Help please

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another Todd

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Three days ago my desktop computer (used by several in household)started acting up,

Running slow, task manager shows CPU usage near 100% most of the time

McAfee won't scan or update, it either does nothing or says there was a problem completing the task. McAfee says everything is up to date, real time scanning is working, and weekly scans are scheduled, yet a closer examination shows that the last scan completed was 14 months ago.

Two days ago I disabled "Shockwave flash", and the computer ran normally until the next morning when it was as bad or worse than before. My son downloaded and ran a different virus software but that did nothing productive. This morning I started in safe mode, the problem is still there. I don't know what to do and I am not very computer literate. Below is what task manager is showing for processes (I don't really know what any of them do). Some of the processes that use a high amount of CPU have been closed (end process) but they reopen almost immediately.


Name CPU usage %
conhost.exe 32
notepad.exe 23
presentationhost.exe 15
conhost.exe 12
conhost.exe 08
msiexec.exe 04
msiexec.exe 02

processes 44 cpu usage 100% physical memory 71%

Any suggestions before I take it in to a computer guy?
This is a HP running windows 7
 
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Before you mess with re-installing the OS try this....

Uninstall Shockwave Player 10 with the Control Panel. Go to Add/Remove programs, and choose Macromedia or Adobe Shockwave Player.

To remove the Flash Player download the uninstaller here: Link

After getting rid of both players, "Restart" your computer.


Adobe downloads
 
If you have valuable data and dont have a backup the first thing i would do is a backup image. using a program like ghost or acronis. OR pull the disk and attach it to a different machine and backup the data that way ...then start monkeying with it to get it working.

At work we have been getting hit with crypto viruses that encrypt all data files ...and that generates a lot of CPU and disk I/O
 
Probably some Internet trash,

try rebooting in safe mode then run eset online scan.
 
Originally Posted By: sleddriver
The following suggestions were provided by t-step. He was wise to suggest multiple programs. Doing these steps I was able to de-clog my friends confuser
Quote:
If you want to give it a whirl, it'll take a Saturday to do it. Many of my family members bring me their infected laptops.

First download and place on desktop: 1) RKILL, 2) COMBOFIX, 3) TDSKILLER, 4) MALWAREBYTES, and 5) CCLEANER. All are free and available via internet (Majorgeeks website for example). If your infected computer will not let you access internet or download, just do it on another computer and copy to a usb drive.

Start the infected computer in "safe" mode usually by pressing f8 when during the windows 7 splash screen when booting up. Run each of the programs above in the order listed until finished running.

It's a pain to do, but it usually works. Good Luck.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Before you mess with re-installing the OS try this....

Uninstall Shockwave Player 10 with the Control Panel. Go to Add/Remove programs, and choose Macromedia or Adobe Shockwave Player.

To remove the Flash Player download the uninstaller here: Link

After getting rid of both players, "Restart" your computer.


OK I have uninstalled Shockwave, didn't find Macromedia. It seems to be running faster, but CPU usage still is high, and the number of process appears to keep climbing, now at 76. CPU use jumps all over the place from below 10 to above 90 constantly, and it looks like the same processes shown above are still at the top of the usage chart.
 
It can be a virus. That your antivirus isn't working is suspicious enough.

Did you try Malware Bytes?

You might try one of the online virus scanners too from Eset or Kaspersky.
 
No on Malware bytes haven't tried it. Oddly enough after I uninstalled Shockwave flash, McAfee came alive, so I ran the updates (last update 14 months ago) and it is currently doing a full scan. Taking the wife to dinner now, will check the results of the scan when I get home later.
 
McAfee?? Really?? I've seen it bring confusers to their knees when it inconviently decides to update itself and scan.

I'd suggest following t-steps recommendations above.
 
Originally Posted By: AandPDan
It can be a virus. That your antivirus isn't working is suspicious enough.

Did you try Malware Bytes?

You might try one of the online virus scanners too from Eset or Kaspersky.


Agree with the above. Sounds like a Virus to me. Had a similar set of problems with my Brother's system that I could not solve no matter what I did. Eventually the malware programs caught up and it was massively infected with a virus.

