Computer Troubleshooting

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How To Remove Spyware, Adware, Viruses And Worms

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

spyware removal guide logoIf you ever have to deal with a virus or other malware outbreak on your computer you’re going to find our spyware removal guide very useful. You’re going to find  industry proven tips and techniques to remove spyware, adware, viruses, and other malware from your computer.

Even if you’ve successfully removed malware from your computer in the past using an anti-malware program, there may be a time in your future where an anti-malware program alone is not going to be enough to rid your system of a malware infestation. In these situations you’re simply not going to be successful without performing an old fashioned manual spyware removal.

On a basic level our malware removal guide shows you how to delete temporary Windows and Internet Explorer files that may contain malware, and then we’re going to explain in full detail how to use the free Process Explorer utility to track down potential bugs to perform a manual spyware removal via safe mode.

We also detail why you may want to create a new user profile when removing spyware from a severely infected computer, and we provide additional tips and recommendations for performing a complete spyware removal.

Want to learn more?  Here is a direct link to our latest spyware removal guide, enjoy!

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Fixing Spyware With Windows Security Essentials

Friday, May 21st, 2010

spyware bugI recently worked on one of my client’s laptops that was infested with spyware, viruses, and adware galore.  She gave me a call describing symptoms of a typical infestation and I knew immediately the issues would have to be addressed.

Every time she launched Internet Explorer it would open over and over to the point where her computer would run out of memory and crash. She was also receiving random pop ups galore and strange icons were showing in the system tray by her clock.  She described her computer as being slow as molasses.

Once I scheduled an appointment and had laptop in hand I dove right in to see what could be done if anything to save her Windows installation.  I’ve seen malware infestations so bad that a system was hosed beyond repair and upon first glance I wasn’t exactly optimistic with her laptop, it took about 10 minutes to boot into Windows.

Once Windows had finally launched I surveyed the system.  She was running Windows Vista Home Premium with expired antivirus software, outdated virus definition files, and  she also used Internet Explorer as her browser of choice.  To make it worse I also noticed multiple peer to peer programs including Limewire installed.

I knew I was in for good times with a possible chance that I wouldn’t be able to save her system but I decided to give it a whirl.  I wasn’t really digging the fact that I may need to backup her gigs of music and photos and completely re-image her machine so I dove right in and began to tackle her laptop issues one baby step at a time.

I will spare you the gritty details but here are the troubleshooting steps which ultimately fixed her computer.

Troubleshooting Steps Used To Fix Laptop From Hell:

  1. Created and logged in under a new user profile. Yes her profile was hosed.
  2. Installed Malwarebytes and Spybot Search and Destroy via my USB flash drive
  3. Ran full system scan using Malwarebytes & Spybot following it with a reboot.
  4. Removed old antivirus software and installed Microsoft Security Essentials
  5. Ran full system scan using Microsoft Security Essentials followed by a reboot.
  6. Ran Malwarebytes and Spybot again, following with a reboot
  7. Used Process Explorer to locate stubborn processes not removed via scans
  8. Booted into safe mode and removed processes noted in previous step
  9. Logged into Windows Vista in normal mode and uninstalled unneeded software
  10. Streamlined processes via the Msconfig startup utility and rebooted machine
  11. Copied only her core data from old profile into this new profile
  12. Tweaked a few settings and tested functionality of her system
  13. Topped everything off by running Windows update

Like all my clients I finished things off by explaining in user friendly terms what steps I took to fix her system, and I also gave her pointers and advice to help her prevent this from reoccurring in the future.

This was yet another interesting troubleshooting experience and it also influenced me to create another page for my site which I’m hoping will help others keep their systems safe from online threats.  Topics include:  Firewalls, virus protection, malware protection, Windows update and more.

Here is a direct link to my new page:  Windows Security Essentials

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Windows 7 Bootmgr Is Compressed

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

Last week one of my clients called me regarding a problem on his personal laptop, he said it would not boot into Windows because it was returning an error message.  After gathering more details from him it turned out he was running Windows 7 and it was returning a  bootmgr is compressed error.

windows 7 bootmgr is compressedThis was a new issue for me so I proceeded with typical troubleshooting steps by asking him a slew of questions to gather more information.

How do you think it happened? Did you see any error messages before the issue occurred?  Was Windows 7 running ok before the error?  After these and a few other questions the puzzle started to come together pretty quickly.

He pretty much responded by saying Windows 7 was running absolutely flawless for at least 3 months since he performed an upgrade installation to Windows 7 from Windows XP.  However he then proceeded to tell me that he has been receiving messages on screen stating that his disk is near capacity, etc. for at least a week.

Hmm, could he have compressed his hard drive willingly or unwillingly possibly causing this bootmgr is compressed error?  I proceeded to ask him if he remembers compressing his drive and to my surprise he said no.  On the other hand end-users come to computer technicians like me for a reason so I was a bit skeptical to his response, plus I have seen before during the course of my career where a person compressed their drive or files unknowingly.

Regardless of my thoughts and experiences this was still a new issue to me but at least now I had something to go by so I was ready to start Googling for an answer.  After I performed a bit of online research I discovered that my original hypothesis was a potential right on the money cause of the bootmgr is compressed error.  Hmm, could I have been correct?

After I was able to get laptop in hand I immediately proceeded to boot from my Windows 7 repair disc to work with the Windows 7 system recovery option tools.  I started by using the Startup repair option to no prevail.  Startup repair is a great first step for troubleshooting Windows 7 startup issues but it didn’t do anything in this case.

After that failed I booted from my system repair disc again and clicked the load drivers button to open the explorer type window to check if the drive was compressed.  Ahhhh, sure enough his drive was compressed.  I unchecked “Compress this Drive” and rebooted, but the error still occurred.

Booting for a third time from my Windows 7 system repair disc I launched the command prompt system recovery tool.  I then proceeded to write a new boot sector to the system partition and repair the boot disk’s master boot record by executing the following commands in order hitting enter after each one:

  • Bootrec /fixboot
  • Bootrec /fixmbr

Voila! After rebooting the computer Windows 7 launched successfully.

This was my first experience diagnosing a startup issue with Windows 7 since its release and it turned out to be a very interesting one indeed.  If you want to learn more about troubleshooting bootmgr startup issues in Windows 7 and Windows Vista check out my new page that I’ve written in direct response to this experience.

Here’s the link:  How to Fix Bootmgr is Missing and Bootmgr is Compressed startup errors.

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