PC was crashed in a AOL chat room!!!

[thorboy762]

My pc: HP Pavillion 6635/64RAM/10 ROM/566 MHZ
Windows 98/IE6/Zone Alarm/Black Ice/
My system was crashed twice by a couple of characters in an AOL chatroom....since then..my system hasnt been the same ..will not defrag unless in safe mode...number of error messages unlike before...icons in the lower rite(beside the time) disappear upon reloading after the error message...systems resources does sink down to about 8% at times or averages more like 25-30% at times..even after closing a number of files!
What can I do to diagnose whether any damage has been done internally or something has been downloaded via aport to take up my resources or make my pc act this way. I ahve AOL6 also..

[zipulrich]

You don't mention running an anti-virus program, but I hope you do. Crank it up and have it run a system check on all files. (Meanwhile, go have a coffee and ponder why you have 2 firewalls on that PC. Then, reconsider that AOL business.)
When it's done, post back with any probs it found. We can go on from there

[MishY]

Hey,

Firstly I agree with Zip. I strongly urge you to do a thorough anti-virus scan.

Secondly, if I were u I would ditch BlackICE. I have always found Zone Alarm to be a much better firewall.

Thirdly, could you please do the following :

Click Start / Run and type in MSCONFIG and hit enter.

Then click on the startup tab.

Make a note of everything you see there and then post what you have here so we can see what's going on.

Thanks

MishY

[thorboy762]

Replying to zipulrich and MishY response to my posting. Thanks to both of them very much and am appreciative for it. I have both Zone and Black just for evaluation. purposes.....and....Yes...I am a novice..LOL
MishY made a request I list my msconfig files and here they be:
Money Agent
C:\ProgramFiles|MicrosoftMoney.exe
-TaskbarDisplayControls-RunDLLdeskcp16.dll,QUICKRES_RUNDLLENTRY
-MSMSGS
C:\ProgramFiles|Messenger|msmsgs.exe/background
-ScanRegistry
c:\windows\scanregw.exe/autorun
-TaskMonitor
c:\windows\taskmon.exe
-SystemTray
SysTray.exe
-LoadPowerProfile
Rundll32.exepowrprof.dll,LoadPwrScheme
-KeyBoardManager
C:\ProgramFiles\Netropa\OneTouchMultimediaKeyboard \MMKeybd.exe
-HPScanPatch
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\HPScanFix.exe
-hpsysdrv
c:\windows\system\hpsystemdrv.exe
-USBMMKBD
usbmmkbd.exe
-VsecomrEXE
C:\ProgramFiles\NetworkAssociates\McAfeeVirusScan\ VSEcomR.exe
-VstatEXE
C:\ProgramFiles\NetworkAssociates\McAfeeVirusScan\ VSSTAT.EXE/SHOWWARNING
-VetAlert
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\VetMsg9x.exe
-VetTray
C:\PROGRA~1\INOCUL~1\VETTRAY.EXE
-Gator
"C:\ProgramFiles\Gator.com\Gator\Gator.exe"
-bpcpost.exe
c:\windows\SYSTEM\bpcpost.exe
-LoadPowerProfile
Rundll32.exepowerprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
-SchedulingAgent
mstask.exe
-Encompass_ENCMONTR
C:\ProgramFiles|EasyInternetENCMONTR.EXE
-Hidsev
Hidsev.exerun
-TVWakeup
C:\Progra~1\TVVIEW~1\tvwakeup.exe
-VidSur
-Announcements C:\ProgramFiles\TVViewer\annclist.exe
-TrueVector
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ZONELABS\VSMON.EXE-services
-Minilogs
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ZONELABS\MINIWG.EXE-service
-LoadBlackD
C:\ProgramFiles|NetworkICE\BlackICE\blackd.exe
-ZoneAlarmC:\PROGRA~1\ZONEAL~1\ZONEAL~1\ZONEAL~1.EX E
-HPInternetCenter
C:\HPINTE~1\SURFBO~1\SURFBRD.EXE
-CalReminderShortcut
C:\ProgramFiles\CommonFilesMicrosoftShared\WorksSh ared\wkcalrem.exe
-UpdatesFromHP
C:\PROGRA~1\BACKWEB\BACKWEB\PROGRAM\BACKWEB.EXE
-AOLCANADATray
C:\AOLCAN~2.0\AOLTRAY.EXE
-NetZero
C:\PROGRA~1\NETZERO\NZSTART.EXE
-InternetAnsweringMachine
C:\PROGRA~1\CALLWAVE\IAMSETUP.EXE
-nukenabber
C:\PROGRA~1\NUKENA~1\NUKENA~1.EXE
-BlackIceUltility
C:\ProgramFiles\NetworkICE\BlackICE\blackice.exe
-NEOPLANET
C:\PROGRA~1\NEOPLA~1\BIN\NEO.EXE
-run=
hpfsched
I do plan to eleminate some of these files from start up but want to see what there is in en masse. My systems resources obviously is very low...8% once because of all these files I understand.
What is a good antivirus program?..McAfee I find is inadequate and also..where can i get a good online diagnostic analysis on my pc done?
And I await for your response..once again Thanks!!!!

