M y workmate has given me a laptop to have a look at.

He is pretty sure its a virus but knows jack shit about pc s.

I start it up, and just before any icons appear, a windows explorer message pops up and asks me if I want to send an error report.

if i click on either option(no connection)and (connection) the pc more or less freezes.

So at this stage i am thinking this is the trigger.

I then re-boot in safe mode and ad aware and spy bot with 188 and 163 results respectively.

note:: in safe mode, the error still occurs

I re-boot to get the same error?

What suggestions are there for this?

Can i remove the explorer from start up and re-install? or is there more sinister things going on? and if so, how?

maybe a command prompt of some sort?

cheers

HP compaq presario m2000 running xp home

I just booted the laptop up and drw window has appeared .....postmortem debugger needs to close??????????

Last edited by yoshy on 08-23-2007 at 11:34 AM

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from safemode, goto START>RUN> TYPE 'MSCONFIG'>STARTUP TAB and remove everything you dont want to start.

hope that helps

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It sounds like something that is "attached" to Explorer to me, try the advice posted above but I suspect your best option is to remove any "Browser Helper Objects" (BHOs) and any other Explorer plugins and generally give the PC a once-over...

... For this, I'd heartily recommend Hijack Free by Emsisoft: http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/download/ It's free and also "helps" you find non-standard stuff.

Go into the "others" section and look for anything that, erm, stands out in the "Explorer add-ons" section. Have a dig about in HijackFree, it's better for editing the startup than MSConfig anyway

It's not for the feint-hearted though

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Oh, and no you can't remove Explorer from the startup - it's a "catch all" process that also handles your desktop and icons

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i had some similar shit happen......this one worked for me

1.open window
2.lift shitbox
3.toss
4.order new shitbox

everything works fine now

true story...hope that helps dundee

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looter n. : someone who takes spoils or plunder (as in war) [syn: plunderer, pillager, spoiler, despoiler, raider, freebooter]

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Thanks guys, I have done the above in no particular order. Except ZLs lol

I think all of the above helped and im not sure what it was, but its gone.

should I do anything else to make sure its not just laying dormant?

Maybe make a restore point at this time?

thanks heaps and good luck to all of you're families.

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Modding the MSCONFIG list basically tells the stuff not to boot at start up, but they are still sat on the PC somewhere.

If you can get Windows to load sensibly run a couple of anti spyware apps, (Ad-Aware being a really good one). Best run a few different brands as you may miss some with a single application. Same goes for Anti Virus.

Once all your spyware and anti virus scans come up clean you can think about making a new restore point.

Annoying thing about restore points is they backup all the crap as well as the stuff you actually want kept. Most, if not all, of the spyware you found will probably be saved a couple of times over in all the different system restore points.

If you can clear these points out (Switching off System Restore will actually wipe the old restore points). When you then switch it back on make your first new Restore point and go from there.

1. Install and run anti virus and anti spyware apps
2. Switch off restore points, accept that all old points will be lost.
3. Once all scans come back as ok switch on restore points and make a new one.
4. Tell your mate not to be a numpty and download crap onto his PC. Actually while you have it, install Opera or Firefox and hide/delet all icons for IE!

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cheers cobalt, my mate is actually not the culprit, its his 12 nephew and dad.....more dad than son going by the shit on the lappy.

I will do that as it makes sense.

thank-you

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