Mikey666 Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 For the last few days, as soon as I start up, the desktop display resets itself - going blank, then redrawing the icons, and the taskbar, set to hide, comes and goes regularly. This all stops me doing just about anything. By the time I get time to get the mouse pointer to an icon in the taskbar, everything will disappear again. Windows-E does not work now. I'm lucky to run anything. Have you ever seen this?I'm posting this using my Mac. Solid as a rock. To be able to fix the Windows machine would be great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 It would be interesting to put a live linux CD in the machine, just to see if it was the hardware or the software that was causing the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey666 Posted January 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 Nice idea. Can I boot from the WinXP CD I have here, or do a safe boot to check the hardware? How do I do that? Maybe it is the ATi video card or processor gone weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 Just try a repair installation of your XP - using this excellent guide :-http://www.simplyguides.net/guides/repair_...lation_xp.shtml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 What is "Windows-E" ?Anyway, did you check your system for malware? Try an online scan at http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ - use the v6.6 link at the bottom of the screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hb_Kai Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 I think he meant E drive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey666 Posted January 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 Have you never held down the "Windows" button and pressed the "E" button together? That's when you get the Explorer window up to be able to find files. Can't do that right now. I'm sure the problem I have at present is Spyware. I have 5 seconds at a time to use the START menu, after which the desktop resets, as if it's just booting again, just like the taskbar disappears as well. So I've lost control of the machine. I get the bare desktop picture, and for 5 seconds I see desktop icons and taskbar. These disapear before I can click on them. I don't have protection software installed and cannot install anything, because I can't run any .exe. My first thought is to boot from WinXP Setup and reinstall that but I don't want to throw away the whole system I've got going nicely. What advice do you have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey666 Posted January 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 I think the advice to repair the WinXP installation from the CD is fine. I got there yesterday, but was nervous that all the data would be removed as well, so glad to see that is left in place. I'm sure that XP is OK. I just need to remove SpywareGuard 2009, which pretends to be malware protection but is evil and all the crap started when this appeared, and it asks for payment to do its job. There are many other downloads available to get rid of it. I've read that one SpywareGuard is removed it replaces itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 If you were able to install it ............... Malwarebytes Anti-malware (free)http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.phpwould completely remove SpywareGuard 2009 for you.Otherwise, you could just put the drive as slave in another PC and then scan/clean it using that one (with appropriate disinfecting tools installed) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 Have you never held down the "Windows" button and pressed the "E" button together?Until about a month ago I never had a keyboard with a "Windows" key, so I am completely ignorant of Windows key shortcuts.Anyway, can you try to boot into Safe Mode, then run a scan from there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey666 Posted January 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 I've never had a Windoze key. It's an Apple / Command symbol key. Doesn't take much to work out what it does, when using Windows OS. Safe Mode doesn't seem possible at present. I hold down F8 during booting but still get the standart boot mode. I think SpywareGuard is keeping things the way it wants it. I had hope using Windows Defender. SpywareGuard is messing around with Windows Validation right now (very clever) so I can't download it. Can't get control of this PC.Feels like Computer Gaza zone. Can't spend time on this crap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 Can you get into Task Manager and stop the processes it runs ?If not ....................You could try booting from any Linux Live CD which reads NTFS (if that is your file system) and then manually deleting the various files it has installed in your XP ?These ......... I think ?%UserProfile%\Desktop\Spyware Guard 2009.lnk%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Spyware Guard 2009%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Spyware Guard 2009\Spyware Guard 2009.lnk%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Spyware Guard 2009\Uninstall.lnkc:\Program Files\Spyware Guard 2009c:\Program Files\Spyware Guard 2009\conf.cfgc:\Program Files\Spyware Guard 2009\mbase.vdbc:\Program Files\Spyware Guard 2009\quarantine.vdbc:\Program Files\Spyware Guard 2009\queue.vdbc:\Program Files\Spyware Guard 2009\spywareguard.exec:\Program Files\Spyware Guard 2009\uninstall.exec:\Program Files\Spyware Guard 2009\vbase.vdbc:\Program Files\Spyware Guard 2009\quarantinec:\WINDOWS\reged.exec:\WINDOWS\spoolsystem.exec:\WINDOWS\sys.comc:\WINDOWS\syscert.exec:\WINDOWS\sysexplorer.exec:\WINDOWS\vmreg.dll%UserProfile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\olesys.dll and these entries in the RegistryHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Spyware GuardHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Spyware Guard 2009HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run "spywareguard" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 Otherwise, you could just put the drive as slave in another PC and then scan/clean it using that one (with appropriate disinfecting tools installed)Can you try this ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey666 Posted January 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 Brilliant replies. Thanks. The first thing I did when all this arose this week was use Task Manager to try to get rid of it. I was amazed the creator allowed Task Manager to be used - I guess it's the most basic part of the OS and can't be stopped. When killing the SpywareGuard process, it just returns immediately anyway. Nothing you can do. I tried killing just every process on there just to get control back and stop the desktop & taskbar from disappearing and to be able to have an Explorer window up.Very useful to know those SpywareGuard file locations. If I ever get control I'll get rid of those. I do have Defender running scans now.I'm told SpyWareGuard is phoney and I can believe that, but can't be sure. Anyone tell me? Anyone seen it? The program just popped up from nowhere and I don't like that. It's asking for money. All I want is to be able to use the PC and run programs again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 It is definitely a rogue ! I have cleaned it off several machines recently - easiest way is by scanning the H/D as slave from another PC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dencandy Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 Recurring malware/viruses usually re-install themselves from a Restore Point. So before scanning to clean turn off System Restore (note this will delete ALL Restore Points). Then turn it back on again only after you're certain the cleaning has been successful.You also say you have no protection on your computer so fix that immediately with one of the free a-v programs like AVG or Avast.Yes, SpywareGuard is a very well known rogue spyware utility, and is one of the most difficult to remove. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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