I offered to look at the parent's in law's laptop - it has been suffering with a few issues namely because they really don't know what they are doing on the internet and seem to be widely clicking anything that appears without actually reading it or knowing what harm it will do.

 

Consequently they have NO virus protection despite me wiping Norton and installing Avast for them 12 months ago  , furthermore they seem to have 4 different browers installed (IE, Firefox, Chrome and Torch)

 

They had decided to let someone from Virgin Media "dial in" to their laptop but after messing about with it for an hour and deciding he couldn't properly install "F-Secure", he left it alone

 

 

I started this last night and the first thing I did was put Malwarebytes on it - good move I think as it found c1,200 infections on the first pass and after a reboot another c600 infections. I then attempted to put Microsoft Security Essentials on but struggled to get Windows Firewall & Defender to work - it turned out that these had been disabled within services.msc, possibly by some virus/infection.

 

About 10pm last night I eventually got it working better with MSE protecting it. Malwarebytes is also sitting protecting too. However the one thing I am now struggling to sort is Windows Update. Like Firewall and Defender this was also disabled but regardless of what I do, I can't get it to work, I simply get the error 800070424 and it won't update. Windows Update is enabled within services.msc.

 

I am going to try an aggressive rebuild of the Windows Update from here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058

 

But if that doesn't work it's looks I'll need to do a clean install, which to be honest isn't a bad thing I suppose.

 

BTW machine is a Dell Inspiron running Vista with SP2.

 

 

Any thoughts?

Thought windows XP update had been globally disabled as off 8th April ?
 
Windows XP users face end to Microsoft support
 

I assume as for Windows 2000, newly installed versions of the OS can no longer update

Wipe it, you'll only end up chasing problems for ever and it will never fully recover.

 

 

It's the only way to be sure !!

Thought windows XP update had been globally disabled as off 8th April ?

 

Windows XP users face end to Microsoft support

 

I assume as for Windows 2000, newly installed versions of the OS can no longer update

 

There will be no new updates for XP but you should be able to get all of the previous updates for quite a while yet.

 

But yes for a properly manky machine nothing beats a nuke and rebuild.

It's running Vista not XP - is support for that also stopped?

No thats stil going 

Wipe it, you'll only end up chasing problems for ever and it will never fully recover.

 

 

It's the only way to be sure !!

 

 

There will be no new updates for XP but you should be able to get all of the previous updates for quite a while yet.

 

But yes for a properly manky machine nothing beats a nuke and rebuild.

 

Am thinking that a rebuild is probably the way to go.

If the system is that badly affected, a reinstall is probably the only answer.

 

Have to say that, if they are not very computer literate, make sure they do not have Administrator access. This will stop them from knackering the system too badly.

 

What I do with my parents computer is restrict their access but have an login for me with full admin access. I also use Teamviewer so that if any problems do arise, I can work remotely under my own login to solve the problems.

It's running Vista not XP - is support for that also stopped?

sorry eyes going squiffy

vistas uac should (in theory -haha ) have made it harder to turn off stuff like updates

 

What I do with my parents computer is restrict their access but have an login for me with full admin access. I also use Teamviewer so that if any problems do arise, I can work remotely under my own login to solve the problems.

 

Last time I tried that they got really arsey

 

"its our computer, we can do what we like"

 

Then go on about whether they've used the correct password type - then happilly download some kind of 'nigerian banking client' when some random website asks them too

 

parents + computers = 

 

 

I gave my old man a good old fashioned swearing after the 3rd of 4th time he did that. He's not done it since.

I gave my old man a good old fashioned swearing after the 3rd of 4th time he did that. He's not done it since.

Likewise.

 

They were told in no uncertain terms that if they wanted "IT support" ie me, they had to do what I told them or it gets left and they have to pay to sort out their own mistakes!

"Update" needs a particular piece of software installed to work - occasionally M$ change (update this), but it is a prime target for some viri to damage this file so it wont work, but still appears intact. If you go to the manual updates download site you might be able to locate this and get the thing working, but - as mentioned, it is probably a better idea to low level format and start afresh.

 

Dont forget to back up any valuable data they have, make note of (and change) any passwords, and download and store off system - any system drivers and software packages you will need.

 

Perhaps it would be a good time to upgrade to Win7 as well, the lappy will probably move like a greased weasel after the burden of Vista has been lifted.

If Automatic Updates is enabled and running, then it is probably BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service) that is disabled.

If Automatic Updates is enabled and running, then it is probably BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service) that is disabled.

 

That's what I thought but have been through and enabled/disabled/re-enabled BITS and Windows Update but to no avail.

 

Started with recovery from partition last night - that failed halfway through and crashed. Wouldn't reboot - BOOTMGR was missing.

 

Will need to create new ISO onto a USB stick as they have no installation CD/DVD.

Sounds like a Rootkit if it's borked the recovery partition.

download McAfee Stinger from http://www.mcafee.com/uk/downloads/free-tools/stinger.aspx - it's free.

There's also roguekiller/ Adwcleaner and a Malware program which shows up as Mbar, which is the Malwarebytes Anti rootkit. The various browsers- don't blame the parents. They've in all innocence decided to download some program and not noticed the ticked box that says they want chrome etc installed. I've had it where I download some program I want and go to program & features (W7) to find programs I never wanted, running. One of the Adobe updates is prone to this- it installs some version of Norton unless you tick a box, and IMHO Norton =sudden attacks of speed decrease .

Edited 11 April, 201412 yr by VWD

and IMHO Norton =sudden attacks of speed decrease .

I historically had experience of this and avoided it like the plague, but have been running 360 for 2 years now and found it didnt slow down even a poverty spec XP laptop that much.

Sounds like a Rootkit if it's borked the recovery partition.

 

Lord knows - anyhow it's now re-built and running much better.

 

Have setup myself as Admin and then an account for them, hopefully this will help in the future.

Lord knows - anyhow it's now re-built and running much better.

 

Have setup myself as Admin and then an account for them, hopefully this will help in the future.

It should as it will minimise the amount of damage they can do as their (and any programmes they are running) access to the system is pretty restrictive.

It should as it will minimise the amount of damage they can do as their (and any programmes they are running) access to the system is pretty restrictive.

 

That's the plan. I was going to put Teamviewer on like you suggested but thinking about it, it would then give them an excuse to keep contacting me! We'll see how it goes.

There's also roguekiller/ Adwcleaner and a Malware program which shows up as Mbar, which is the Malwarebytes Anti rootkit. The various browsers- don't blame the parents. They've in all innocence decided to download some program and not noticed the ticked box that says they want chrome etc installed. I've had it where I download some program I want and go to program & features (W7) to find programs I never wanted, running. One of the Adobe updates is prone to this- it installs some version of Norton unless you tick a box, and IMHO Norton =sudden attacks of speed decrease .

 

 

Adobe installs Macaffe, not Norton, but yeah, I get the point.

 

BTW Mbar is only a beta right now; it seems to work, but who knows if it will detect a rootkit if one exists.

That's the plan. I was going to put Teamviewer on like you suggested but thinking about it, it would then give them an excuse to keep contacting me! We'll see how it goes.

The good thing about Teamviewer is that if you have a smartphone or tablet, you can still work on their system.

 

Not the first time I have been sitting watching tv or eating my dinner while sorting an issue out on teamviewer.

 

I have to say though that occasionally I do let them stew for a while before sorting their issue just to let them know I have other things that need done as well.

Well they've had it back now for over a week and no phone calls or issues!

 

Looking good.

Well they've had it back now for over a week and no phone calls or issues!

 

Looking good.

Here's hoping!