ME Problems

[detel]

I have a problem and am not sure what to do next. I tried doing a scandisk but it says that something else is running in the back ground and it is causing the scandisk to constantly restart. I ran Norton and it did not find any bugs. I went to Start, Run and typed in MSCONFIG and unchecked the Load Start up group Items. Here's my problem, PC will not turn off with out Ctrl,Alt,Delete. Also, I can right click on the desktop and nothing will happen after the little hour glass is gone. Same with the icons in the Control Panel. I tried to turn off the Screen Saver, Remove programs etc. but after I click on an icon, it gives the little hour glass but nothing happens. Help!

[Flame]

Windows ME has a problem? Wow. That's a familiar story... Anyway... Did you manke any changes to your system prior to this incident?

[glb]Flame[/glb]

[detel]

My wife has been letting the Grandkids play games and stuff like that. They have downloaded music using Kaza but I can't think of anything they have done recently that would cause this kind of action. I thought that maybe they changed the password for the administrator or something like that. I just think that it's odd that I can't change any settings in the control panel or that it won't shut off or Restart by going to Start, Shut Down. Was this any help?

[pcdoc4christ]

Detel:

Letting your computer connect to Kazaa is something like letting an addict share needles.  Sooner or later an infection will occur.  

A search of the Symantec.com Web site alone (the site of the makers of the Norton Anti-virus program) for Kazaa comes up with more than 6,200 hits!

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=kazaa+site%3ASymantec.com&btnG=Search

My advice is to uninstall Kazaa, find and remove the worm that has infected your computer, put passwords on your user accounts, and let your grandchildren only use the Guest account so they will be unable to install Kazaa again.

Regards,
Doc

[Flame]

Scan for viruses and Spyware... You DO have protection... Right?

[glb]Flame[/glb]

[detel]

I can't get into my Add/Delete programs to get rid of Kazaa. Is there any other way to find the program so that I can uninstall it?

[ronok]

Try this. Go into my computer, right click on the c: drive>Properties>Disk cleanup>more options tab(upper right)
Click on, Free more space by removing programs you no longer use. If that dosn't work try uninstalling it in safe mode.
If that dosn't work. You will need a third party uninstaller. Ther are some free ones. My Uninstaller is one. You can search for it in google or whatever. Or go to pcworld.com, They have links to all kinds of fixes.

[Flame]

Try this... Click Start -> All programs -> Kazaa... In the Kazaa folder, look for uninstall...

[glb]Flame[/glb]

[detel]

It appears that my PC is infected. I have tried all of your suggestions and nothing works, I can't get Disk Cleanup to open, no uninstall in the Kazaa folder, I can't even change the time or date which is showing Sunday, Jan 02, 2000.
I tried to load my windows XP Corporate but gets to a point where it says that I have issues that have to be taken care of before it will load. Oh Well! Any other idea's? Can I reformat the hard drive and then install XP?
Thanks for all of your help

[Flame]

You have virus proteection right? Run a scan not only for viruses, but for Spyware too.... If that doesn't work, then maybe we'll talk about reformatting...

[glb]Flame[/glb]

[detel]

I ran virus protection and it picked up 3 virus's and I quarantined them. I also ran Ad aware. The problem that I have is my wife never updated either one and I am sure that there are virus's that are not being reconized. I can't get online so I can't update. I was able to get into Safe mode and finally completed the ScanDisk and Defrag but no luck yet in opening up any window based programs. What now?

[Flame]

You Quarantined them? No wonder... You need to remove them... Quarantining them does nothing... Get those removed...

[glb]Flame[/glb]

[pcdoc4christ]

Detel:

Before you delete them, please write down the full name of each one and let us know what they are.  One of us will look up the removal instructions on line (sometimes merely removing the virus is not enough).  There may also be instructions on line as to how to undo the changes that have rendered your computer unable to download the virus definition updates.

Are you able to surf the Web at all or are you using a different computer to leave posts at this Web site?  If you are able to use your Web browser to get to, say, computerhope.com but not to symantec.com, then i'd suggest changing the name of the HOSTS file to see if that makes a difference.  Let us know.

[detel]

I just got home from work and read your suggestions. I do use My pc to communicate as I can not get on the internet with my wife's. I tried to find the quarantined items but can't get Norton to come on. I did run Ad Aware and it picked up 3 items which are C;\_restore\temp\a0326703.cpy, a0326706 and a0326746. What do you think?

[pcdoc4christ]

Detel:

Ad-aware is not designed to take out most computer viruses. However, it's safe to allow it to quarantine anything it finds, as you may restore the files it finds at a later date if you decide you need them.

The fact that your anti-virus program is disabled is a good sign that your system is infected.  Try several of these free, online virus scans:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-51,GGLD:en&q=online+virus+scans

I'd also recommend downloading the McAfee Avert Stinger tool, restarting in Safe Mode, and opening the tool.  It will automatically scan your system for the most common infections.  It may be downloaded for free from here:

http://vil.nai.com/vil/averttools.asp