I have a tech support question about my comp...

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Sorry fice. I was expecting like a triple post cos I submitted it then stopped it cos I forgot to add something. Then when I pressed submit the second time i kinda accidently did a double click.  :-?
 
I'm running a laptop using Windows 98 SE.  I have *all* of the updates and stuff from  [url="<a]http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com[/url]" TARGET=_blank>http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com   and I am running almost no programs (MSN Messenger only) and have disabled everything in the startup section of MSConfig except MSN Messenger and the system tray.  The virus is gone.The hanging starts within minutes after my computer is turned on.  Sometimes it happens about every two minutes, but sometimes the hangs are more than ten minutes apart.  When it hangs, I can still move the mouse, the hard drive doesn't sound like it is grinding away (in fact, if it was grinding, it stops for the duration of the hang).  Whatever I click or type during the hang all happens at once after the computer comes back.  All sound stutters except MIDI (it continues playing normally), which is kind of wierd, since I use the Yamaha Software MIDI Synthesizer that comes with FF7, so something apparently still works while the hang is going on.

EDIT: Thought I might say that a little better.

[This message has been edited by Aaron (edited July 28, 2001).]
 
Actually, now I think its a virus.  Not that Sircam Worm thing, another one.I was using my computer and I decided to sync it up with my Palm handheld device.  I use ISDN to connect to the internet and only have one serial port, and my handheld device and ISDN modem both use a serial port.  I told it to disconnect and it wouldn't, so I unplugged the ISDN modem.  The computer still said it was connected and kept sending data off (about 4k every 2 minutes) for two hours, before I restarted it.  Seems like my virus is trying to do something on the internet (forward itself probably).  My October 30, 2000 Norton Virus Definition file did not detect it after I did a full hard drive scan.  There is nothing suspicious in MSConfig and I am about to go digging deep in the registry.

If ANYONE knows any free virus scanner that would detect this, or a program to remove this particular virus (that is if you think you know what I have), please post here, or more preferably, e-mail me at [email protected] .

It still could be other things besides a virus, I guess.
 
One thing you could try is Zonealarm. It's a free firewall I use (or, you could get another firewall). It won't remove viruses, but it *does* tell you which programs are attempting to access the 'net, and blocks them out unless you give specific permission. So it'll at least tell you which program is trying to access the 'net, and you can maybe find out whether that program has been altered.It's a good idea to have something like this installed anyway.
 
Gawd people! Sheesh!
It *used* to be common knowledge to *not* get any of these things. Love Bug wasn't the first, it was just more widespread because it spread through the military. These viruses have been around since the dawn of email. Grrrrr....
I got a worm that actually moved on it's own to my computer through the network. That's right, no email, the thing just moves on it's own. It might be related, because after every data access to the hard drive, it would execute and multiply. The problem with this was it would perpetually work on it's own this way. Deleted everything outside of windows in around 2 minutes. No virus scan could've prevented that. Had to format my hard drive...hate it when that happens.
 
Well, I got the new Norton AntiVirus definitions, and did a full scan, finding nothing.  Its either a very new virus, a virus NAV can't detect, or not a virus at all.Does anyone have any ideas what may be causing hangs like this?
 
Now I'm almost convinced its something in the system.ini.  Looking into it now, does anyone know of anything there that would cause hanging?
 
it could be a messey registry man.. use a registry cleaner.. Regclean is free from Microsoft.. or atlesast it used to be.. if you have a bunch of crappy reg entries it could do that.. also do you have a defragging program? I use norton speed disk.. it works well for me.. Windows defrag sucks get norton system works.. it has a reg cleaner but the one from microsoft always finds more wrong than nortons does.. also clean sweep.. norton clean sweep can sweep away old crappy files you may have forgotten about..  of if your really pissed about it reformat your computer..  :)  i am not really advocating norton i just use it.. it works for me..  :)
 
the best way i think is fix the disk one more time then format & install a new windows  :)
 
Thanks.  I'll try and find RegClean and use it, and if that doesn't work, I'll try and find some Norton stuff.  I think I might already have some.Anyway
I'm almost done going through the system.ini and win.ini and I'm pretty sure its not in there.  I also killed all of the processes going on in the background that you can't kill with Ctrl+Alt+Del and that didn't work.

I don't want to reformat until I get someplace to back up my files, I have too many things I need to back them up on ZIP disks or maybe even CDs.  I will have to use another computer.
 
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