[Drabdr]

Originally Posted by Jason08

I guess perhaps if we all told 10 people in our every day lives.

I think you are correct in more ways than one. If we could encourage 10 people to start the training, and also tell 10 people to make sure they have updated antivirus, spyware programs and such.

It amazes me how many people admit they have no computer protection, and most of them should know better.

[Drabdr]

Originally Posted by Support4U

Hi Drabdr,
I appreciate your reply and no offence meant, however i found no one attending to the posters issue, therefore wanted others also to suggest a solution for the posters issue as well. There is a posibility it could be a malware issue as u mentioned however as i suggested it could be the posters use of several security and cleanup utilities on the same computer causing the issue too.

Hello, and thank you! I hope I did not come across too strongly. Apologies if I did. It is admirable that you were being sensitive to the poster for help. That shows you have a good spirit, and will be a good addition to the gang. It's just that they have asked that no request for help be posted in this forum.

As you suggest, your advice may be accurate. However, it's so tough to figure out. There was a thread a while back about determining when posters should post in the malware forum, or one of the other forums. Is is malware, or is it something else? If it's malware, then the experts should address. If it's something else, then others could look at it, that way it's not dragging down the time of the malware experts. Make sense?

It's not an easy situation, and one reason why Mike was asking for suggestions.

[Jason08]

Originally Posted by Drabdr

It amazes me how many people admit they have no computer protection, and most of them should know better.

A good example would be in the poll about managing passwords. That suprised me and other people about the weak passwords that other people use.

[grtatn]

I am happy to see the discussion that has followed from my original post. You are correct, I was NOT expecting to get help to my specific problem in this thread. I was expecting to arouse just the type of discussion that I see here. The help, I had originally hoped, would come in the security forum - but I gave up after my post languished there for 5 days, unanswered.

Thanks for your suggestions, Support4U. I use CCleaner and Window Washer as "on demand" scanners only. They shouldn't be running in the background. The Secunia Software Inspector is an online scanner to show outdated versions of software and applications. It also does not run in the background. I loaded Malware Bytes, ComboFix, and Hijack This specifically to try to identify the sluggishness I was having. I don't believe that they run in the background either. I intended to delete them as soon as the problem(s) was identified and rectified. The computer in questions IS running Windows Defender.

I posted the Hijack This log to see if there was any identifiable problem with malware. If my log was clean then I would know for sure that wasn't the problem - and that the problem must be with the system itself and/or the components on it. But unfortunately I didn't get a response to the original post - so I had no idea where to begin looking.

The preceding 2 paragraphs are in response to Support4U's post but, again, I realize this is NOT the forum to be discussing specific security issues and solutions. Thanks.

[Support4U]

Originally Posted by Drabdr

Hello, and thank you! I hope I did not come across too strongly. Apologies if I did. It is admirable that you were being sensitive to the poster for help. That shows you have a good spirit, and will be a good addition to the gang. It's just that they have asked that no request for help be posted in this forum.

As you suggest, your advice may be accurate. However, it's so tough to figure out. There was a thread a while back about determining when posters should post in the malware forum, or one of the other forums. Is is malware, or is it something else? If it's malware, then the experts should address. If it's something else, then others could look at it, that way it's not dragging down the time of the malware experts. Make sense?

It's not an easy situation, and one reason why Mike was asking for suggestions.

Thanks Drabdr for understanding and about "came accross too strong" not at all buddy, apperciate your advice/suggestion anytime adds to my experience.

grtatn apart from background scanners one more thing that i want to bring to your notice is that these softwars (CCleaner and CCleaner Registry Cleaner, WindowWasher, AFT Cleaner ) most of the time block changes to registry and protect registry in someways too and therefore this multiple protection causes conflict and slows down the computer too, thats y i advised u to uninstall all of them and check your system performance and keep only 1 security software and 1 cleaner software

[jmw3]

one more thing that i want to bring to your notice is that these softwars (CCleaner and CCleaner Registry Cleaner, WindowWasher, AFT Cleaner ) most of the time block changes to registry and protect registry in someways too

That's not correct. ATF-Cleaner & as far as I know WindowWasher only clean out Temporary folders. They do not touch, block changes or protect the registry in any way. They are NOT security programs. CCleaner also cleans temporary folders but has the ability to 'clean' the registry. CCleaner's Reg cleaner should not be used unless you know exactly what it is removing. CCleaner also does not provide any sort of protection for your computer.

Using the tools stated to clean out your temp folders once in a while is recommended as it can free up space & speed up your computer slightly, but I recommend you stay clear of the use of ANY registry cleaners.
Here is an excerpt from a discussion on regcleaners:

Most reg cleaners aren't "bad" as such, but they aren't perfect and even the best have been known to cause problems.
The point we are trying to make is that the risk of using one far outweighs any benefit.
If it does work perfectly you will not see any difference
If it doesn't work properly you may end up with an expensive doorstop.

http://forums.whatthetech.com/Regcleaner_t42862.html

If you want something to protect changes to the registry try WinPatrol. Download it here
You can find information about how WinPatrol works here

[Support4U]

Hi,

I used to believe what u are mentioning below

Originally Posted by jmw3

That's not correct. ATF-Cleaner & as far as I know WindowWasher only clean out Temporary folders. They do not touch, block changes or protect the registry in any way. They are NOT security programs. CCleaner also cleans temporary folders but has the ability to 'clean' the registry. CCleaner's Reg cleaner should not be used unless you know exactly what it is removing. CCleaner also does not provide any sort of protection for your computer.

