ping.exe in continous loop

[deank]

Hello there, I am trying to fix my daughters laptop. She has XP on it and CPU cycles are being continously used to a high percentage. In looking at Task Mgr I see ping.exe is invoked all the time. I tried to delete and even remane "ping" (in safe / command mode), but that doesn't work. What is the program at continoulsy is being run to start this continous cycle, so I can go edit or remove it? I am very familar with command / safe mode, and can fix it that way if needed, especially since it will be alot faster.

Apreciate your help

DeanK

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

Whenever a computer begins to behave strangely, the first suspicion is always malware.

Does the computer have up-to-date anti-virus software installed? Run a full scan.

Does the computer have anti-spyware installed? Run a full scan.

Does the computer have an active firewall?

[wickedadmin]

ping.exe is a valid windows file so don't just go deleting it or rename it. I would follow Pats advice.

[deank]

I downloaded a malware and it has McAfee virus checker. I have ran them a couple times to make sure I have a clean system. I am still showing ping.exe in the task mgr about 40 times, and when I boot up it looks for some other files, related to McAfee or AOL. How can I stop this thing from invoking ping or looking for some of these other files? Is there a "basic, no thrills" boot up file I can go back to? If i run msconfig I can get rid of these things, but then I get the error that I need to put the system infromation. Your help is appreciated.

DeanK

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

msconfig is rather limited; better use something like Startup Inspector, which is much easier to use, and shows a lot more startup items than msconfig.

Do you actually have 'ping' in your startup?

P.S. I didn't understand what you wrote about malware and McAfee, so I am not convinced that you are malware-free. Run an online scan with Trendmicro Housecall; make sure to use v6.6 if you are on Vista.