Avast prompted me that there was a rootkit and that I should delete it, which I did. I didn’t see any other option other than to ignore.
When I start my computer, I get a rather long message which doesn’t stay up on the screen long enough for me to read but says something to the effect “failed to connect to the system event notification services”.
When I tried to do Windows updates, I’m told that Windows could not search for new updates. I followed the steps shown by MS for this particular message.
I restored to the last restore point (which was before this “rootkit” was removed) and that didn’t help.
I think Avast had me remove something critical… I sure hope I don’t have to reinstall Windows because that’s going to take me hours to clean off all the junk that Dell puts on a computer and reinstall my programs.
[*] If it gives you a warning about rootkit activity and asks if you want to run a full scan…click on NO, then use the following settings for a more complete scan…
[*] In the right panel, you will see several boxes that have been checked. Ensure the following are UNCHECKED …
[] IAT/EAT
[] Drives/Partition other than Systemdrive (typically C:)
[*] Show All (don’t miss this one)
http://www.geekstogo.com/misc/guide_icons/GMER_thumb.jpg
Click the image to enlarge it
[*] Then click the Scan button & wait for it to finish.
[*] Once done click on the [Save…] button, and in the File name area, type in “ark.txt”
[*]Save the log where you can easily find it, such as your desktop. CautionRootkit scans often produce false positives. Do NOT take any action on any “<— ROOKIT” entries
Please copy and paste the report into your Post.
[*]Double click on the icon to run it. Make sure all other windows are closed and to let it run uninterrupted.
[*]Select Scan all users
[*]Under the Custom Scan box paste this in
In the GMER window, I couldn’t select all those options - they were grayed out. The only things selected were Services, Registry, Files, drive C and ADS.
I restored to the last restore point (which was before this "rootkit" was removed) and that didn't help.
If a system file had been removed then this would have restored it. Could you look in the Avast log and let me know the file name. Also what error do you get when it tries to update - that will give me an idea as to where the problem is
But first confirm that the service is running
Start button > in the search box, enter services.msc > press Enter > uac prompt > scroll down to System Event Notification > right click > select properties . confirm that it is set to Auto and running
I cannot find any Avast log. I have no idea what the name of the file is that was removed.
When I click to Check for Updates, I get the message: "Windows could not search for new updates. An error occurred while checking for new updates for your comptuer. Error(s) found:
Code 80070002 Windows Update encountered an unknown error.
System Event Notification shows Started and Automatic.
The “fix” for the error message in updates was to stop the Windows Update service, delete specified temp file and then resetart it, which I did - no help.
I did the second part previously - that was one of the fixes recommended in Windows Help.
Re the first one listed on the Vista Forums website, there is no “Install” folder in the “Download” folder. Only a couple dozen folders with subfolders and files in those folders.
Also the boot-up of the laptop has been very slow compared to what it used to be.
Since I did the steps of shutting off services and deleting the specified files, Windows Update show no update history.
This is the second time I have had to do this - but I kept the destructions I made
These errors are usually caused by a corruption in the .NET Framework installation or by an inconsistency on the MSI database state. Alas there is only one way to fix this and it is quite long winded
Part 1:
Manually remove
[]Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
[]Double-click Add or Remove Programs.
[]Note each version of the .NET Framework that is already installed on the computer. Then, uninstall all the versions of the .NET Framework.
[]When you are prompted, restart the computer.
.
Part 2:
Cleanup
[]Download and extract dotnet cleanup tool to your desktop
[]Run the Cleanup_tool.exe programme
[*]Reboot once it has completed
.
Part 3:
Reinstallation
To make the final cure you will need to download and re-install all .net frameworks that were uninstalled
Done. Except the .NET Framework 4 Client Profile wasn’t on your list so I just reinstalled the .NET Framework 3.5 - no SP1. It did tell me to run Windows Update after I finished the install…
However, after the reboot - Windows Update still doesn’t work.
I need my laptop for a class tomorrow and without being able to do updates, I’m nervous about having it on a public internet connection!
I can’t figure out which updates to run. I don’t need them all since I update regularly. I thought I had seen updates in the Control Panel uninstall in the past but there’s nothing there now, probably because I lost my update history when I deleted the files specified in the Windows fix for the problem. Restoring them didn’t help either.
I’m thinking I might just dig out my CD (not sure where it is) and use the repair tool on it to try to restore whatever it is that’s missing and if that doesn’t work, just bite the bullet and reinstall Windows.
The System Startup Repair Tool didn’t find any problems
I did a system restore to the restore point of 12 Aug, figuring that’s far enough past when I deleted the file. I had a ton of updates to reinstall but YAY! Everything appears to be working just fine now! No warnings about any rootkits either I’m going to go ahead and run a full virus scan just to be on the safe side.
Apparently the restore I did before didn’t go back far enough.