Computer help wanted. Anyone??

[matriarch]

I posted this earlier today on the 'Blurt' thread:

Aaarrggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Effing computers!!

Installed new spyware and free virus checker on the lappie after the little yahoo im incident the other day..........now its working slower than ever, and its come up with an irreversible hardware error.....but only when I try and open Adobe Photoshop.

WTF??????

Its been on go slow for weeks......taking ages to do the simplest thing, like its fallen asleep. Hence the spyware check.

Right now, I'm trying desperately to remove everything incriminating from my files onto cds (looked into a separate hard drive, but way too much money at the moment), so I can delete them all and comfortably take the damned machine into the shop to be checked.

Technology is a pain in the arse sometimes.

Well now its gotten worse.

I've been trying to copy, like I said, but when I got to the folder/sub-folders that contain all my stories - completed and w.i.p's - as well as sub folders for poetry, photographs and AVs, I cannot access it.

At all.
In any way.
I simply get a message box, 'The disc in Drive C is unformatted. Do you want to reformat? Yes/No.'

Aaarrgghhhhhhhh!
Of course I don't want to reformat it, I want to take off everything I can and THEN reformat and reinstall all my software.

But.......I have no idea whatsoever how to access the folder. I've tried everything, going at it from every angle and access format, but with the same response every time.

I simply will not take the machine into the repair shop, not with that literature and those graphics on there.

Any suggestions, anyone????

 

[Pure]

virus checkers also slow things down. and are incompatible with certain programs.

 

[TxRad]

After Matty.....

I take it this is your laptop.... use a can of the compressed air to blow out the fans and vents on the sides and bottom of the unit... dust can cause heat and poor circlation which will slow one down....

If this doesn't help....

Go to symantic on line and run a complete virus scan... sounds more like you have a virus than anything else.... It will check for trojans at the same time....

also go to Microshaft... uh... soft's download site and download their malicious software removal tool.... run it once turn off the machine and then run it again...

let me know if any of this helps....

if not we'll try some other things...

to you both

Tx

 

[matriarch]

After Matty.....

I take it this is your laptop.... use a can of the compressed air to blow out the fans and vents on the sides and bottom of the unit... dust can cause heat and poor circlation which will slow one down....

If this doesn't help....

Go to symantic on line and run a complete virus scan... sounds more like you have a virus than anything else.... It will check for trojans at the same time....

also go to Microshaft... uh... soft's download site and download their malicious software removal tool.... run it once turn off the machine and then run it again...

let me know if any of this helps....

if not we'll try some other things...

to you both

Tx

Thank you Tx, I'll give it a try and let you know how it goes.

from us both.

 

[Weird Harold]

At all.
In any way.
I simply get a message box, 'The disc in Drive C is unformatted. Do you want to reformat? Yes/No.'

To the best of my knowledge, that is NOT a Windows operating system error message! At least not if you've reported it verbatim -- Windows does not offer to reformat if it detects an unformatted drive. That's the kind of wording I'd expect from a virus or trojan.

Try running TendMicro's Housecall online virus check and then I'd suggest rebooting in Safe Mode to remove your sensitive information.

 

[TxRad]

To the best of my knowledge, that is NOT a Windows operating system error message! At least not if you've reported it verbatim -- Windows does not offer to reformat if it detects an unformatted drive. That's the kind of wording I'd expect from a virus or trojan.

Try running TendMicro's Housecall online virus check and then I'd suggest rebooting in Safe Mode to remove your sensitive information.

Correct on the error message WH... it sounds like a variation on an old virus that was used to destroy floppies... This yahoo IM thing may be an update of it...

Rebooting in safe mode was my next suggestion....

 

[TheEarl]

Rebooting in safe mode was my next suggestion....

I'll third that suggestion. You may not be able to get your stuff off in safe mode, but you should be able to get enough stability to go in and sort out what's causing the problem. If your antivirus lets you, try running that while you're in safe mode. You'd be amazed at the trickiness of some viruses in hiding from antiviruses and switching to safe mode might give you a chance to flush them out.

The Earl

 

[Guest]

so, matski, any progress?

truly awesome advice from the geeksquad. i couldn't have said it better...
let us know.

 

[matriarch]

OK guys, did the Microshaft Malicious software download, it came up clean.

I did a Norton virus check with the system I have. It found 1 infected file and cleaned/removed it.

I need to get the compressed air for the clean out.

I still can't access the one folder.

I can't open Adobe Photoshop, it comes up with an irrecoverable hardware error when I try that.

It appears to be moving a bit quicker now, not such long waits....except when I switch on for the first time, and I'm assuming that is the virus checkers and adware software doing an initial switch on check. Still very irritating.