Using the tools stated to clean out your temp folders once in a while is recommended as it can free up space & speed up your computer slightly, but I recommend you stay clear of the use of ANY registry cleaners.

however at our support center we come accross many such issues on regular basis where in removing (CCleaner /CCleaner Registry Cleaner/WindowWasher/AFT Cleaner) has resolved 95% of the issues.

[jmw3]

Hmmm..... OK, so what sort of 'issues' were they causing? Can you be absolutely sure it was these programs causing the problems. CCleaner & ATF-Cleaner are only executables sitting on the desktop. They don't run in the background & do nothing unless clicked on. As far as I can see the only problem I can see is using CCleaner to remove reg entries needlessly.

[Support4U]

Hi Jmw3,

I understand you are trying to argue / challenge my experience / expertise. And I am here to help Grtatn to try something that may solve his issue and not argue with anyone.

However I will take you to CCleaner’s site and other forums too, and show proofs of incidents where in these kind of software have caused problems. Now this could be due conflict with any setting/security/ other software or OS which may not be logically acceptable that is why I mentioned in my note "I used to believe what you are mentioning"

CCleaner >>example of conflict with OS /security software etc
http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=20543
http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=20377
http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=16224

Windows Washer >>example of conflict with OS
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=103468
http://www.theeldergeek.com/shutdown_issues_in_xp.htm

2nd link above is for the issue here below, since the page is too long to find the article below

From Darren:
I have spent many hours on this and have established that Window Washer causes a shutdown problem.
Each time Washer was installed the pc would not turn itself off with the "its now safe to turn your computer off" message appearing.
Each time this happened I did a restore and each time Win XP returned to normal.
Regards,
Darren

I hope that these examples will enlighten you to help people better.

[Cookiegal]

Two of the piriform.com links showed problems resulting from running the registry cleaner feature of CCleaner and that is something we don't recommend doing, just like any other registry cleaner, as they will often run into problems.

If you Google enough, you will find BSOD or boot problems caused by just about any software out there at some point. There can be a multitude of possible causes, such as an outdated BIOS, malware, conflicts with drivers and other factors of your system or compatibility issues so to draw the conclusion that one of these programs causes these problems is too much of a generalization. If that were the case, it would happen on every machine and the software would have to be revamped or retired.

[Kenny94]

Originally Posted by TechGuy

If you guys have any suggestions on how we can streamline the process of trying to help folks with infected computers, let me know. No idea is too crazy.

Perhaps post a Sticky in the Malware Removal & HijackThis Logs section:

Would you like to learn to be a Malware removal helper and so forth.. And post the Schools.


I received a lot PM'S asking about how to learn HijackThis logs. We have a Supply and demand problem. More logs and less helpers. Let the users know that there are free online schools out there..

[Jason08]

Sounds like a good sugestion, but I'm sure it does take a lot of time and effort.

[LauraMJ]

Originally Posted by Kenny94

Perhaps post a Sticky in the Malware Removal & HijackThis Logs section:

Would you like to learn to be a Malware removal helper and so forth.. And post the Schools.


I received a lot PM'S asking about how to learn HijackThis logs. We have a Supply and demand problem. More logs and less helpers. Let the users know that there are free online schools out there..

When non-Gold shield members try to reply to a post in that forum, they get an error message stating the reason why they cannot, along with the message that if they would like to learn how to qualify, to please use the "contact us" link. I get emails asking how to qualify, and I point them to the TSG Library page that explains that:

http://library.techguy.org/wiki/Beco...alware_Removal

More than half the time, I get a response back that the process is WAY too much bother, that they have WAY too much intellegence and experience and knowledge to have to go through a "university" and that they won't have their intellegence insulted, and so on and so on......

Part of the problem is not so much that they can't find the information, but that a lot of people don't want to make the kind of effort involved to get a certification............

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by LauraMJ

More than half the time, I get a response back that the process is WAY too much bother, that they have WAY too much intellegence and experience and knowledge to have to go through a "university" and that they won't have their intellegence insulted, and so on and so on......

This surprises me since they haven't even seen what the curriculum is yet!

Oh well, c'est la vie....

Peace...

[Kenny94]

Originally Posted by LauraMJ

When non-Gold shield members try to reply to a post in that forum, they get an error message stating the reason why they cannot, along with the message that if they would like to learn how to qualify, to please use the "contact us" link. I get emails asking how to qualify, and I point them to the TSG Library page that explains that:

http://library.techguy.org/wiki/Beco...alware_Removal

More than half the time, I get a response back that the process is WAY too much bother, that they have WAY too much intellegence and experience and knowledge to have to go through a "university" and that they won't have their intellegence insulted, and so on and so on......

Part of the problem is not so much that they can't find the information, but that a lot of people don't want to make the kind of effort involved to get a certification............

I never knew here at TSG had error message and then will point them to the right direction Laura. That's great we have this! You're right, most of folks wants to help, but not go to one of the boot camps to train them the correct way. They don't know that they don't know.... Scary!