something wrong, dont know what

[FaTtY-mIc-FaTFaT]

hey guys, need a bit of help.

started about a couple of weeks ago, and didnt start to act up until now. if anyone remembered i posted about my cousin downloading zango and then everything in my computer started to go down hill. well, untill recently, everything was fine, now about 3 to 4 days ago, my firefox and avg has been acting up. nothing really much happen. only that my firefox wouldnt do what its suppose to do. like the options always go back to default after i change them in the options menu every time i close the browser. and this morning was the worse. not only does the options still wont change, my bookmarks just seem to up and vanish, every single one. only the folders remain where i organized everything. also, my avg scanner wont allow me to imput a time schedule for it to self scan, i have to scan it myself.

i dont know what is going on with my computer right now, and its really getting annoying, can any of you figure out what the problem is?

ps: o yea, one more thing, when i started to use firefox today, the web browser window start shaking, dont know what that is, just started to shake prior to losing all my bookmarks. and my computer is mostly always on through the night.

 

[trykael]

Hi there Fatty -

I'm afraid I missed your previous post, but since the problem with your cousin, have you tried running an updated virus and malware checker? If not, you need to do the following:

Install (if you don't already have them) and updated spybot search and destroy and ad aware.

Install (if you don't already have one) and update a good virus scanner (AVG or Avast would do nicely).

After everything is updated, reboot into safe mode. To do this, restart your computer, and after the POST screen hit F8 until the boot options screen shows up. Choose Safe Mode and continue.

Run the virus scanner, then ad aware, then spybot. Let them search and clean up and problems that are found.

Alright - that's where you need to start. Once you're done with those, we can eliminate the idea of viruses and move on to possible hardware issues. Good luck!

 

[Hoot]

Yeah, you just have to make sure that there is no viruses. Thats the main thing.

 

[FaTtY-mIc-FaTFaT]

scanned, i dont think its a virus or trojan. :/

and after i installed bit defender today, i had trouble loading up my computer, it took me awhile to log back on. i had to keep shuting down my computer and opening it to try to get it to work :/

 

[dunk182]

well for the book marks this happened to me on your firefox exe put -profilemanager on the end on it and then create a new profile
but make sure to take that off after your done
you have to go to propertys and put that on the end of

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"

so it looks like this

"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -profilemanager

 

[WhiteSoxFan5622]

OS? Hardware specs?
If a virus isnt showing up, then there can be something wrong with the registry. I believe there is a tool to scan your registry. Thats what i would do. Did you try a system restore to before the installation of Zango? I would try that too.

 

[FaTtY-mIc-FaTFaT]

this thing is just getting worse and worse, i cant even start up properly now. i have to at least close it at the start up screen twice, and the then loading up my windows twice. maybe it IS a virus?

and white, i have no idea how to do any of that >.<

 

[trykael]

Fatty - there are a couple of possibilities here:

1. virus or overrun of malware

2. hardware failure (i.e. overheating, bad hard drive, bad ram)

it's kind of hard to tell which it might be, especially since you can't really boot into your system to run some tests. here's my suggestion. if you are at all able, boot into safe mood (or normal mode), and back up any important files. then format the drive and reinstall your OS from scratch. this will take care of any viruses or malware that might be on your machine. the only bad part is if you have infected files on your machine, then putting them back on the new install will just recreate the problem.

there are a couple of troubleshooting things you can do before formatting.

1. if you're running windows, boot with an install cd and run checkdisk to see if your harddrive is having problems.

2. download and burn memtest from another computer and run that on your machine to see if your RAM is ok.

3. try opening your case and placing a fan in front of the opening, and see if you're able to boot and run normally. this would show you that you're overheating.

give some of that a try and let us know how you make out.

 

[FaTtY-mIc-FaTFaT]

well, i can boot into my computer, it just takes me awhile. this is how i post

so since i can boot into it, can i just do everything from here.

 

[Dr. Rick Dagless M.D.]

Zango is full of spyware. Try running Spybot, you could go to pandasecurity.com and use their online scanner as well. I remember having some trouble getting rid of it, I think I bought spyware doctor or something, or maybe spybot took care of it, I'm unsure.

 

[FaTtY-mIc-FaTFaT]

scanned, and found some things >.<

o well, decided to but the panda thing, and scanning now with it. wait for my results. man, i dont know what this could be :/ hardware or virus. i havent even had this computer for more then a year, and already problems >.<

 

[swiftrokka]

Hi there Fatty -

I'm afraid I missed your previous post, but since the problem with your cousin, have you tried running an updated virus and malware checker? If not, you need to do the following:

Install (if you don't already have them) and updated spybot search and destroy and ad aware.

Install (if you don't already have one) and update a good virus scanner (AVG or Avast would do nicely).

After everything is updated, reboot into safe mode. To do this, restart your computer, and after the POST screen hit F8 until the boot options screen shows up. Choose Safe Mode and continue.

Run the virus scanner, then ad aware, then spybot. Let them search and clean up and problems that are found.

Alright - that's where you need to start. Once you're done with those, we can eliminate the idea of viruses and move on to possible hardware issues. Good luck!

Yes and if trojan is found you are in trouble and won't let you destroy it then ctrl+alt+del then task manager and stop everything on the list then find the files and program and delete them then empty recycle bin then scan your hard drive!

 

[Deacon]

W.w.c.m.d.?

I would suggest rebooting your PC and starting it in safe mode. (reboot and press f8).

!!WARNING!! !!WARNING!! !!WARNING!! !!WARNING!! !!WARNING!!

BEFORE YOU DELETE OR MODIFY ANYTHING MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A GOOD BACKUP!

