do I have a virus, or is my Nvidia card on the fritz?

Viruses and worms
1

I run a machine that uses an AMD 4400 chip & NVIDIA 7300 LE video card. The OS is a beta of Windows XP SP3. I’ve been okay for a long time, but recently, after playing some video files that I downloaded off the internet (.avi, .wmv and .mpg), I noticed something weird happen. The video crashed the computer, forcing a reboot.

Now I know about the buffer overflow vulnerability in Windows…but assumed Windows XP SP3 would have that vulnerability patched. Am I wrong? Are video files dangerous to open?

Ever since opening those video files, my computer has acted flaky. The screen will go completely blank for 2 seconds at a time, then resume. This occurs not often, but once in a while. Certain web pages I can visit, and the intermittent screen blank will occur multiple times, and whenever I scroll up or down.

At first I thought I had a bad codec or the video driver was bad, so I updated these things.

I also did a full scan with Avast and Ad-Aware, but these scans turned up nothing. I have set the Avast sensitivity to “High” for the time being.

I should also mention I have a Creative Labs Audigy sound card, which explains some of the Creative Labs processes such as P17 & ctfmon. The NVIDIA card also uses various processes to control video. Here is a HijackThis! log file just created:

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 5:33:48 PM, on 11/21/2008
Platform: Windows XP SP3, v.3244 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP3 (6.00.2900.3244)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware\aawservice.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\aswUpdSv.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashServ.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Maxtor\Schedule2\schedhlp.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\Avast4\ashDisp.exe
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\jusched.exe
C:\Program Files\Creative\SBAudigy\Surround Mixer\CTSysVol.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Rundll32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\RUNDLL32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
C:\Program Files\Okidata\OKI LPR Utility\okilpr.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Maxtor\Schedule2\schedul2.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashMaiSv.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashWebSv.exe
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Program Files\Hijackthis\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = file:///c:/homepage/lechat.shtml
R3 - URLSearchHook: Yahoo! Toolbar - {EF99BD32-C1FB-11D2-892F-0090271D4F88} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\ssv.dll
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [Acronis Scheduler2 Service] “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Maxtor\Schedule2\schedhlp.exe”
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [avast!] C:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\Avast4\ashDisp.exe
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] “C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\jusched.exe”
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [CTSysVol] C:\Program Files\Creative\SBAudigy\Surround Mixer\CTSysVol.exe /r
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [P17Helper] Rundll32 P17.dll,P17Helper
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /install
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [NvMediaCenter] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvMcTray.dll,NvTaskbarInit
O4 - HKCU..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - Startup: Mozilla Firefox.lnk = C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
O4 - Global Startup: OKI LPR Utility.lnk = C:\Program Files\Okidata\OKI LPR Utility\okilpr.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\Office12\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra ‘Tools’ menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\Office12\REFIEBAR.DLL
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - %windir%\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe (file missing)
O9 - Extra ‘Tools’ menuitem: @xpsp3res.dll,-20001 - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - %windir%\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe (file missing)
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra ‘Tools’ menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O18 - Protocol: ms-help - {314111C7-A502-11D2-BBCA-00C04F8EC294} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Help\hxds.dll
O18 - Filter hijack: text/xml - {807563E5-5146-11D5-A672-00B0D022E945} - C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\MICROS~1\OFFICE12\MSOXMLMF.DLL
O20 - Winlogon Notify: dimsntfy - %SystemRoot%\System32\dimsntfy.dll (file missing)
O23 - Service: Lavasoft Ad-Aware Service (aawservice) - Lavasoft - C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware\aawservice.exe
O23 - Service: Acronis Scheduler2 Service (AcrSch2Svc) - Acronis - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Maxtor\Schedule2\schedul2.exe
O23 - Service: avast! iAVS4 Control Service (aswUpdSv) - ALWIL Software - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\aswUpdSv.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Antivirus - ALWIL Software - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashServ.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Mail Scanner - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashMaiSv.exe" /service (file missing)
O23 - Service: avast! Web Scanner - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashWebSv.exe" /service (file missing)
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (NVSvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe

2

I would suggest you get the latest HJT (FileHippo Download - HiJackThis) as it corrects some problems in the old version you have such as reporting files missing when they clearly aren’t like the avast ones in your log.