[MishY]

Hey,

A good AV program which I use myself and is free incidentally is InoculateIT

and a good online PC diagnostic tool is PCPitstop

You would free a lot of your system resources by disabling some of those programs from loading at startup.

Lynns below list is a little more comprehensive than the one I had typed out

I would also seriously uninstall one of the 2 firewalls.

Personally I would uninstall BlackICE because from my own personal experience ZoneAlarm is excellent.

MishY

[ 02 April 2001: Message edited by: MishY ]

[lynnm]

Hello Dere

Took a look at your MsConfig results --- I'm thinking that you've got WAAAAAYYYYY too much running at startup.

Run MsConfig and disable everything except:

Systray
Regsave
Explorer.exe
Reg Save

Everything that runs at startup consumes system resources.

I suspect that whatever you were doing in that AOL chatroom,while not necessarily dangerous in and of itself was the straw that broke Windows back.

[smurfy]

From what I can see you have a couple of conflicts -
1) as mentioned previously - 2 firewalls
2) McAfee and InocculateIT a/vs

One of each is essential, two of each running at the same time is asking for trouble.
By all means have them both installed, but only enable one of each of them.

Most of what you have starting up only needs to be running when you are online.
If you do not have a permanent internet connection, get rid of them from your startup and then download something like netlaunch from http://www.blackcastlesoft.com which will start up your internet specific apps immediately prior to connecting to the interent (or at set time intervals after connecting).

Some of what you will disable will mean some things no longer work on your PC - the multimedia buttons on your keyboard for example. In which case you should selectively re-enable some items. Check your system resources immediately on boot up after enabling/disabling items so you can make informed trade-offs of performance vs convenience.

Other than that, may I just say without meaning to offend you, congratulations on having the most junk loading on startup that I have ever seen and it's no wonder your PC had a hernia. I bet even at 566 it performed worse than my P180!

[Steven.Bentley]

As an AOL member myself I spend quite a bit (read that as too much ) time in the AOL UK chat rooms, I've not heard of someone in a room being able to wreck your machine without you doing something suicidal like downloadin a file from someone you don't know.

If you have the screen names of these "characters" report them at Keyword: Notify

[thorboy762]

HI!! I want to take this time to thank everyone who respomded to my concern...you were all fantastic!! I really do appreciate the aid...suggestions..from all!!
I have removed some programs and wikll continue to do so...there is a remarkable improvementin the performance...pcpitstop was a great idea...incedibly helpful!..as well as this ite...I will be logging on here regularly!
A comment in regards to Steven Bentley response to my posting...when my sytem was crashed by those individuals...I did not download or open up an attachement to an email before my crashes. In reporting to AOL the incident, they admit that there are individuals online who have programs purchased online that have the ability to do such as I have described. Not a comforting thought but taking into account whats been happening in the news regarding hackers/crackers..hardly surpring.


In sumation...to MishY, zipulrich, lynnm, smurfy, Steven.Bentley... a great big THANK YOU!!!!

[Kento]

usbmmkbd.exe looks suspiciously like the subseven trojan but it might not be. Have you run an updated virus scan? Does anyone know if this could be for a USB keyboard? Do you even have a USB keyboard? Click start--find--files and search for usbmmkbd.exe. When you find it right click on it and select the version tab. Is there any info there such as a company name you recognize?

By the way, in msconfig leave Scan Registry checked. This is what automatically backs up your registry at startup if you didn't already know.

[ 08 April 2001: Message edited by: Kento ]

[HKEd]

Usbmmkbd.exe is OK - I've seen it discussed on a HP forum.

The advice I would give is get rid of Gator, or at least take it out of startup. It's a notorious piece of spyware that also causes slowdowns and crashes.

But, it seems many people actually like Gator and are willing to put up with its dark side. Your choice.

[Idnew]

I detest Gator. I had so much trouble with it that I got rid of it. You may also want to go here GRC and run Shields Up to check your system for any open ports. If your using ZA you shouldn't have any.

[PhiloVance]

Another good place to check your ports, etc. is The Hack Smacker