Omega Owners Forum

Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Mr Skrunts on 03 March 2009, 12:20:33

Title: Net Help. Problem or Virus?
Post by: Mr Skrunts on 03 March 2009, 12:20:33
2 or 3 days over the last week I have suffered slow web page loading and other problems.

Since loading DUMeter back on my machine it shows I am constantly uploading/downloading at varrting speeds.

After modem and PC reboots and with a full sweep of AVG virus and spyware tools there was noting found.

Have gone through the taskmanager list of running programs and shut stuff down with no difference made, gone thriught the list of installed progs and looks ok to me.  Am not 100% sure what all the taskmanger programs that are listed do so I did a screen grab.  Also show Upload and download speed according to DUMeter after a full reboot with the modem turned off, All messenger programs were cloased  and no browoers were opened when the screen grab was done.  All I did was switch on the modem.

Any help or advice is appreciated.  Cant find my Windows disk to format and install/rebuild  and am really far too busy with builders etc to be able to put proper time into this problem.

TIA.   :y

(http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk106/skruntie/Avataer/Problem.jpg)
Title: Re: Net Help. Problem or Virus?
Post by: Richie London on 03 March 2009, 12:23:53
i have a site that tells you what ones you can shut down. seems a lot running to me.
Title: Re: Net Help. Problem or Virus?
Post by: Mr Skrunts on 03 March 2009, 12:29:06
Just looking at the list again.  Thought I stopped YIM from starting up and I forgot about Skype.
Title: Re: Net Help. Problem or Virus?
Post by: Richie London on 03 March 2009, 12:29:28
is this any good

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/1677666/Windows-XP-Tricks
Title: Re: Net Help. Problem or Virus?
Post by: Mr Skrunts on 03 March 2009, 12:34:40
Quote
is this any good

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/1677666/Windows-XP-Tricks

Cheers, will have to have a look later, got some paperwork to do for a meeting this afternoon.

Could do with a utility if anyone knows of one.  One that I can at least try free for 30 days.
Title: Re: Net Help. Problem or Virus?
Post by: Jimbob on 03 March 2009, 12:41:44
The other thing you can try is another virus scanner,

If I suspect something may have slipped through, I use the free online scanner at kaspersky for a double check.
Title: Re: Net Help. Problem or Virus?
Post by: Mr Skrunts on 03 March 2009, 12:46:51
Quote
The other thing you can try is another virus scanner,

If I suspect something may have slipped through, I use the free online scanner at kaspersky for a double check.

Will try that later, just down loading Zonealarm, both the firewall and spy checker.  Wasnt a fan of them years ago but need to sort this problem.

Have got the fireall on in my modem  and never suffered anything that has caused issues in the past.  Times are changing and people/utilies are getting smarter.
Title: Re: Net Help. Problem or Virus?
Post by: Mr Skrunts on 03 March 2009, 12:48:59
Quote
The other thing you can try is another virus scanner,

If I suspect something may have slipped through, I use the free online scanner at kaspersky for a double check.

Just started running it now before I install any of the zonealarm stuff.

Cheers :y :y
Title: Re: Net Help. Problem or Virus?
Post by: cem_devecioglu on 03 March 2009, 13:07:08
Quote
Quote
The other thing you can try is another virus scanner,

If I suspect something may have slipped through, I use the free online scanner at kaspersky for a double check.

Will try that later, just down loading Zonealarm, both the firewall and spy checker.  Wasnt a fan of them years ago but need to sort this problem.

Have got the fireall on in my modem  and never suffered anything that has caused issues in the past.  Times are changing and people/utilies are getting smarter.

Skruntie ,
have suffered similiar situations many times.. no scanners or firewalls detect anything..but system was still slow..