As for opening in Safe Mode.........I can't work out how to do that on this set up, I don't get the 'Please select operating system to start' request, so I can hit F8 and request Safe Mode. Any ideas??

Oh, and I have no AV, cos I removed my halloween one, but can't access any of my others. They're in the one problem folder. *sigh*. And I can't access photoshop to make new ones. *double sigh*.

I hate technology sometimes.

 

[Guest]

hrm...
one thing might be that you need to clean out your start up folder. sounds like your machine is trying to run many different programs on start up, hence the slowness.
also, you might want to do a reg clean. there are programs like iclean that are freeware and do a decent job.
good luck, gorgeous.
also...
did you run the anti-virus a second time? and/or did you run two versions of it? ie: one from symantic and one from mcafee online services. sounds crazy but this sometimes catches the rogue nugget. it seems to me that you still have something lurking

 

[Weird Harold]

As for opening in Safe Mode.........I can't work out how to do that on this set up, I don't get the 'Please select operating system to start' request, so I can hit F8 and request Safe Mode. Any ideas??

To get to safe mode, hold down the control key while booting. You can also go to Start/Run->MSCONFIG and set it to always show the boot menu.

Running scandisk and defrag will help with the slow boot and might repair the corrupted folder.

 

[TheEarl]

OK guys, did the Microshaft Malicious software download, it came up clean.

I did a Norton virus check with the system I have. It found 1 infected file and cleaned/removed it.

I need to get the compressed air for the clean out.

I still can't access the one folder.

I can't open Adobe Photoshop, it comes up with an irrecoverable hardware error when I try that.

It appears to be moving a bit quicker now, not such long waits....except when I switch on for the first time, and I'm assuming that is the virus checkers and adware software doing an initial switch on check. Still very irritating.

As for opening in Safe Mode.........I can't work out how to do that on this set up, I don't get the 'Please select operating system to start' request, so I can hit F8 and request Safe Mode. Any ideas??

Oh, and I have no AV, cos I removed my halloween one, but can't access any of my others. They're in the one problem folder. *sigh*. And I can't access photoshop to make new ones. *double sigh*.

I hate technology sometimes.

Do you have anyone whom you trust in the computer repair business? If I was closer, then I've got the tools and knowledge to possibly back-up files that you can't access through windows and I'm sure it's not an uncommon skillset. If you know someone reputable, then it's very unlikely that they'll open your pictures, unless you've named them something outrageously provocative.

The Earl

 

[matriarch]

Thanks for your help, peeps.
Got into safe mode, still can't open the story/graphics folder, and the message that comes up actually doesn't say re-format the 'c' drive. It says 'format'. Does that make a difference? Could it be a genuine microshaft message??

We have been using Adware, and it came up with 41 critical messages, before it just stalled and wouldn't go any further. We tried checking individual folders rather than the whole system, to see what's holding it all up, and it stalls on Adobe, it stalls on program files, it stalls on a few others. Strange.

Min thinks I should just bite the bullet and take the machine into the shop to be sorted, but when I think of some of the AVs in that folder.......no way. If it comes to it, I might really have to just delete the folder and see if that helps.

I will do a defrag, and a few more virus checks first.

 

[TheEarl]

Thanks for your help, peeps.
Got into safe mode, still can't open the story/graphics folder, and the message that comes up actually doesn't say re-format the 'c' drive. It says 'format'. Does that make a difference? Could it be a genuine microshaft message??

We have been using Adware, and it came up with 41 critical messages, before it just stalled and wouldn't go any further. We tried checking individual folders rather than the whole system, to see what's holding it all up, and it stalls on Adobe, it stalls on program files, it stalls on a few others. Strange.

Min thinks I should just bite the bullet and take the machine into the shop to be sorted, but when I think of some of the AVs in that folder.......no way. If it comes to it, I might really have to just delete the folder and see if that helps.

I will do a defrag, and a few more virus checks first.

This may sound like a silly question, but have you tried uninstalling and/or deleting Adobe? My general strategy with this kind of software problem, if hte automated tools aren't getting anywhere and the computer needs to be reformatted anyway, is to hack and slash, taking out as much infection as I can and simplifying everything right down as much as possible (disconnecting extraneous hardware, etc) in order to get it stable enough to navigate to what I need.

Which shop are you thinking of taking it into?

The Earl

 

[CrimsonMaiden]

Thanks for your help, peeps.
Got into safe mode, still can't open the story/graphics folder, and the message that comes up actually doesn't say re-format the 'c' drive. It says 'format'. Does that make a difference? Could it be a genuine microshaft message??

