when Windows starts*, and something
> has been interfering with my web browsing.
> 
> Searching with Google or Yahoo never finishes** (it just loads the page
> for several minutes, and then quits).  Other functions of Google and
> Yahoo (ie, Google Webmaster Tools, or My Yahoo) work fine.
> 
> Downloading files in Firefox gets interrupted (it asks me where to save
> the file, but never actually saves - or even begins downloading - it). 
> Downloading in IE sometimes works, and sometimes doesn't.
> 
> I get random popup ads and new tabs opened in both IE7 and Firefox 2,
> most of them advertising antimalware software (which I've never heard
> of, and don't trust).
> 
> I *do* have Safari installed (just to try it out), but I haven't tested
> for these symptoms in it yet.
> 
> I have both AVG Free AV and Antispyware, and ZoneAlarm firewall
> installed.  I managed to install Avast last night, and performed a
> boot-time scan, which didn't yield any results.
> 
> Before I left for work, I left the machine running complete scans from
> AVG (antivirus *and* antispyware), and from Avast.  I'll check the
> results when I get home.
> 
> Has anybody here had a similar experience, and is able to comment?
> 
> BTW, the only software I've installed recently (other than Linux... heh)
> is MS Silverlight, which I've since uninstalled.
> 
> ** These work fine in Linux, so I know its something with the machine
> and not the network.
> 
> * By googling under Linux, I was able to determine that the crashing
> process belonged to Nero Scout, something I didn't even have installed
> (I only installed Burning ROM, with none of the extras).  Just to be
> safe, I uninstalled Nero, but that hasn't changed anything.
> 
> ....Chambers
> www.pacificwebguy.com

I got a similar problem caused by the latest version of Vundo, Vundo.D. 
Nasty little trojan horse, I realized it was there when normally sane 
sites opened several pop-ups. AVG missed it, Trend Micro's Housecall 
found 2 dlls it was using but it recreated those when I rebooted. I know 
how it got in, I was stupid and trusted a file I shouldn't. It wasn't 
communicating out on it's own, so the fire wall never saw it.

Not saying that's what got to your PC, but the symptoms sound very 
similar.

Post a reply to this message