3

Done.

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 6:54:26 PM, on 11/21/2008
Platform: Windows XP SP3, v.3244 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP3 (6.00.2900.3244)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware\aawservice.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\aswUpdSv.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashServ.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Maxtor\Schedule2\schedhlp.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\Avast4\ashDisp.exe
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\jusched.exe
C:\Program Files\Creative\SBAudigy\Surround Mixer\CTSysVol.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Rundll32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\RUNDLL32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
C:\Program Files\Okidata\OKI LPR Utility\okilpr.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Maxtor\Schedule2\schedul2.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashMaiSv.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashWebSv.exe
C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = file:///c:/homepage/lechat.shtml
R3 - URLSearchHook: Yahoo! Toolbar - {EF99BD32-C1FB-11D2-892F-0090271D4F88} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\ssv.dll
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [Acronis Scheduler2 Service] “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Maxtor\Schedule2\schedhlp.exe”
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [avast!] C:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\Avast4\ashDisp.exe
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] “C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\jusched.exe”
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [CTSysVol] C:\Program Files\Creative\SBAudigy\Surround Mixer\CTSysVol.exe /r
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [P17Helper] Rundll32 P17.dll,P17Helper
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /install
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [NvMediaCenter] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvMcTray.dll,NvTaskbarInit
O4 - HKCU..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18..\RunOnce: [RunNarrator] Narrator.exe (User ‘SYSTEM’)
O4 - HKUS.DEFAULT..\RunOnce: [RunNarrator] Narrator.exe (User ‘Default user’)
O4 - Startup: Mozilla Firefox.lnk = C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
O4 - Global Startup: OKI LPR Utility.lnk = C:\Program Files\Okidata\OKI LPR Utility\okilpr.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\Office12\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra ‘Tools’ menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\Office12\REFIEBAR.DLL
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - C:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe
O9 - Extra ‘Tools’ menuitem: @xpsp3res.dll,-20001 - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - C:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra ‘Tools’ menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O23 - Service: Lavasoft Ad-Aware Service (aawservice) - Lavasoft - C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware\aawservice.exe
O23 - Service: Acronis Scheduler2 Service (AcrSch2Svc) - Acronis - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Maxtor\Schedule2\schedul2.exe
O23 - Service: avast! iAVS4 Control Service (aswUpdSv) - ALWIL Software - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\aswUpdSv.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Antivirus - ALWIL Software - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashServ.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Mail Scanner - ALWIL Software - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashMaiSv.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Web Scanner - ALWIL Software - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashWebSv.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (NVSvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe

–
End of file - 4453 bytes

4

You don’t appear to have an active firewall, e.g. one that has outbound protection, like the XP firewall. So what firewall are you using ?

There is a new JAVA update.
Ensure you have the latest version of JRE (JAVA Runtime Environment) because older versions can be vulnerable to malware. First remove All Older Versions From Add/Remove Programs.
Then get the latest update from here http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp
Or JRE version 6 update 10 http://www.majorgeeks.com/Sun_Java_Runtime_Environment_d4648.html

Other than that I don’t see anything obvious.

AdAware is no longer a top level anti-spyware, there are now many better products.

  1. SUPERantispyware On-Demand only in free version.
  2. MalwareBytes Anti-Malware, On-Demand only in free version http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/malwarebytes/mbam-setup.exe, right click on the link and select Save As or Save File (As depending on your browser), save it to a location where you can find it easily later.
5

But, Java updates itself automatically. According to the Java console from the Control Panel, the last update was on 11/9/2008.

I have two firewalls installed. One is at my DSL router, which has a built-in firewall, where I set the security to medium, so it rejects pings and the like. The other is the Windows XP Firewall. I have it set On, with only 2 exceptions, “file and print sharing,” because I have a network with two others PC’s and a printer. The other is Network Diagnostics. (I think it is helpful to network management, but I forget what all it is supposed to do.)

You may be right about Ad Aware. I download and ran the latest version but it didn’t find anything except MRU’s. I will try out the one that you recommend. Thank you.

I will report back later with the results, if any, from Superantispyware.

This problem’s been bugging me for a couple of days. Today I received the blank screen at least twenty times. It’s to the point where, if I find out my video card is bad, I’m going to toss it and go with ATI. But another thought I had is that maybe the video card just needs reseating?

