Scarface Posted May 31, 2007 Report Share Posted May 31, 2007 Hello all,Recently i downloaded files off an untrusted site and it turns out the files were full of trojans, malware and other spyware (yes i know i was stupid). My antivirus (BitDefender v10) detected these viruses and informed that my pc had not been infected. I ran a full system scan and found and destroyed 7 Trojans. While i was scanning my explorer vanished, my icons in the background and taskbar, all gone. I was able to complete the scan. I was also able to access the task manager, and tried on several attempts to run "explorer", it would work for a few seconds, my icons reappearing and task bar loading but then after a about 5 seconds, it would vanish again. I checked the task manager and explorer.exe had vanished. I kept trying to run it but the same happened. So i restarted my pc in the hope it would cure this problem. However at statup, explorer did not run. This is when i started to panic, first thoughts were viruses so i rescanned with BitDefender on the "agressive" option but found only one piece of spyware "magn2t" or something like that, i believe its low risk and incapable of preventing explorer from running but non the less i destroyed it. Then i tried explorer again, same result. Then i looked on google for previous threads and they suggested downloading the lavasoft product, Ad Aware SE Personal that i did, and it found some spyware which i removed. Tried explorer yet again, same result. Rebooted and same result again. I tried the Registry Mechanic, it found some errors but they proved to be non relavant towards restoring explorer. I tried to restor back to a previous good state using Norton GoBack 4.0 but it claimed there were no restore points available. I went to restore my registry with the registry mechanic but that also claimed no restore points. I even tried to run the control panel via the task manager by typing "control" in. At first this seemed successful, all my icons full restored, and taskbar restored and it even opened my documents and control panel. However around 20 seconds later it all vanished, control.exe and explorer.exe had vanished again. I tried that utility using the run option (i cant think of the name here sorry) but it checks your system files for errors, it ran and the bar progressed to the end but at the end of it, no other window came up. I'm guessing this is a good thing. Then i restarted again and ChkDsk ran by itself, verifying certain folders but it had no affect. I'm really quite concerned here and have been frustrated about this all day, i do not wish to reinstall windows as i fear i will make a complete mess of it and totally screw my PC (i also don't have the Windows XP installation CD, i may have lost it =/) I struggle to believe that this is the result of some sort of virus (i have updated all protection programmes and ran scans on full aggressiveness with no results) and i find it hard to believe that this sort of error will require a reinstallation so i thought i had better consult the experts before i try anything drastic. Im on a Toshiba Equium L-20 Laptop running Windows XP SP2. I've never encountered a problem as serious as this in the (nearly) 2 years i have had my laptop. I am moderately experienced with Computers but some of the stuff i have read on other threads similar to this have completely baffled me :( I used to think i knew a lot about pc's but I'm not as sharp as i thought and i request your assistance, please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raddy Posted June 1, 2007 Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 Well, if you really don't want to format your drive, there is another (possible) option. Since you can't get your Start menu up long enough to be effective, you'll have to do this by keyboard. Press Windows Key+R and the Run menu will pop up. Type in msconfig and press enter. A new window should pop up; go to the General tab and at the bottom there is a buttong that says "Launch System Restore." Click it and another window appears. This one will ask if you want to restore or create a restore point. Check Restore and click next. A calendar will pop up, giving you various dates you can restore to. Windows automatically creates restore points (I'm not sure how often), so they will be there, but you might have to go back a month or two. In any case, select a day that occurred before your system went down, and choose it. The computer will reboot, work for a bit, and then give you a window that says "Restoration Complete." Hopefully, this should fix the problem. If not, you can choose another restore date, or undo the restoration altogether. Let me know how this works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarface Posted June 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 I have tried this, it found several system restpre points on May 30th (1 day before my pc went wrong), it had many system restore points on that day, i tried 3/6 system restore's but they dont seem to have an affect, the first time i restored, a window popped up after reboot to inform me that the restore did not complete. On the other 2 resotre's everything loaded except i was still left with the same problem. explorer will not run. I had a look at msconfig and under startup there is an essential program called Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator and it is not running, i don't know how to get it running but maybe this is the cause? another essential program below it is running fine, its called Remote Procedure Call (RPC) . Thank you for your suggestion but it had not worked :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarface Posted June 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 well since this is a slow moving topic and im in a hurry (wanna sort this asap so i can continue to study for my exams next week) i had a look at this:http://photomatt.net/2004/10/18/fixing-explorer-restart/and although im running SP2 already im going to download and reinstall it, hopefully it will solve the problem, ill post back results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarface Posted June 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 omg 3rd post in a row :Dbut anyways i think i identified the problem using the System Mechanic v7. I scanned startup Items and look what i found:Repaired: C:\Windows\System32\ddcyw.dllFound in: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper ObjectsDescription: Added by the Troj/ConHook-I information stealing TrojanNow it says it has repaired it and prompts for system restart but upon restart, no explorer appears and i run the startup scan again and find the same problem. It seems i can't get rid of it. Any help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan2273 Posted June 1, 2007 Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 Do you have access to the internet, if so download a program called HJT (high jack tjis and post to the link below, this link will give you the instructions on what to do.http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/...al42.html#RDiag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarface Posted June 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 yes i do have access and im downloading the programm now, ill post back asap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarface Posted June 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 hmm i ran the programme but when i click "save log" the program ends, does anyone know where the default saving area is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted June 1, 2007 Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 You need to run it from its own folder e.g. C:\HIJACK- which is where it will save the output. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarface Posted June 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2007 thank you, i have posted on the bleepingcomputer forums and awaiting a response, thanks for your all help :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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