A few pointers please...

[Rossian]

....SWMBO shouts at me that there is something wrong with her laptop.
"There's a message about something unauthorised...."
"And??"
"Well I can't get into it (the laptop)"

Long story short, after a lot of niggly exchanges it seems that there is an error 0xC004D01 and the message might have been something like "windows has found a change that will limit windows operating" (sic).

All the remedies found by googling the error code involved downloading a utility to the desk top or go to control panel. Neither are accessible. Nor is the bottom tray.
The only positive pointer said "it's probably down to Avast! get rid of it and down load windows security essentials".
Avast! has been on the laptop from at least two years with nary a hiccup so I don't really believe that. It's also on this PC and has been for years.

Not being able to get to the desktop or control panel is a real PITA. Any clues anyone?

The Ancient Mariner

[pmills575]

Have you tried rebooting into safe mode and accessing the CP in that mode?

pm575

[vulcanised]

Sounds like a virus wanting Avast out of the way.

[Rossian]

...especially as a screen appeared which said, in effect, "we're looking for a solution, do not navigate away from this screen" which had my BS detector flashing red.

pmills I can't get into safe mode. That is the real PITA I can't get to any of the entry points to try and sort it out.

I do suspect that some malign system has got into the laptop. I may have to try my normal guru but if I can avoid his fees first .....

Thanks both.

The Ancient Mariner

[Tarq57]

Try downloading, installing and running a quick scan with MBAM. (http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free) If you can get it installed. Good, state of the art, anti malware scanner.

[AirResearcher]

Did you have ani antivirus/spyware installed and up to date before this happened?

If you want to void this stuff, never download any free apps - INCLUDING free anti virus/ malware apps/registry fixers etc etc

Norton Internet Secuity 2011 works well and isnt resource hungry on fairly decent spec PCs

Try and backup any important files before you try and fix this ..onto USB stick etc. and afterwards - run the checks on these files

If it was me btw I'd do that, reinstall the OS from scratch, install Norton , then put all your files back on the PC after checking them.

[Tarq57]

There are plenty of reputable and good quality free apps available for download.
Trick is learning what is good, what is not so good, what comes with hidden snags, what can do damage, and what is rubbish or rogue.

"Never" is awfully finite a term.

[BOAC]

Rossian - if all else fails, Avira will download a 'boot disk' which you can burn on a working machine and it will do a clean boot scan for you. Be advised that if it finds and kills a deep-rooted alien you MAY be into a Windows re-build if it has trashed a core operating file or two.

[M.Mouse]

The usual 15 answers to from 5 people to one problem.

Follow the procedure here (http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407) to the letter and I would be surprised if you cannot cure the problem.

The suggestion that Norton is good on a powerful PC is like saying you can tow a caravan with anything but best buy a big powerful car. Norton takes over a PC and most people with experience of these things will not touch anything with Norton in the name with a barge pole. Reloading the OS is unnecessary in the majority of cases of virus problems.

[mixture]

M. Mouse,

Reloading the OS is unnecessary in the majority of cases of virus problems.

Personally I consider a PC to be untrusted once it's been infected by a virus. The average user won't be able to tell if they've got a rootkit or keylogger installed, therefore, in these days of online banking and e-commerce, the best advice is to rebuild to a clean state if you can (preventative planning through imaging software such as that offered by Acronis means this need not take a long time). And of course, like a good boy, you should be doing regular backups anyway ! :E

Secondly, a cursory glance at Rossian's original description suggests that he's got something more than just a minor virus. Therefore given the choice of wasting his time fiddling with his computer, or just accepting the inevitable and rebuilding, I'd say choose the latter.

[BOAC]

MM - have you read post #1? Perhaps you could guide Rossian into getting going with your guide? It looks to me as if 'Step 1' would be a breeze and 'Step 2' a bit of a struggle?

I suspect you would be surprised if you cannot cure the problem

[Rossian]

...the response from the guru (who is a MS technician) is more or less along the lines of mixture's solution. He raised the point of the latest upgrades to Avast! "appearing" to cause some probs with Vista. So, he's going to break into the system, get it running and leave avast in to see if the prob recurs. If it does, remove Avast and install MS security essentials. Then give the complete system a jolly good "fettle" (aircrew jargon).

My problem was such that all the solutions that suggested download this download that, were non-starters, because the only page I could access was the page saying "you've got a problem" No bottom tray meant control panel was equally inaccessible and at that point my knowledge ran out. Which is why I'm happy to pay an old mate to do that bit for me (even then his arm needed a deal of twisting to take it).

Thankyou all. I'll leave this up, as prevously suggested by SD, so that others may be able to pick something useful from it.

The Ancient Mariner

[M.Mouse]

Apologies, I read the thread yesterday when it first appeared and did not re-read it before posting.

As BOAC points out if you can't access anything then my solution was a non-starter!

For reference though anyone who has a virus problem could do worse than follow the instructions found from the link provided rather than a scattergun approach of trying one piece of software then another.

[AirResearcher]

I'm with Mixture...

My view on Free apps.... if they are free:

1\ Who ever writes them cannot have the resources to respond to the dozens of new viruses which are released on a daily basis -its too big\complex a problem even for a genius....
2\ If its not a 'proper commercial company' with a lot of Kudos, how do you know something you dont want isnt being embedded onto your system.
3\ Of all the companies I have used, almost 100 hundred small to medium networks - Norton (2011) is currently my preferred choice, and a vast improvement on the CPU hogging 2008-2010 versions.

