Glitch in Vista? Or virus

[The Zune Guy]

Last night I tried to open control panel in Vista (Home Premium x64). I clicked and the window opened for a split second before vanishing and it has been doing so since then. Also, Windows Media Player has an error message come up when I try to play a DVD saying "There is not enough free memory to complete the task. Please close some applications and try again" or something similar. I have no idea whether the second is new or not, but the first is.
Virus or due to overclocking (MemTest comes up clean, and my e6320 is only @ 3.2GHz (stock cooling))

 

[KSoD]

Well it could be the overclocking. Vista doe not like overclocking at all. Could also be a virus. Checkthe Virus section about 5 forums down and use the Osiris's guide to spyware removal. that will rule that out. But the Control Panel thing i can almost say is spyware.

The rest can be drawn back to either not enough RAM or overheating or the overclocking.

 

[The Zune Guy]

Ok, many thanks, will do that. Also, is there a better on-demandd scanner than McAffee (is that spelt right? ) Stinger, I used it a year or two ago and it did the job

 

[KSoD]

Avast!, AVG and NOD32 are all better than McAffee. McAffee is one of hte worst.

 

[The Zune Guy]

I think the whole problem might be down to my SP1 RC1 install on vista. I think its expired, certainly the text in the bottom corner is gone and its actually not running in Aero (its activated), also, software licensing is activated and Avast comes up clean. I will uninstall the RC version tonight assuming the proper version is available
PS: I use Avast normally, McAfee is bloated like Norton. I meant an on demand i.e. Just an .exe that wouldn't be as easily affected by any running viruses.

 

[KSoD]

Yes RC1 would be expired by now. You should uninstall that and put the final version of SP1 on the PC.

 

[The Zune Guy]

Yes, it was the RC1, only thing is it seems to have deleted the codecs for DVD palyback in Media Player and Media Centre at the same time but I'm assuming I can just download these again

 

[KSoD]

Yes go for any of the following packages:

KLite
Vista Codec Pack
AC3Filter
CCCP

Any or all of those will work wonderfully.

 

[Draygoes]

Or, the media player could be outdated.

The control panel thing is DEFIANTLY spyware. I say this because the spyware in question does not want you to access the security center, or anything else that could be potentialy harmful to it.

A common trick, is in the license agreement in the installer for a program. It can say somthing like "Install our program, and dont worry, you can remove it at anytime from add and remove programs." It will then disable the control panel, thus disableing the users ability to use add and remove programs to get to it. This is fine and dandy for users that know something about computers, but for those that dont, this can make the task of removal nearly impossible to complete. This is just one of the most common tricks in the license agreements of spyware and adaware programs.

To get rid of it, I recommend Spyware Terminator (Free spyware removal and spyware protection - Spyware Terminator) which is free, and very powerful, or bullguard(BullGuard Antivirus, Antispyware, Firewall, Spamfilter, Backup and Support - all the security you need in one package!) which is not free, but comes with a 2 month free trial. All you have to do is give spywareterminator one chance and you will absolutly fall in love with it. At least thats what happened with me.


Good luck,
If you need anymore help, just ask.

 

[veedubfreak]

Subscribing so i can find this for those codec packs when i get home. Btw, i run my q6600 @ 3.6ghz and Vista 64 could care less.