Also in my experience sometimes firewalls or virus scanners or the windows itself do that :o dont know the reason why.. :-/

I'm afraid the definite solution is to reinstall a fresh system ..

and dont waste your time with online scanners they also download suspicious activex software..  and they send a report of your system and files to their site.. (also many softwares do that)



ps: currently behind a websense  so cant see the picture..neither cant use any proxy >:(
Title: Re: Net Help. Problem or Virus?
Post by: Cybertrucker on 03 March 2009, 13:35:36
I'm not sure that your problem is something nasty running on your machine - if there is something running it's using very little of your processor's power, as according to the screenshot 'System Idle Process' is using 99% of the processor.  ('System Idle Process' is virtually a dummy, it soaks up the processor's unused clock cycles when it's not doing very much.)  There are six unknown services running (they're hiding under the name 'svchost.exe') so it could be one of those, there's also some sort of Google Updater which might be generating a lot of traffic (I don't know what it does, so I don't know whether it might be uploading or downloading).

Is there much sign of disk activity - clicking noises from inside the case or the disk activity light being on a lot of the time?  Your disk drive might be in a bit of a mess which could lead to Windows having to go hunting for things every time it needs them instead of being able to go straight to them. Try running Chkdsk and Defrag (in that order) and see if that speeds things up at all.

There's a useful tool called HijackThis, which will scan your computer and generate a report of all sorts of things - running processes, programs launched at startup, etc etc.  It's available from http://www.spywarewarrior.com/uiuc/merijn/HijackThis.exe or http://spywarewarrior.com/files/HijackThis.exe

If you want any help deciphering the report you could post it here, (you can save it as a text file and paste the text in), there's also a very good site called Spyware Warrior (http://www.spywarewarrior.com/) where volunteers will help you to rid yourself of spyware and other nasties.  The main tool they use to see what you've got is HijackThis, so you'll need that anyway so you can post the results to their board.  I've used HijackThis, it's safe, and I've used the services of Spyware Warrior to get something horrible off my computer and they're pretty good.  (Usual disclaimer applies though - use at your own risk, not my responsibility if your computer packs up, etc etc.)

Hope this helps!   :)
Title: Re: Net Help. Problem or Virus?
Post by: eddie on 03 March 2009, 18:20:45
Also take a look at this,nasty!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootkit

eddie
Title: Re: Net Help. Problem or Virus?
Post by: TheBoy on 03 March 2009, 18:52:18
Don't eff about, rebuild it.

Then take a baseline of running processes.  Be aware that cleverly done rootkits could potentially hide processes from view.
Title: Re: Net Help. Problem or Virus?
Post by: Mr Skrunts on 03 March 2009, 21:24:57
Quote
Don't eff about, rebuild it.

Then take a baseline of running processes.  Be aware that cleverly done rootkits could potentially hide processes from view.

I would if I could find my flipping disks, think I may have packed em ready to move.   :-/
Title: Re: Net Help. Problem or Virus?
Post by: Mr Skrunts on 03 March 2009, 21:27:44
Quote
I'm not sure that your problem is something nasty running on your machine - if there is something running it's using very little of your processor's power, as according to the screenshot 'System Idle Process' is using 99% of the processor.  ('System Idle Process' is virtually a dummy, it soaks up the processor's unused clock cycles when it's not doing very much.)  There are six unknown services running (they're hiding under the name 'svchost.exe') so it could be one of those, there's also some sort of Google Updater which might be generating a lot of traffic (I don't know what it does, so I don't know whether it might be uploading or downloading).

Is there much sign of disk activity - clicking noises from inside the case or the disk activity light being on a lot of the time?  Your disk drive might be in a bit of a mess which could lead to Windows having to go hunting for things every time it needs them instead of being able to go straight to them. Try running Chkdsk and Defrag (in that order) and see if that speeds things up at all.

There's a useful tool called HijackThis, which will scan your computer and generate a report of all sorts of things - running processes, programs launched at startup, etc etc.  It's available from http://www.spywarewarrior.com/uiuc/merijn/HijackThis.exe or http://spywarewarrior.com/files/HijackThis.exe

If you want any help deciphering the report you could post it here, (you can save it as a text file and paste the text in), there's also a very good site called Spyware Warrior (http://www.spywarewarrior.com/) where volunteers will help you to rid yourself of spyware and other nasties.  The main tool they use to see what you've got is HijackThis, so you'll need that anyway so you can post the results to their board.  I've used HijackThis, it's safe, and I've used the services of Spyware Warrior to get something horrible off my computer and they're pretty good.  (Usual disclaimer applies though - use at your own risk, not my responsibility if your computer packs up, etc etc.)