Prevention, whilst never 100% failsafe - is always better than cure :ok:

[mixture]

a scattergun approach of trying one piece of software then another.

Hmm ... let's see, you're link seems to suggest that ...

Now download the below tools ( do not run them yet - just download them in this step )
SUPERAntiSpyware
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
combofix.exe
RootRepeal
MGtools


And that's only step 1 of step 7 !

[mixture]

AirResearcher has raised some good points there.

The samples community is quite tight knit, and the commercial sector have a greater number of avenues available to them for accessing samples than the freeware community.

However it is, of course, important to remember that the more serious virus writers have access to the anti-virus software and devote much time to trying to make themselves invisible. Hence having the commercial R&D muscle behind you to continue to innovate new detection techniques is important.

Furthermore, if you are selling AV software, then there is a commercial incentive to produce quality software, otherwise market competition will dictate your fate. If you're giving away free AV software, there is no such incentive, you're not getting revenue from your software anyway, so what are you going to miss if people stop using it ?

[BOAC]

Now, Rossian - if ONLY you had told us it was VISTA!:eek:

[M.Mouse]

So using recommended software in a recommended order and in the recommended way that the majorgeeks forum recommends is scattergun?

Interesting thought.

[hellsbrink]

At the risk of being flamed by those with "superior knowledge", would downloading Hiren's Boot CD and burning it to cd or copying it to a usb stick, followed by booting the puter with said cd/usb stick and then selecting "minixp" be an idea? Once in MiniXP you can install and run things like MBAM, etc, meaning you can scan your machine and rid it of nasties.

It's a trick I've used several times on other people's machines.

[BOAC]

I would support hellsbrink there- it is a brilliant system. However, downloading an Avira boot scan disk is easier.:)

[AirResearcher]

...Vista..................... the OS from hell.......... argh!:ugh:

[Rossian]

...from being sniffy and giving the line "should have bought a Mac" in answer to any problem involving a PC, to being sniffy about Vista. So it's not great but it's what I'm stuck with at the moment. C'est la vie.

The Ancient Mariner

[Tarq57]

There was a problem with Avast and Vista (SP1 or less) that sounds a bit like the message you've been seeing (on re-reading the OP).

Basically the computer fails validation after an Avast-related event. Common factors (from what I've seen on the thread at the Avast forum) are that it only affected Vista computers, and most (if not all) of those affected were not running the latest Vista service pack.

The latest program update of Avast addresses this compatibility issue. It is 6.0.1203. (Right click the tray icon for avast and select "about" and it will give your current version. Same again and select "update>program" to update it. Restart required.)

Avast thread here (http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=77035.0).
Latest forum update info here (http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=81028.0;topicseen).

[green granite]

My view on Free apps.... if they are free:

1\ Who ever writes them cannot have the resources to respond to the dozens of new viruses which are released on a daily basis -its too big\complex a problem even for a genius....
2\ If its not a 'proper commercial company' with a lot of Kudos, how do you know something you dont want isnt being embedded onto your system.
3\ Of all the companies I have used, almost 100 hundred small to medium networks - Norton (2011) is currently my preferred choice, and a vast improvement on the CPU hogging 2008-2010 versions.


You will find with companies like avast and zone alarm that they offer a basic version of their product, which is perfectly good, as a sprat in the hopes that you'll upgrade to the paid version. A bit like supermarket loss leaders.
As for Norton I wouldn't have it anywhere near any m/c I own because of the problems it's caused me in the past.

[Tarq57]

An interesting article (http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20074379-83/avasts-virus-lab-relies-on-robust-community/) (yeah, OK, it's Cnet, but still valid anyway) about how one free antivirus keeps up with the bad guys.

Interestingly, Vince Steckler, until a year or so ago the CEO of Symantec, left their employ to take up a better offer with Avast.

[BOAC]

Right click the tray icon for avast and select "about" and it will give your current version. Same again and select "update>program" to update it. Restart required.) -nb he cannot! See post #1

[Rossian]

...as I type this my mate is fetching back the laptop fully "S".

When he switched it on, it fired up as normal. Carefully shut it down and then restarted it, still ok. Investigating he found an incident with Avast that caused the validation problems mentioned above by Tarq57. Cleared that up and found 498 important updates that madame had ignored!! That has been sorted.

Now that it has been properly "fettled" it is, in the words of the old wireless operators, "singing like a box of birds."

He had the tools to get past the blank wall that I faced (I believe it involved LINUX). All is well and a modest cost paid. Happiness reigns in the Rossian household again. Hurrah!!

The Ancient Mariner

[txdmy1]

education is in order to do the updates, even to vista, recommend SWMBO doing an ECDL course, mine did and now complies, and she is on XP

[Rossian]

...she did it ages and ages ago (at her own expense). As she finished and got the stificate the system changed!!
I put Avast and Malwarebytes and CCleaner on her laptop and said "now you have to run them/update them". After nigh on 45 years of married bliss I know there is no point in nagging her to do it.
Today, after having newly fettled machine back and listening to the brief from my mate, siutably chastened, there is an entry on her desk calender to update everything every Wed (and she will do it!). That admonition came from an independent source, you see husbands know nowt.

The Ancient Mariner