I was scanning my HDD’s and and avast was detecting some trojan viruses so i moved them to the virus chest. i later turned off my PC and now it won’t turn on again, well it just freezes on the desktop while the system tray icons are loading or it freezes the moment i try to open anything. the way it freezes is slightly random but it’s always before all my system tray icons are loaded.
PC works fine in safe mode though. i tried to do a system restore and it goes through the process but when it comes to starting back up again it freezes even earlier than ususal, before any of the desktop icons are loaded and only displays my background wallpaper nothing else. i also tried to use the ‘Last Known Good Configuration’ option but that does the same thing.
the other thing i did when i was scanning for viruses was delete the MEMORY.dmp file and i also ticked the box that says something like “automatically delete file on startup” so i’m wondering is that what is causing this? how do i change that setting so it dosn’t automatically delete anymore?
i also can’t view my virus chest it has red writing saying “action completed with errors” under the resume tab.
in errors report tab it says Program cannot use Chest client: (null)
—>Description: Virus chest server is not running RPC communication failed.
would really, really love some help, i know it’s all caused by something i’ve done with avast! the night before. my current version is 07113-1, 13/11. most frustrating thing in the world not being able to use my PC.
If all you did was delete memory.dmp, then it couldn’t cause the problems you describe (the memory.dmp file is useless - it’s created during a bluescreen for further analysis what happened - but it’s not used for anything by the OS itself).
What is the exact built of avast! you are using (the program version, not VPS)?
my PC is acting slightly different today in that it managed to do the system restore upto a point where it gave a “Restoration Incomplete” error message. the Last Known Good Configuration also loaded fully this time with all the system tray icons and i managed to open things like the calculator, wordpad and even Windows Messenger. It did seem like everything was a bit laggy and slower than usual and as soon as i try to open any of my Hard Drives or Firefox it freezes dead.
everything still runs fine in Safe Mode, any idea on what’s causing this?
I think Avast defends itself against tampering and thats what is causing system restore to be incomplete, its an option in Avast I dont know wether its a good thing temporarily disabling this feature while you system restore but it maybe causing the restore problem
Also, try using MSCONFIG to disable all your startup items: if the computer starts and runs OK, selectively re-enable startup items until you find the one that is causing the problem.
thanks FreewheelinFrank for all the info and links etc.
i disabled all the startup icons and the desktop loaded as normal but the same thing still happens as soon as i try to open any drives, files or programs; it just freezes dead.
safe mode with networking does work (that’s how i’ve been posting on here) so right now i’m scanning the computer using Trend Micro Housecall.
in the support email from avast! they just said to uninstall avast!, restart PC and reinstall avast! would fix it ???
i really do not understand why i can’t just system restore, i have done so in the past…
in the support email from avast! they just said to uninstall avast!, restart PC and reinstall avast! would fix it
Well, I’d try that, then.
i really do not understand why i can't just system restore, i have done so in the past...
Deleting malware from a System Restore point can mean that System Restore won’t work. Or it could be something else entirely. I don’t know if avast! has a new feature that is interfering with System Restore. Try uninstalling as advised. Also continue with the scans and report any findings.
Another one to try is the Ewido scanner for spyware:
i really do not understand why i can't just system restore, i have done so in the past...
System Restore is far from infallible, I don't use it because it might not work as you hope it would when you come to 'need' it. You do however, need to have something to replace it before you consider disabling it and there is software that does that like GoBack.
I use Disk Imaging software that take an exact image of your partition of hard disk and that can restore your partition/s to what they were at the point in time when the image was taken. I do a regular weekly image of my partitions as a part of my system maintenance and if I experience a problem I restore the last back-up image and I’m up and running in about 20 minutes.
There’s lots more on that page that’s worth reading too. Note especially the sections on “Does System Restore protect personal data files?” (the short answer: no); “What should I do if System Restore does not work?”; “Why are my restore points missing or deleted?”; “Why does the System Restore Wizard lockup?”; and so on. Just a few minutes on that page ought to convince just about anyone that System Restore is not intended for heavy-duty system protection!
i removed avast! with aswClear.exe and everything went back to normal. i guess that means the Trojans are still floating around on my PC, but whenever i try to clean i always end up removing something i shouldn’t. i guess i’ll just live amongst the worms and viruses and in the meantime re-download avast!
ah so happy to have my PC back and being able to listen to music, watch video etc. etc.
thanks so much for all the help. i learned a lot and now i know what to do if it happens again.
Under Configuration and Preferences, click the Preferences button.
Then click the Scanning Control tab.
Under Scanner Options make sure the following are checked
Close browsers before scanning
Scan for tracking cookies
Terminate memory threats before quaranine.
leave the others unchecked.
Return to the main page by clicking close on that screen. On the main screen, under Scan for Harmful Software click Scan your computer. On the left check C:\Fixed Drive.(and other fixed drives)
Under Complete Scan, choose Perform Complete Scan.
· Click Next to start the scan.
When the scan is done, quarentine everything found . Reboot if asked. You can post/attach the log in your next reply.
you may also want to post a hijackthis log and see if anything shows up.
[*]Save HJTsetup.exe to your desktop.
[*]Doubleclick on the HJTsetup.exe icon on your desktop.
[*]By default it will install to C:\Program Files\Hijack This.
[*]Continue to click Next in the setup dialogue boxes until you get to the Select Addition Tasks dialogue.
[*]Put a check by Create a desktop icon then click Next again.
[*]Continue to follow the rest of the prompts from there.
[*]At the final dialogue box click Finish and it will launch Hijack This.
[*]Click on the Do a system scan and save a logfile button. It will scan and the log should open in notepad.
[*]Click on “Edit > Select All” then click on “Edit > Copy” to copy the entire contents of the log.
[*]Come back here to this thread and Paste the log in your next reply.
[*]DO NOT have Hijack This fix anything yet. Most of what it finds will be harmless or even required.