Aunty Virus 20th December 2011
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Victor via email asks:
Hi Aunty, I'm not sure whether you have covered this before. The problem I am having is my laptop (running XP) has a habit of crashing and then displaying the infamous 'blue screen'. When this happens, it restarts itself and crashes two more times before settling down. The blue screen does not stay displayed long enough for me to read what it says but presumably there are some instructions to prevent the problem reoccurring. Can you shed some light on this as to what is going on and what I could do to stop this? I have run antivirus checks, Ccleaner, and have run optimization and fix-it programs but all to no avail. I am hoping you can help.
Aunty Says:
I'm sure I have covered the notorious Blue Screen of Death before Victor, and I've no doubt it will come up again. Probably the most common reasons for the BSoD is hardware problems or corrupted Windows system files. The error message that is displayed rarely gives any clues as to exactly where the problem lies so you're not missing much by not managing to read it. The first thing to check is the integrity of your hard disk which you can do by right clicking on your C: drive in 'my computer' choose 'properties' 'tools' and run the Windows disk checker. Tick the two boxes and let chkdsk run when the computer restarts. Let me know how you get on.
Aunty Says:
I'm sure I have covered the notorious Blue Screen of Death before Victor, and I've no doubt it will come up again. Probably the most common reasons for the BSoD is hardware problems or corrupted Windows system files. The error message that is displayed rarely gives any clues as to exactly where the problem lies so you're not missing much by not managing to read it. The first thing to check is the integrity of your hard disk which you can do by right clicking on your C: drive in 'my computer' choose 'properties' 'tools' and run the Windows disk checker. Tick the two boxes and let chkdsk run when the computer restarts. Let me know how you get on.
Nell via email asks:
My operating system is Windows Vista and I have Kaspersky Internet Security installed. I have recently installed SuperAntispyware and Malwarebytes and now find that my computer is a lot slower starting up. Am I on overkill? and if so which should I keep/remove? I am not totally sure that Malwarebytes is correctly or fully installed anyway.
My operating system is Windows Vista and I have Kaspersky Internet Security installed. I have recently installed SuperAntispyware and Malwarebytes and now find that my computer is a lot slower starting up. Am I on overkill? and if so which should I keep/remove? I am not totally sure that Malwarebytes is correctly or fully installed anyway.
Aunty Says:
I think maybe you could have too much running in the background and at startup Nell. The new Microsoft Security Essentials seems to be the fastest antivirus program for Vista, and it sits nicely alongside Malwarebytes and SuperAntispyware. Try replacing Kaspersky with MSE and uninstall and reinstall Malwarebytes and SuperAntispyware, but choose the custom install and make sure you have only the basic install with none of the 'running on startup' options as these can seriously slow down your computer.
I think maybe you could have too much running in the background and at startup Nell. The new Microsoft Security Essentials seems to be the fastest antivirus program for Vista, and it sits nicely alongside Malwarebytes and SuperAntispyware. Try replacing Kaspersky with MSE and uninstall and reinstall Malwarebytes and SuperAntispyware, but choose the custom install and make sure you have only the basic install with none of the 'running on startup' options as these can seriously slow down your computer.
Jack via email asks:
Hi Aunty. My sequence of events leading to the inability to turn on Microsoft Security Essentials Firewall is as follows. About 10 days ago I received an email purporting to be from a trusted friend of mine that gave the subject as "que cana" and when opened it asked to click on a line to view photographs. This led to a Hotmail box asking for the Hotmail Live password which I filled in but there being no photos I realised this was a phishing mail or similar and deleted it. However, it had automatically sent on the message to everyone in my address book with either a different Spanish or English subject heading. I then changed my hotmail live password, ran a full Microsoft Security Essentials check (which revealed nothing) downloaded Malwarebytes and ran that which highlighted 13 'viruses' and got rid of those accordingly. But since this activity I now have a message warning that the firewall is not switched on, and it is not possible to tick the 'On' box in the Windows Firewall. I also recently downloaded Expat Shield which I only use occasionally to view BBC iPlayer etc. and I do not know if this has any bearing on the firewall problem. My questions are: How can I reactivate the Windows Firewall? Am I covered by some other firewall lurking in the background, via my Fritzbox router for example.
Aunty Says:
Hello Jack. Firstly you have done the right thing by immediately changing your Hotmail password, and a full system scan with your security programs should be done every couple of weeks from now on. The firewall on your router will certainly block any unwanted visitors trying to access or attack your system, but it is fairly limited as far as Windows is concerned. If you have XP then you should install the brilliant ZoneAlarm from www.download.com. If you have Vista or Windows7 then the built in firewall is pretty good. My main worry is that you cannot switch the firewall back on as this does have the tell tale signs of some malware or a virus. Have you tried to access the Windows firewall program through 'control panel' to switch it on? It may be worth installing SuperAntispyware as well as that can often find nasties that the others miss.
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