Computer going back into shop (again)

[Keefie]

A little while ago I thought my computer picked up a virus, I put it into the repair shop and was told it was a hardware problem. I got it back all sorted (supposedly) It worked fine for a day then wouldn't start, it got to the screen saying "loading personal settings" and then froze. As the shop was shut for the weekend I tried a "safe start" then did a restore point from there and it started ok. but next day when I went to start it , it froze on same screen again. I took it back to the shop and he connected it up to a monitor on the bench and it started perfectly several times. so I took it home again and it was ok the rest of the day. Next morning (no surprise) it froze on that screen again, I disconnected everything except the monitor,keyboard and mouse then tried it again - still froze. So it's not anything else plugged in causing it. but it always starts after a safe start and restore.  Has anyone come across this before or got any ideas as to whats causing it?  (I'm running on windows XP pro)

[crupiea]

mine did something similar to that.  worthless.

I was not about to spend money on a new one so i installed ubuntu.

Its free and you can even run it from a zipdrive.

Its a different operating system so but windows is still there, it just runs either or at startup.

It takes a bit of getting used to but everything was much easier to set up like wireless, email and the like.  just click and it was done.

I will never go back.

[spiderman]

A little while ago I thought my computer picked up a virus, I put it into the repair shop and was told it was a hardware problem. I got it back all sorted (supposedly) It worked fine for a day then wouldn't start, it got to the screen saying "loading personal settings" and then froze. As the shop was shut for the weekend I tried a "safe start" then did a restore point from there and it started ok. but next day when I went to start it , it froze on same screen again. I took it back to the shop and he connected it up to a monitor on the bench and it started perfectly several times. so I took it home again and it was ok the rest of the day. Next morning (no surprise) it froze on that screen again, I disconnected everything except the monitor,keyboard and mouse then tried it again - still froze. So it's not anything else plugged in causing it. but it always starts after a safe start and restore.  Has anyone come across this before or got any ideas as to whats causing it?  (I'm running on windows XP pro)

Try this plug that computer into another outlet if it work then it would be an bad outlet.

[Keefie]

Got it sorted, the problem was "malwarebytes" It had done it's usual update then started to delete files, it was something in the update that gave false positives on windows files. The solution was on their website, start in safe mode, manually start Malwarebytes and run the update again as this will remove the offending problem from the previous update, then go to the virus bank and restore all inside it. then run the malwarebytes scan and it will remove all the malware again but leave the windows files installed. only took 10 mins to fix once I found out how. Now I dont know whether or not to leave malwarebytes on the system?? Can I trust it anymore??

[IBMer]

Malware is a real pain in the neck.  Most virus checkers can't find modern Malware.  The best way to find it for me is to gather up my symptoms and do some web searches.   You will be surprised at home many people are reporting the same issue.   Often there will be one or more companies with downloads available to fix it at home and for free.

I feel strongly that people that create and spread malware need to be caught and tried as terrorists.   As long as they thing the punishment is going to be minor, they will just keep making new variants and spread misery around the computer world.

[Pinelog]

Are you using the free version of Malwarebytes or the pay version?   I have been using Malwarebytes for several years now and wouldnt run a computer today without it.   You can get the paid version by watching Newegg and other sites will usually have a sale where you can get a lifetime registration for it for under $15.  This is one of the best I have found so far.  I also use Avast! Free Antivirus, both seem to keep me out of trouble and pretty trouble free on all 3 of my machines.

A few months back (March?) I did have a small issue with it dinging a few files as being suspect but they quickly updated and cleared.

The pay version of Malwarebytes updates its files about 6 times a day and I see regular program updates as well.  The free version is a manual updater.