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Ok I lied, I don't even believe in ghosts, however my computer is seriously sick right now, and it is halloween...
Where to begin... a few days ago I noticed that my antivirus program (Nod32) wasn't working correctly. After a restart I got an error message that it could not communicate with the kernal service; as a result I could not scan memory or update my definitions. I tried several online scans as well as different antivirus programs that I had laying around (McAfee, Symantec, Norton...) although no viruses turned up. I also tried every spyware killer I have heard of, and found nothing but some damn cookies.
Fast forward to tonight, when things really started acting up... My list of problems included the start bar not showing up, startup "hanging" and taking forever, most links in IE not working, more than half of the normal services and processes not starting, not being able to start any of above mentioned services due to various errors, not being able to connect to any computers on network or run nero to backup my files, all program windows "dissapearing" when not in forground, no programs showing up on taskbar, most useful control panel categories opening "blank" windows, not being able to paste any text or files that I copied, not being able to drag any files, most right-click windows did not open (and some had greyed-out options), my desktop icons were rearranged, many file types were missing their icon, some programs could not install due to "not being able to create" a folder, my computer and network places opened blank windows, etc etc. Suffice to say things were not quite right.
Normally I would say format first and ask questions later, but there was some data that I needed (mostly recently uploaded pictures that I had deleted from my camera). I ended up popping in the windows xp disk and repairing, which worked, and enabled me to load up Nero and copy my files to dvd.
Anyone care to take a freakin guess at the problem? Are there any worms/virii out there that could get through my router/firewall and go undetected by both virus scans and resident protection? I don't exactly download and run programs from unknown sources, and nobody else has physical access to my computer (make the girlfriend use the lappy
)
Where to begin... a few days ago I noticed that my antivirus program (Nod32) wasn't working correctly. After a restart I got an error message that it could not communicate with the kernal service; as a result I could not scan memory or update my definitions. I tried several online scans as well as different antivirus programs that I had laying around (McAfee, Symantec, Norton...) although no viruses turned up. I also tried every spyware killer I have heard of, and found nothing but some damn cookies.
Fast forward to tonight, when things really started acting up... My list of problems included the start bar not showing up, startup "hanging" and taking forever, most links in IE not working, more than half of the normal services and processes not starting, not being able to start any of above mentioned services due to various errors, not being able to connect to any computers on network or run nero to backup my files, all program windows "dissapearing" when not in forground, no programs showing up on taskbar, most useful control panel categories opening "blank" windows, not being able to paste any text or files that I copied, not being able to drag any files, most right-click windows did not open (and some had greyed-out options), my desktop icons were rearranged, many file types were missing their icon, some programs could not install due to "not being able to create" a folder, my computer and network places opened blank windows, etc etc. Suffice to say things were not quite right.
Normally I would say format first and ask questions later, but there was some data that I needed (mostly recently uploaded pictures that I had deleted from my camera). I ended up popping in the windows xp disk and repairing, which worked, and enabled me to load up Nero and copy my files to dvd.
Anyone care to take a freakin guess at the problem? Are there any worms/virii out there that could get through my router/firewall and go undetected by both virus scans and resident protection? I don't exactly download and run programs from unknown sources, and nobody else has physical access to my computer (make the girlfriend use the lappy
)