XP Home, sp3
Not sure if I have some kind of virus or malware or what, but something's way wrong.
It seemed to start when I added 2gb of RAM, and at the same time my Firefox was upgraded automatically, altho I had just upgraded it a couple days previous.
Everything would appear to be working normally during boot up until it got past the Windows screen. Then instead of a short pause before the home page would show, all I'd get is a black screen. A couple of times I let it run a long time and after more than a minute, the home screen would finally come up and then things worked OK.
I tried starting in Safe Mode, but F8 had no effect. I tried F10 Setup, but couldn't
see anything that appeared wrong, not that I know what it all means. But at least
the boot drive sequence was correct. A couple times it went from that to a normal
boot and startup, but now it doesn't do that any more either.
The last time I got it to start up completely, I went into System Restore and went
back to a time before I installed the additional RAM and before that automatic Firefox update happened.
System Restore informed me it had changed the name of a couple of files -
actually all within a folder. And it was within Windows. That's what made me
suspicious.
The name of the folder was an email address and within it were several files that had what appeared to be some kind of program or application files, sure weren't emails!
I pulled them out of Windows folder and temp moved them to the desktop.
Also during that session, my Avira free quit working - I could open the app but the protection had been inactivated and clicking on Restart Protection didn't do anything.
I then tried to uninstall it with the thought of downloading and installing a fresh version, but it shut down and now won't start no matter what I try. Same thing -
goes past the Windows screen OK but then stalls at a black screen instead of completing Windows startup.
Anybody any idea what's going on? And how to get back into Windows and then what to do?
I had just done an Avira scan a couple startups ago and nothing showed up.
I'm using PC Tools Firewall Plus which seems to have been working fine.
Thanks for any help!
EDIT: (I'm on my wife's computer) I just did a search for this artur.dubovoy.com thing and supposedly he's the guy that made the
Flash Video Downloader add-on for Firefox. I do remember I allowed an update to that lately, too, altho I don't know how that would
directly cause the problems I've described, unless there was something embedded in it.
EDIT (2): I had left it attempting to load Windows while I typed this post. When I returned to see if it had started, I found that
CHDSK had begun running and was in the process of checking drive G (I have C, E & G) for consistency. I don't know if it
also checked C & E, or went straight to G. Progress is very slow, something like only a few % points in 5 minutes.
Any correlation? I wouldn't think "consistency" problems (whatever that really means) on G drive would have anything to do
with startup problems on C drive?
Not sure if I have some kind of virus or malware or what, but something's way wrong.
It seemed to start when I added 2gb of RAM, and at the same time my Firefox was upgraded automatically, altho I had just upgraded it a couple days previous.
Everything would appear to be working normally during boot up until it got past the Windows screen. Then instead of a short pause before the home page would show, all I'd get is a black screen. A couple of times I let it run a long time and after more than a minute, the home screen would finally come up and then things worked OK.
I tried starting in Safe Mode, but F8 had no effect. I tried F10 Setup, but couldn't
see anything that appeared wrong, not that I know what it all means. But at least
the boot drive sequence was correct. A couple times it went from that to a normal
boot and startup, but now it doesn't do that any more either.
The last time I got it to start up completely, I went into System Restore and went
back to a time before I installed the additional RAM and before that automatic Firefox update happened.
System Restore informed me it had changed the name of a couple of files -
actually all within a folder. And it was within Windows. That's what made me
suspicious.
The name of the folder was an email address and within it were several files that had what appeared to be some kind of program or application files, sure weren't emails!
I pulled them out of Windows folder and temp moved them to the desktop.
Also during that session, my Avira free quit working - I could open the app but the protection had been inactivated and clicking on Restart Protection didn't do anything.
I then tried to uninstall it with the thought of downloading and installing a fresh version, but it shut down and now won't start no matter what I try. Same thing -
goes past the Windows screen OK but then stalls at a black screen instead of completing Windows startup.
Anybody any idea what's going on? And how to get back into Windows and then what to do?
I had just done an Avira scan a couple startups ago and nothing showed up.
I'm using PC Tools Firewall Plus which seems to have been working fine.
Thanks for any help!
EDIT: (I'm on my wife's computer) I just did a search for this artur.dubovoy.com thing and supposedly he's the guy that made the
Flash Video Downloader add-on for Firefox. I do remember I allowed an update to that lately, too, altho I don't know how that would
directly cause the problems I've described, unless there was something embedded in it.
EDIT (2): I had left it attempting to load Windows while I typed this post. When I returned to see if it had started, I found that
CHDSK had begun running and was in the process of checking drive G (I have C, E & G) for consistency. I don't know if it
also checked C & E, or went straight to G. Progress is very slow, something like only a few % points in 5 minutes.
Any correlation? I wouldn't think "consistency" problems (whatever that really means) on G drive would have anything to do
with startup problems on C drive?