Always move files you intend to delete to a folder on your desktop just in case they were actually important.

Always make a backup of your registry BEFORE you modify/delete entries

!!WARNING!! !!WARNING!! !!WARNING!! !!WARNING!! !!WARNING!!

Stop the following processes if started:

installershell.exe
zangoinstaller.exe
zanu.exe
zango.exe 
zangotbuninstaller.exe

Next, go to START/CONTROL PANEL/ADD REMOVE PROGRAMS.

Uninstall Zango, Zango Toolbar, and Media Gateway if it is installed.

You can use regedit to check for the following in case Zango did not uninstall properly:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRunzanu
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRunango[applicationname]
E5B57AB3-15F8-43A2-ABAC-3E58A9C25818
21B4ACC4-8874-4AEC-AEAC-F567A249B4D4
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftRASAutodialControlLoginSessionDisable=1
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUninstall[gamename]
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUninstallango[applicationname]
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUninstallzanu
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREzanuHKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwarezanu

Unregister the following DLLs

zangohook.dll 
zangotb.dll 
zanuhook.dll

Delete the following files:

installershell.exe
zangoinstaller.exe
zanu.exe
zango.exe 
zangohook.dll 
zangotb.dll 
zangotbuninstaller.exe 
zanuhook.dll

Reboot and see if the problem persists. You should run a program like SpyBot Search and Destroy in addition to your AV.

Finally, please remember to kick yourself daily for installing Zango... or for letting anyone else access your PC as Administrator. When in doubt... think, "what would code monkey do?"

These steps worked for removing Zango from my Wife's PC. I hope they work for you.

-Deac

 

[FaTtY-mIc-FaTFaT]

thanks for the help, but please dont make it look like im an idiot, i may not know much about computers, but i know enough to get me through, and i know that zango are one the various virus/spyware/trojan programs out there that no life people make just for the hell of it. so i would appreciate that you keep comments like that to yourself. i know it wasnt meant for ill intention, i can take any type of jokes (i mean come on, im fat and call myself fatty), but stuff i know that can harm my computer, i know not to download. and i cant keep watch on my computer 24/7, especially when i go out to make something to eat, and let my cousin and friends use my computer at that time. so yea, so what im trying to say, fatty can take jokes, but not those types of jokes. jokes such as, the cake eating fat kis

so anyway. i will do those lastly if my computer is still causing problems. pandavirus thing works pretty nicely, and killed out mostly everything. only one problem left, and if you guys can refer back to the first page of first post, the thing about firefox is still here. im thinking about a fresh install of it, but i would like that as a last resort. can anyone find out the problem for that? thanks, did i even post about? ill check it tomorrow, to tire, need sleep lol

 

[Flippy the Squirrel]

Frankly, at this point, I'd back up my data and reload the machine. You might be able to fix the problem at some point, and may the force be with you if you persist in trying to fix it that way, but I think that reloading the machine is the only way to ensure that you have a stable install of the OS and that software issues are not at the root of your problems.

Browser windows shaking of their own accord and files disappearing make me suspicious, and although there are other probable causes out there, I'd be concerned that a trojan or virus could be in operation, which opens the door for things like keyloggers and remote control - neither of which is something I'm willing to risk.

Good luck!

 

[Deacon]

so i would appreciate that you keep comments like that to yourself.

I'll assume this was directed to me since my post was the only one containing a comment which most people would take as "less the confrontational". This is a what we call a light joke w/ a serious message.

No, you can't watch over your PC 24/7... well, actually you can, but that's a different lesson in IT security... I was suggesting that you don't use an administrative account for daily operation or that you don't let somebody who you aren't absolutely certain is not going to mess your PC use your admin account.

Since starting gaming I have lost track of the number of messages that:

Start with:
My friend was using my computer
My cousin was using my computer
My little brother was using my computer

End with:
Now my computer is messed up.

Seriously, I went through our old .DGX, RP and Game Crossroad forums and found at least 87 posts about this... and those are only the posts that haven't been written to backups.

If I've offended you that was not my intention. It appears that most people here are usually pretty layed back. When somebody asks for help and another person tries to help netiquette dictates that you should simply say thanks or at a minimum PM them if you have a problem with their tone.

Hoping that my previous post helps you solve your PC woes,

Deac

 

[FaTtY-mIc-FaTFaT]

yea, sorry about that, it was around 3 in the morning when i woke up to check the progress of everything. and im a really really cranky person in the mornings and at night. so i tend to say things i dont really mean too. that was my bad.

and besides, i never let anyone do things on my computer except play the games. so theres not really a problem there. and that was the only time my cousin asked me if he could download "something to watch online streams", so i assumed it was safe since he is a pretty smart kid. guess it was kind of my fault that i wasnt overlooking it.

so deacon, sorry for my altitude for my last post, and thank you for the help. if i dont get enough sleep, i tend to take it out on others. so im sorry about that.

but for the record, it really was my cousin who downloaded zango, i did downloaded it before when i had my old computer, and knew never to do that again. it was horrible when you have no help for the first time

so thank you all, and ill keep a close eye on my computer, and if anything else happens, i will update. and again, thank you all for the quick replies and the good advice, i even got me a nice program for viruses.

 

[Insurge]

Get ccleaner from www.ccleaner.com it's magic.

After uninstalling ccleaner will remove those registry keys that are left behind so u dont need to worry too much about manually doing it. Just check out everything on the site, I have never had a problem with it.

Also you can try getting and keeping a really good AV, i havent personally tried panda but i use Eset NOD32.

Hope this helps