General Windows 7 Problem - Get paid with a knife!

DailyEDC

DailyEDC

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Mar 14, 2015
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This isn't specific to the forum, but I'm hoping someone here knows Windows computers well enough to help me. I've been tolerating this problem for a very long time, just to avoid having to reinstall Windows/Format my harddrive.
 
mykel m said:
Doh!
Click to expand...

Seriously.....I want to break this computer in half!

Multiple issues that I think are related:
1. Random websites won't pull up at random times when other sites do. By "pull up" I mean just open the website so I can see it. I used to think it was signal strength dependent, but it's not and I can't recreate the problem on-demand or figure out what activates the problem. Literally no recognizable pattern.

2. Sometimes my computer is lightning fast and other times it slows to a crawl. Slow like the type of slow where it takes 20 seconds for the mouse cursor to respond or catch up to my command...like tracers on acid. The type of slow that feels similar to when you're maxed out on RAM. When I pull up the Windows Task Manager, even though I don't have any programs running (besides whatever windows has running in the background, about a million processes), the CPU is stuck on 100% utilization and the graph for CPU and RAM are both surging erratically.

3. Not sure if this is related, but my mouse cursor also behaves super strangely. For example, only on Bladeforums and Google Keep...When I try to place my mouse cursor at the end of a sentence, for example, so I can continue typing where I left off, the cursor ALWAYS jumps to a different line so I have to use my arrow keys to move the cursor back to where I want it so I can finish typing the sentence. If I don't manually use my arrow keys to get the blinking cursor back to the position where I left off, instead of typing where I left off, I'll be typing on some random line, wherever the cursor decides to land and start blinking. So after typing a few sentences, when I realize my cursor is in the wrong spot.....I always have to go back and erase what I typed, fix the sentence etc....manually use my arrow keys to get back to the correct spot (or press END) etc.

4. This one might be evidence of something?? --- Every single time I try to reset my computer or shut it off....instead of simply shutting down like a normal shutdown process, there is ALWAYS an invisible program that is stuck in "not responding" status preventing Windows from being able to shut down because it first has to shutdown any programs running. It first has to struggle/fight with that "invisible program" to close it, so Windows can shut down. By "Invisible" what I mean is that Windows shows that there is a non responsive program that is frozen or running, but instead of the Task Manager listing which program is frozen/not responding...Where the name of the program should be, is blank but still shows there is a program that is not responding. The computer works really hard to shut down the frozen program, then the task manager window for that program finally closes, allowing the shutdown process to continue.

So essentially, there is always some invisible program that is "not responding" in the background. This invisible frozen program is ALWAYS running/stuck in the background and when I try to reset windows or shut down my computer, 100% of the time, it's the same thing. My computer can't shut down without first battling to shut down this invisble program first.

5. Every so often, maybe once per month, I get one of those "ALERT ALERT You're computer is compromised and you must call this 800 number to unlock your computer." messages and my computer is completely frozen frozen. I have to unplug the computer and physically remove my laptop battery in order to shut it down. I think this issue happens when I visit one of those old sites that has been drop catched by a Japanese domainer and replaced with a weird content site with a bunch of ads on it.

I don't know if the "Alert Alert call 800...." problem is a virus on my computer or if it comes from websites with malware. But I'm 95% sure that it only happens when I visit a site with some type of ad malware on it.....If I'm not researching anything and don't visit new unfamiliar sites that are potentially expired and replaced with one of those Adsense sites, then I'm pretty sure the problem doesn't happen....

6. My DVD burner won't burn either.

This is pretty much it.

I've purchased the top 3 or 4 antivirus softwares but they didnt detect or fix the issue. I also have the top support package from Dell and spent a few hours with different tiers of support, but they couldn't figure it out either. Their final solution was for me to format/reinstall windows...they couldn't even figure out why my DVD burner won't burn.

Anyone ever experience anything similarly annoying?

In case it matters, the OS is Windows 7 Pro and the computer is a Dell Precision M6800 laptop.
 
Sounds like you need to restore your pc to factory defaults. Any data you may have could be contaminated.

Is this a name brand computer? When you reboot sometimes you can hit a key that says restore. Or did your computer come with restore disks? Is there a windows key on the side of the computer? I downloaded windows 10 from Microsoft and used the old windows Vista key on the side to install it.

Make sure to install anti virus and anti Spyware software aka internet security on your pc after you do this. It should help prevent and protect your pc in the future. Usually they expire every year so always pay to update them every year.
 
DailyEDC said:
In case it matters, the OS is Windows 7 Pro and the computer is a Dell Precision M6800 laptop.
Click to expand...
this is a fairly old laptop. I use to repair these things. You may also have a defective hdd... Dell has free utility you can download and burn to a CD if you can find someone locally to do that for you, you can find out if the hardware is good. Else your Dell came with an OS disk and drivers disk and you'll need both. I don't recall if they have a recovery partition, but that's a faster way to restore it, if it does.

Restoring the system will wipe everything. All apps and files. But usually this resolves some of those issues your having. You can contact Dell for the cd's and pay for them if needed.

I bet you don't use it for much but I'd recommend getting a new one. Windows 7 is not supported as it once was and windows 10 works best with newer hardware.
 
So you are looking for tech support for your computer....not tech support for Bladeforums, correct? Got it.

Anyway...have you tried restarting your computer?

Now give me a knife.
 
Based on the problems you've described, I strongly suspect your computer is infected with malware.

Download and install a reputable anti-malware program; I recommend Malwarebytes, which is excellent and free. Antivirus programs -- which you mentioned already trying -- tend to have mixed results fighting malware. It's best to use both, and it doesn't sound like you've specifically tried the malware route yet.

Your first scan may take a while. Fingers crossed, that will solve most or all of your problems. If it doesn't, glean what information you can from what it does manage to do and Google those results. Some malware is incredibly insidious and more than capable of preventing itself from being uninstalled without some additional effort.

Once you've cleaned out all the malware, set your chosen anti-malware program to run automatically on a weekly basis. If you use Internet Explorer, consider also switching to Chrome or Firefox, which in my experience have better built-in security.
 
He has a hijacking software on it, which most. Malware software will not remove. Check out bleepingcomputer for software and articles to remove this software.
 
Could be a rootkit. Try TDSSKiller from Kaspersky Labs. It has come in handy before. Usually you need to use several tools in succession when something gets in there, because it will leave traces here and there to try to reinfect. I suggest MalwareBytes as well. I have the paid-for version.

Some of the really evil malware is aware of its enemies and will block the installation of many antivirus and anti-malware tools

I would suggest booting into safe mode, running Kaspersky TDSSKiller, then Malwarebytes (full scan - may take quite a while) and perhaps Windows' system file checker - SFC /SCANNOW.
 
You likely have malware.

Backup your data to an external source and restore your machine.

Make a bootable USB if your DVD drive doesn't work.

Scan your backup data for malware before restoring it.

Run a virus/malware scanner and use OpenDNS.

If you want to get fancy, do all your browsing and email in a VM and use snapshots.
 
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