Let me try super first, then reseat the video card and wait for any change.

6

I have never know it to do so despite it having a startup entry to do so, as you can see by my links it is JRE 6 Update 10, it jumped from 7 to 10 though, so it has certainly failed to update on your system for this update.

Video files in themselves are dangerous but the media players can frequently be exploited, but I don’t believe that it what is going on, but the two programs I gave links for should give your system a work out. Also there are some files that purport to be media files, when you try to play them they ask for a codec that you are missing (which isn’t missing) and bingo you can be infected.

What media player are you using ?
Have you tried a different media player ?

This is more likely to be a media player issue than a video card one or other graphics problems would present themselves. MP3 files are audio only so even if there is no graphics in your media player you should get sound.

That’s me for the night 1:40a.m. here.

7

You were right on about the Java. It had not successfully updated for some reason. I manually updated it. I also ran Superantispyware, which did not find anything.
Another thing I tried was disconnecting the monitor VGA cable from the video card and pushing the video card back and forth just to make sure it had a firm connection.
I have read bits around the internet about loose connections causing random problems…
And lastly I have turn all of Avast’s engines on with the setting to “High.”

In response to your questions: I am using two different media players. For video, smplayer (latest ver.) in combination with Mplayer (which I think is latest vers.). For audio, I prefer Winamp (5.541) because the visualizations rock.

I have not had problems playing back movies / sound, just the random blank screen that last 2 seconds, every now and again.
Although upon booting up this time, so far, twenty minutes into the boot, I have not experienced the problem. Yet. So who knows? I will see whether the problem persists or not.

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 1:13:03 AM, on 11/22/2008
Platform: Windows XP SP3, v.3244 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP3 (6.00.2900.3244)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware\aawservice.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\aswUpdSv.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashServ.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Maxtor\Schedule2\schedhlp.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\Avast4\ashDisp.exe
C:\Program Files\Creative\SBAudigy\Surround Mixer\CTSysVol.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Rundll32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\RUNDLL32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
C:\Program Files\SUPERAntiSpyware\SUPERAntiSpyware.exe
C:\Program Files\Okidata\OKI LPR Utility\okilpr.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Maxtor\Schedule2\schedul2.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashMaiSv.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashWebSv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\msiexec.exe
C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jqs.exe
C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = file:///c:/homepage/lechat.shtml
R3 - URLSearchHook: Yahoo! Toolbar - {EF99BD32-C1FB-11D2-892F-0090271D4F88} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: Java™ Plug-In SSV Helper - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\ssv.dll
O2 - BHO: Java™ Plug-In 2 SSV Helper - {DBC80044-A445-435b-BC74-9C25C1C588A9} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jp2ssv.dll
O2 - BHO: JQSIEStartDetectorImpl - {E7E6F031-17CE-4C07-BC86-EABFE594F69C} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\lib\deploy\jqs\ie\jqs_plugin.dll
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [Acronis Scheduler2 Service] “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Maxtor\Schedule2\schedhlp.exe”
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [avast!] C:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\Avast4\ashDisp.exe
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] “C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jusched.exe”
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [CTSysVol] C:\Program Files\Creative\SBAudigy\Surround Mixer\CTSysVol.exe /r
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [P17Helper] Rundll32 P17.dll,P17Helper
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /install
O4 - HKLM..\Run: [NvMediaCenter] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvMcTray.dll,NvTaskbarInit
O4 - HKCU..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - HKCU..\Run: [SUPERAntiSpyware] C:\Program Files\SUPERAntiSpyware\SUPERAntiSpyware.exe
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18..\RunOnce: [RunNarrator] Narrator.exe (User ‘SYSTEM’)
O4 - HKUS.DEFAULT..\RunOnce: [RunNarrator] Narrator.exe (User ‘Default user’)
O4 - Startup: Mozilla Firefox.lnk = C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
O4 - Global Startup: OKI LPR Utility.lnk = C:\Program Files\Okidata\OKI LPR Utility\okilpr.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\Office12\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\Office12\REFIEBAR.DLL
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - C:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe
O9 - Extra ‘Tools’ menuitem: @xpsp3res.dll,-20001 - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - C:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra ‘Tools’ menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O20 - Winlogon Notify: !SASWinLogon - C:\Program Files\SUPERAntiSpyware\SASWINLO.dll
O23 - Service: Lavasoft Ad-Aware Service (aawservice) - Lavasoft - C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware\aawservice.exe
O23 - Service: Acronis Scheduler2 Service (AcrSch2Svc) - Acronis - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Maxtor\Schedule2\schedul2.exe
O23 - Service: avast! iAVS4 Control Service (aswUpdSv) - ALWIL Software - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\aswUpdSv.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Antivirus - ALWIL Software - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashServ.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Mail Scanner - ALWIL Software - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashMaiSv.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Web Scanner - ALWIL Software - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashWebSv.exe
O23 - Service: Java Quick Starter (JavaQuickStarterService) - Sun Microsystems, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin\jqs.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (NVSvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe

–
End of file - 4843 bytes

8
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP3 (6.00.2900.3244)
IE6 is antiquated.

I like and use IE7 with IE7Pro:
http://blogulate.com/content/new-features-of-internet-explorer-7 <== the Tabbed feature is great

Ad-Aware is a bloated has bin and is un-necessary with SuperAntispyware.

Sun Java is notorious for leaving old installations installed so download JavaRa then run it to remove what it finds:
http://raproducts.org

Secunia Online Software Inspector is a fast way to scan your PC for the most common programs and vulnerabilities:
http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/online

9

Whilst IE6 (SP3) might be antiquated in your eyes, it is still supported by MS and receives full security updates. If you followed the same logic then you would be using Vista and not XP which is as antiquated as IE6 which came with it :stuck_out_tongue:

I don’t use IE period and if there was a way to completely remove it I would, but because MS have it as an integral part of the OS to display help files, windows explorer, etc. we are all stuck with it.

Firefox 3.04 is not only faster but more secure (as it Opera) than IE7 under XP.

10

Ok, here is something I can teach the experts, for once.

I am not running any version of IE. In fact, I uninstalled it! I’m not sure why HJT shows it in the log. I run the latest vers. of Firefox, because it is faster and I love the powerful addons. Also I’m suspicious of Active X, which Firefox does not (I think) implement.

I examined Java in the Control Panel, and the version is 6, update 10. The update last night seemed to go really well, so with that confirmation I’m fairly sure I’m running the latest Java.

I have to report, regretfully, that I got a blank screen late last night. There are certain web sites that can trigger the blank screen like clockwork. One of them, last night, was:
http://home.att.net/~marjie1/headers.htm

Every time I clicked one of the buttons, I got a blank screen. Now it’s not a malicious site at all. And the crazy thing is, this morning I cannot replicate the blank screen effect.

My conclusion for the time being is that this is an overheating issue for the NVIDIA video card, which lacks a fan, and only uses a heat sink. I think the problem gets progressively worse the longer the PC has been on. One solution might be to downgrade the card’s clock speed. I may try that if the problem persists.

11

It is an integral part of your OS you might think you have got rid of it, but it is still on your system or help files wouldn’t display nor would the windows explorer folders and it is also used to display your emails (preview and opened emails), so it is still there, sorry to disappoint you.

You may only have got rid of the web browsing element. I say may as it may not be selectable as a browser, just try this in windows explorer, in the address bar, type in www.avast.com and click enter and tell me what happens.

12

Your experiment succeeded; www.avast.com does invoke IE 6, if entered in Windows Explorer.

I don’t use Outlook for emails. I use Forte Agent, or Firefox if accessing web-based email. But I know it’s not possible to entirely get rid of OE or IE.

13

So it isn’t gone at all it just gives the appearance that it has ;D

It is possible to get rid of uninstall Outlook Express 6 I believe, http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=uninstall+Outlook+Express+6, but it isn’t easy, http://www.tweakxp.com/article37318.aspx. So much so it is probably easier just to leave it redundant on your system.

14

Yes, I used to fight Windows over OE, trying to get rid of it, but in the end, it’s only a couple hundred megabytes.

thanks for your help.

Have not noticed any screen blanking lately. Maybe something I did helped to fix or at least reduce its occurrence.

I’ve got superantispyware running along with all the avast anti-virus engines. And Java is fully updated.

15

You’re welcome, hopefully your media players will stay free of blank screens.