We have been using Adware, and it came up with 41 critical messages, before it just stalled and wouldn't go any further. We tried checking individual folders rather than the whole system, to see what's holding it all up, and it stalls on Adobe, it stalls on program files, it stalls on a few others. Strange.

Min thinks I should just bite the bullet and take the machine into the shop to be sorted, but when I think of some of the AVs in that folder.......no way. If it comes to it, I might really have to just delete the folder and see if that helps.

I will do a defrag, and a few more virus checks first.

Mat, have you tried just copying the whole folder to a new location to see if that might give you access? (Or burning the folder en masse... and then see if you can open it on disc.)

 

[R. Richard]

You might try "DiskInternals NTFS Recovery," a disk recovery program. I have never use the program, but it does have a free evaluation trial. Disk recovery programs have been around for a long time and they are pretty well developed. You might try to Google on "disk recovery program" before you try anything.

 

[Harry Leg]

Certain OS's like Windows ME and WindowsXP have a system restore function. You have to disable it before you run your anti virus software or even if you clean your computer out thoroughly, the virus is backed up and will reappear.

Spybot often will discover alot of spyware that adaware misses. I love adaware but it might not be a bad idea to install and run spybot as well.

I feel your pain

 

[TxRad]

reformat or format doesn't make a difference.... Its still not a microshaft message.... it knows that's where the operating system is located among other things...

You might try a repair from your xp disk.... it might give you a clean system long enough to pull your files...

I had a problem simalar to this years ago and used a disk recovery program to repair it... can't remember the name though.. it was shareware from downloads.com.... that much i remember

 

[Guest]

.....

 

[kendo1]

And of course Ken's wonderful Superantispyware. It seems to get everything all the others combined seem to miss.(freeware of course)
Link here: http://www.superantispyware.com/

For freeware, try Major Geeks, link here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads38.html

Ken

 

[matriarch]

A quick update.
Machine is definitely working quicker now, since installing and running AVG virus checker, and Adware and Spybot. But Adobe still won't open, and when I try to uninstall, it comes up with an 'Open Adobe Photoshop' message.....which I can't do. Talk about Catch 22.

Did a defrag, and it came up with around a dozen files that it couldn't deal with.....at least 8 of them were AVfiles from that one rogue folder. Also the blurb I wrote about Colly for her book, and a couple of others. ALL in the inaccessible folder.

I am going to try and reinstall Adobe Photoshop, and hope that it asks me to simply replace the original software.

I still can't open the folder, I've tried moving it, and doing it that way. No luck.

My latest thought was to try and open the folder through Dos, rather than windows, and simply removing what appears to be a dozen or so rogue files. Not sure if I can do it, I have no idea how to get into the system using Dos instructions, rather than windows.

I will ask the gosling when she awakens (and will ask my eldest son works with computers, as a system administrator, rather than troubleshooter). But in the meantime, any more ideas??

 

[matriarch]

Turn off "realtime scan".

This feature scans every single file opening, closing, sending, recieving, viewing and everything else.

Great advice, but...........I am not that computer literate. How do I do it??

 

[matriarch]

And of course Ken's wonderful Superantispyware. It seems to get everything all the others combined seem to miss.(freeware of course)
Link here: http://www.superantispyware.com/

For freeware, try Major Geeks, link here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads38.html

Ken

Thanks Ken, I'll give these a go later, and also try the advice from Tx to try a 'disc repair' option.

 

[Dinsmore]

Remove anything you've installed since the problem began

A quick update.
Machine is definitely working quicker now, since installing and running AVG virus checker, and Adware and Spybot. But Adobe still won't open, and when I try to uninstall, it comes up with an 'Open Adobe Photoshop' message.....which I can't do. Talk about Catch 22.

Can you get into the ADD/REMOVE programs feature of Control Panel? Remove Adobe---and anything else you’ve added since the problem began. In terms of the restore feature, sadly after all of the messing around it’s likely that XP won’t be able to “find” a functioning restore point.

I still can't open the folder, I've tried moving it, and doing it that way. No luck.

My latest thought was to try and open the folder through Dos, rather than windows, and simply removing what appears to be a dozen or so rogue files. Not sure if I can do it, I have no idea how to get into the system using Dos instructions, rather than windows.

 

[Dinsmore]

Since you can get online...

Consider uploading all the files you can access and need to save to something like filesanywhere.com, then bite the bullet and reformat/reload.

Can you email the critical files to another pc or account?

Sadly, I've had a very similar error on two PCs and none of the tools and tricks on the market worked to fix the problem. I was finally able to get to a command prompt using one of the several emergency disks available (Norton and McAfee come with one), get the files off and then reload the OS.