Windows Launcher? 1

[Noway2]

All,

My mother is having some strange issues with her computer that seem to be affecting the email and internet access. It is asking for passwords that it doesn't normally ask for, doesn't perform actions when it should, and crashes and shuts down unexpectedly. Her problem description, which I included below, mentions a "Windows Launcher" which I have never heard of and doesn't appear to be a valid application based on name searching I have done.

I am thinking of having her run HijackThis and having the log analyzed by one of the sites recommended in another thread, but I also wanted to post here to see if anyone has any specific suggestions or ideas in light of the description.

Description is as follows:
Yesterday as you know I couldn't send email in the AM.
Every time I tried to send it I was asked for a pass word. Finally found the pass word that was used when this thing was originally set up and put that in. Of course it wouldn't be accepted. Got mad cause the attempts made we a little late getting ready for work so I shut it down and got on my way. When I came home yesterday I managed to forward the email to you. Then the puter really went crazy and shut down three times by itself under the pretense of saving itself. OK. So finally I inserted the recovery disc and it booted up again. Most things seemed to work with the exception of something called the windows launcher.

That had been malfunctioning off and on for the past several weeks but it didn't seem to bother me so I ignored it. Then when I shut the puter down for the night it wouldn't shut off so I had to do it manually. This morning I turned it on and it again said the launcher wasn't working and it had locked up. So I again put the recovery disc in and it tried to resolve the problem. At the end of the recovery it said that it had been taken back to 9/28/09 status. Don't know if that is good or not since the launcher didn't work before that period of time.
Ran a virus scan and nothing showed up. So now I'm again trying to write and send you an email with the hope it will work.

 

[kjv1611]

And this process is for Windows Defender as well:

msmpeng.exe

There may be others, but I don't remember.

You can try Googling for any others.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[manhunter2826]

^^Thanks kjv1611. Sorry, task tray (not status bar) is what I meant to say. Yes indeed, had a quick look and MSASCui.exe is running. Thanks for your help. Another piece of software to my anti-virus/anti-malware armory.

 

[kjv1611]

I'm not a Mac fan by any means, but I just thought of possibly a catchy new slogan for them...

It's based on the idea that we need so many different apps to keep up with security on PCs these days...

Get a Mac, Never Get Hacked

I am NOT implying that is a true statement, but how much marketing is, anyway?

[ROFL]

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[goombawaho]

I don't endorse running Spybot Tea Timer (or Spybot in general) or Windows Defender really. Just an antivirus program and a periodic MBAM scan. Should keep you clean unless you're really prowling around to "interesting" places on the internet and downloading/installing everything you can get your hands on.

It's behavior as much as protection in a lot of cases. But I guess everyone wants to be protected against their bad behavior.

 

[Noway2]

Just to provide closure on this thread, it looks like the problem was dirty contacts on a memory module. The repair center cleaned the contacts, reseated the memory, and continued to run tests on the unit, which it now passed with out problems. Hmm, haven't I seen something like this in another foum on this site?

I would also like to extend a thank you to everyone for their help and comments.

 

[kjv1611]

That's interesting to note: dirty contacts. I mean, I've seen some down-right dingy computer cases, and motherboards (including memory connections) that you'd THINK might cause an issue, but then they didn't have any issues as such. So it's at least good to know there are times when it CAN cause the issue(s). Thanks for the follow-up.

Should keep you clean unless you're really prowling around to "interesting" places on the internet and downloading/installing everything you can get your hands on.

The "should" is why I recommend the extra protection of something like Windows Defender and at least SpywareBlaster. Anything that will provide extra protection without slowing your system down is a good thing. Because the SHOULD doesn't cover everything, unfortunately. Just a couple of years ago, I might have agreed.

But I've seen too many cases, particularly in the past year or two, where people did NOT go to any sites such as:
[ul][li]"adult" content[/li]
[li]gambling[/li]
[li]flash games[/li]
[li]file sharing, etc[/li][/ul]

And yet they get hit with some nasty malware/virus.

Just yesterday, someone dropped off their computer with me, b/c they got a doozy of a virus this past weekend.

Here's all they look at:
Some News site(s) - nothing they gotta search for, only the couple they already know about, and have been looking at for as long as they've had a computer.

Online Banking

Checking email.

That's it. Absolutely nothing else.

So, the should just isn't good enough, in my opinion, any longer. Maybe one day that'll change. I doubt it, but maybe.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[BadBigBen]

A bit dated, but give you the gist as to what could happen, by just being connected!

Study: Unpatched PCs compromised in 20 minutes

http://news.cnet.com/2100-7349_3-5313402.html

Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[kjv1611]

Yeah, the latest of what I heard was more like 5 minutes or some shorter time than 20. I forget the specifics. That was from the head of data security for where I work. From what I understand, he is purty smart, too.

--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[kjv1611]

http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=4721

If this link is correct, then it's now down to 4 minutes, as of a year ago.



--

"If to err is human, then I must be some kind of human!" -Me

 

[Noway2]

In my last job, I had an R&D lab that was separated from the rest of the corporate system. I had Time Warner's road runner (cable modem) for internet access. Most of the time, I ran a zone-alarm type software firewall on the PC, but for some development tool applications, I had to disable it. Once this was disabled, unless I unplugged the network connection, within minutes the the VIRUS scanner would start alerting me of malware (active viruses, worms, and trojans) being detected on the system. I was NOT using a web browser or actively using the internet connection. This was strictly incoming stuff being pushed onto the system remotely. Once I reported the problem to the IT dept, I was quickly given a firewall router, which took care of the problem.

My biggest take away question from this is, why would anyone (read Microsoft) in their right mind make the default to have any ports open and accept connections on those ports?