I would run MalwareBytes from IObit as suggested and see what it finds. That is usually my go to program when all else has failed.
 
Reboot in safe mode it should inactivate most of the crud running in the background then go run Eset online scan check the box for "potentially unwanted programs" PUP

http://www.eset.com/us/online-scanner/

if you dont know how to safe mode

restart computer hit f8 a bunch times until you get a menu
pick safe mode with networking

if you see windows start booting(without a menu to pick safe mode) you missed it.. start over.

That works for xp-vista-win7

I have seen eset pick up quite a few things that malware bytes misses.

Doesnt hurt to run them both but dont run them at the same time.
 
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Originally Posted By: another Todd
No on Malware bytes haven't tried it. Oddly enough after I uninstalled Shockwave flash, McAfee came alive, so I ran the updates (last update 14 months ago) and it is currently doing a full scan. Taking the wife to dinner now, will check the results of the scan when I get home later.


Anyone that hasn't updated their antivirus in 14 months is asking for a virus. Gotta' keep your Windows updated and your antivirus updated. Leave both on automatic updates.
 
Originally Posted By: Rand
Reboot in safe mode it should inactivate most of the crud running in the background then go run Eset online scan check the box for "potentially unwanted programs" PUP

http://www.eset.com/us/online-scanner/

if you dont know how to safe mode

restart computer hit f8 a bunch times until you get a menu
pick safe mode with networking

if you see windows start booting(without a menu to pick safe mode) you missed it.. start over.

That works for xp-vista-win7

I have seen eset pick up quite a few things that malware bytes misses.

Doesnt hurt to run them both but dont run them at the same time.


Starting in safe mode didn't help, processer still running at near 100% and still slow.
 
Originally Posted By: Triple_Se7en
Originally Posted By: another Todd
No on Malware bytes haven't tried it. Oddly enough after I uninstalled Shockwave flash, McAfee came alive, so I ran the updates (last update 14 months ago) and it is currently doing a full scan. Taking the wife to dinner now, will check the results of the scan when I get home later.


Anyone that hasn't updated their antivirus in 14 months is asking for a virus. Gotta' keep your Windows updated and your antivirus updated. Leave both on automatic updates.


The problem was opening the McAfee home page showing my status showed everything was current, up to date, and I was protected. Wasn't until this happened that I dug deeper and found it wasn't protecting anything and McAfee wouldn't respond when I tried to run a manual scan or up date manually. It seems to at least be working now, or at least it responds to manual commands.
 
Another odd thing I noticed during one of my shut down and restarts today; I had one web browser open, don't remember if it was IE or Firefox, but as I Xed out of the browser, it started flashing pages that I didn't recognize, like it was shutting down 10-15 tabs one at a time. But no tabs were open and the pages that flashed briefly then closed I had not opened, it looked like they might have been running in the background, but I didn't open them. I noticed the same thing one other time when shutting down yesterday or the day before, and the two times I noticed it seemed like the same pages were involved.
 
Originally Posted By: sleddriver
McAfee?? Really?? I've seen it bring confusers to their knees when it inconviently decides to update itself and scan.

I'd suggest following t-steps recommendations above.


Now I just know you're watching AvE on YT
laugh.gif
 
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Running malware bytes now (already logged over 900 items). The McAfee scan show everything was fine...it is not.

After this if the problem continues I will try what Sleddriver suggested. Then it might be off to the range for some target practice.

The AVG program my son installed blocked two (risky) incoming connection attempts this morning, one from Kansas, and one from Amsterdam.
 
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If it's running super slow even in Safe Mode, it's possible there's a hardware problem.

One thing that happened to my wife's computer recently was that the thermal paste between the CPU and CPU heatsink/fan deteriorated and the CPU started overheating. Newer CPUs will scale down the clock speed in response to overheating. In her case the CPU would never go over 800mhz or so. Disassembling the laptop and applying new Arctic Silver to the interface was the trick, it's operating normally now.

Another possibility is a failing hard drive, if you have a traditional hard drive with spinning platters.
 
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