Hope this helps!   :)

No sign of disk activety at all, just showing the up/download activity and screwing up normal browsing.

Shut down all the google and messengenger stuff, even uninstalled YIM as I noticed that when the problem started that Yahoo messenger wasnt logging on automatically and that the upload started as YIM poped up.
Title: Re: Net Help. Problem or Virus?
Post by: Mr Skrunts on 03 March 2009, 21:30:41
Maybe forced to upgrade to Vista before I was ready to do so.

Which is the best version to purchase? Home, business or whatever they name them as these days.

TIA.  :y
Title: Re: Net Help. Problem or Virus?
Post by: TheBoy on 03 March 2009, 21:50:48
Quote
Maybe forced to upgrade to Vista before I was ready to do so.

Which is the best version to purchase? Home, business or whatever they name them as these days.

TIA.  :y
everyone is different, so pick best for you. if you dont need domain/ad/gpo, forget business, enterprise, and probably ultimate
Title: Re: Net Help. Problem or Virus?
Post by: Mr Skrunts on 03 March 2009, 23:26:08
The plot thickens.

I have been turning my modem off and I know I allways have to reinstall the username and password.  So tried this a couple of times, checked usual settings, then went off and installed Zonealarm.  Complete nightmare, couldnt get anything to come up or gain access to the web.  Uninstaalled it all, rebooteed etc.

Upload problem persisted.  Yurnded modem off and rebooted PC, switched modem on, power light ok, status light (or whatever it is ok)  Uploading starts again

Checked the DSL light and thats off, so assumed not connected to web,  logged into modem and put access details and clicked apply.  DSL comes on and internet access is working againm but till slow.

Now the new question is.   Have I got a faulty modem?  As I was showing upload activity when the modem is powered up, but no activity when powered down.

Not net access with DSL light off but ok when on.  But DUMeter showing Upload activiry regardless of DSL status.   Am confussed and pissed off. :-/
Title: Re: Net Help. Problem or Virus?
Post by: Cybertrucker on 04 March 2009, 14:27:35
Is it one of the modern cable broadband modems, or one of the older type?  (Quick rule of thumb test is how many network sockets it's got on the back - a new router type modem will probably have several, the older type just one.)  If it's one of the newer type try leaving your computer connected to the modem but disconnect the modem from the phone line. This might tell you whether all this up/downloading is your computer talking to the internet or just talking to the modem.

As a further check on what's being uploaded, assuming you're connecting to your modem through the network card in your PC and not via USB, (and you're using XP), try going into Task Manager and click the 'Networking' tab, that should give you an idea how much data is being exchanged with your network.

As to the best version of Vista, IMHO the best version of Vista is the one you leave in the shop.  I (along with a good many other IT pros) regard a PC running Vista as one that hasn't had XP installed yet.
Title: Re: Net Help. Problem or Virus?
Post by: dbug on 04 March 2009, 17:45:02
Quote
Is it one of the modern cable broadband modems, or one of the older type?  (Quick rule of thumb test is how many network sockets it's got on the back - a new router type modem will probably have several, the older type just one.)  If it's one of the newer type try leaving your computer connected to the modem but disconnect the modem from the phone line. This might tell you whether all this up/downloading is your computer talking to the internet or just talking to the modem.

As a further check on what's being uploaded, assuming you're connecting to your modem through the network card in your PC and not via USB, (and you're using XP), try going into Task Manager and click the 'Networking' tab, that should give you an idea how much data is being exchanged with your network.

As to the best version of Vista, IMHO the best version of Vista is the one you leave in the shop.  I (along with a good many other IT pros) regard a PC running Vista as one that hasn't had XP installed yet.

Agreed - wait for Windows 7 - that is the O/S that Vista should have been.  Microsoft have done it again - Vista will be another Windows ME!!! :o