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Solve : Six pointed star in task bar Freezes computer?

Answer»

It began yesterday, I was doing my thing on my computer and all the sudden my computer seemed to freeze and i noticed that a 6-point white star had appeared down in my Task bar by the clock. I put the mouse over it to see if i could see what it was but it wouldn't show anything, nor would it show anything else. its like the whole bar had frozen, i could not click on the start menu or any icons on my desktop. I Ctrl,Alt,Del and opened task manager and it instantly froze it up. The weird thing was i could still surf the web, it would;d let me use firefox if it was already open.
If i ctrl-alt-del and choose to switch users then signed back on to the same account it would unfreeze everything for about 10-15 sec to let me open or close things then it would repeat the freezing process. But a 2ND star would appear and so on 3rd 4Th or 5Th. I ran my anti virus program (avg pro) and it found a Trojan along with a few cookies. It fixed them but the problem still persisted. So i resorted to perform a "go-back" to 2 days before. it ran its thing and went back 2 days but the star still showed up. I can start in in safe mode and it will work fine, i left eh computer off all day and just booted it and the star did not show up. This is fine with me, but i want to know what the heck it was and how to make it never happen again.

System OS is Vista ultimate 64-bit.

Any help would be great.Is everything fine in Safe Mode?

If it does, go back to Normal Mode (Restart the computer) and do this:
Download HijackThis:
http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/tools/security_tools/hijackthis/download
Install it, Run it, and post a HijackThis Log.Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 7:47:37 AM, on 11/4/2008
Platform: Windows Vista SP1 (WinNT 6.00.1905)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v7.00 (7.00.6001.18000)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSN Messenger\msnmsgr.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe
C:\Users\Ash & Amanda\Program Files (x86)\DNA\btdna.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Reader 8.0\Reader\reader_sl.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\PowerISO\PWRISOVM.EXE
C:\Program Files (x86)\AVG\AVG8\avgtray.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\PremierOpinion\pmropn.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Trend Micro\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe
c:\program files (x86)\premieropinion\pmropn.exe
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\netsh.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =
F2 - REG:system.ini: UserInit=userinit.exe
O1 - Hosts: ::1 localhost
O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: WormRadar.com IESiteBlocker.NavFilter - {3CA2F312-6F6E-4B53-A66E-4E65E497C8C0} - C:\Program Files (x86)\AVG\AVG8\avgssie.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {7E853D72-626A-48EC-A868-BA8D5E23E045} - (no file)
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe Reader Speed Launcher] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Reader 8.0\Reader\Reader_sl.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTTask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [PWRISOVM.EXE] "C:\Program Files (x86)\PowerISO\PWRISOVM.EXE"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVG8_TRAY] C:\PROGRA~2\AVG\AVG8\avgtray.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Sidebar] C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe /autoRun
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [MsnMsgr] "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSN Messenger\MsnMsgr.Exe" /background
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Steam] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steam.exe" -silent
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [BitTorrent DNA] "C:\Users\Ash & Amanda\Program Files (x86)\DNA\btdna.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ehTray.exe] C:\Windows\ehome\ehTray.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [WMPNSCFG] C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\WMPNSCFG.exe
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /detectMem (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [WindowsWelcomeCenter] rundll32.exe oobefldr.dll,ShowWelcomeCenter (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /detectMem (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - Startup: Adobe Media Player.lnk = C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe Media Player\Adobe Media Player.exe
O10 - Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\windows\system32\nvlsp.dll
O10 - Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\windows\system32\nvlsp.dll
O10 - Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\windows\system32\nvlsp.dll
O10 - Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\windows\system32\nvlsp.dll
O13 - Gopher Prefix:
O16 - DPF: {48DD0448-9209-4F81-9F6D-D83562940134} (MySpace Uploader Control) - http://lads.myspace.com/upload/MySpaceUploader1006.cab
O16 - DPF: {5D6F45B3-9043-443D-A792-115447494D24} (UnoCtrl Class) - http://messenger.zone.msn.com/EN-US/a-UNO1/GAME_UNO1.cab
O16 - DPF: {C3F79A2B-B9B4-4A66-B012-3EE46475B072} (MessengerStatsClient Class) - http://messenger.zone.msn.com/binary/MessengerStatsPAClient.cab56907.cab
O16 - DPF: {F8C5C0F1-D884-43EB-A5A0-9E1C4A102FA8} (GoPetsWeb Control) - https://secure.gopetslive.com/dev/GoPetsWeb.cab
O18 - Protocol: linkscanner - {F274614C-63F8-47D5-A4D1-FBDDE494F8D1} - C:\Program Files (x86)\AVG\AVG8\avgpp.dll
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Alg.exe,-112 (ALG) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\alg.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: ASP.NET State Service (aspnet_state) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_state.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: AVG8 E-mail Scanner (avg8emc) - AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~2\AVG\AVG8\avgemc.exe
O23 - Service: AVG8 WatchDog (avg8wd) - AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~2\AVG\AVG8\avgwdsvc.exe
O23 - Service: @dfsrres.dll,-101 (DFSR) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\DFSR.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\fxsresm.dll,-118 (Fax) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\fxssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: ForceWare Intelligent Application Manager (IAM) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NetworkAccessManager\bin32\nSvcAppFlt.exe
O23 - Service: @keyiso.dll,-100 (KeyIso) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @comres.dll,-2797 (MSDTC) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\msdtc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\System32\netlogon.dll,-102 (Netlogon) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: ForceWare IP service (nSvcIp) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NetworkAccessManager\bin32\nSvcIp.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (nvsvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\nvvsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: PnkBstrA - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\PnkBstrA.exe
O23 - Service: PremierOpinion - PremierOpinion - C:\Program Files (x86)\PremierOpinion\pmservice.exe
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\psbase.dll,-300 (ProtectedStorage) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\Locator.exe,-2 (RpcLocator) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\locator.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\samsrv.dll,-1 (SamSs) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\SLsvc.exe,-101 (slsvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\SLsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\snmptrap.exe,-3 (SNMPTRAP) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\snmptrap.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\spoolsv.exe,-1 (Spooler) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Steam Client Service - Valve Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Steam\SteamService.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\ui0detect.exe,-101 (UI0Detect) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\UI0Detect.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vds.exe,-100 (vds) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\vds.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\vssvc.exe,-102 (VSS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\vssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\wbengine.exe,-104 (wbengine) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbengine.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%Systemroot%\system32\wbem\wmiapsrv.exe,-110 (wmiApSrv) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbem\WmiApSrv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%ProgramFiles%\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe,-101 (WMPNetworkSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe (file missing)

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End of file - 7755 bytesOkay, this is what i noticed. c:\program files (x86)\premieropinion\pmropn.exe Appeares twice. There was also 2 of those 6-point start in my task bar when i ran it. so i signed off and signed back on Ran HJT and it wasnt there. A few sec later the star showed back up i ran it again and c:\program files (x86)\premieropinion\pmropn.exe was there. I THINK it may have something to do with that, But why? and what is C:\Windows\SysWOW64\netsh.exe?Download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (MBAM)

  • Double-click mbam-setup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
  • At the end, be sure a checkmark is placed next to the following:
    • Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
    • Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
    • Then click Finish.
    • If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.
    • Once the program has loaded, select Perform quick scan, then click Scan.
    • When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results.
    • Be sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
    • When disinfection is completed, a log will open in Notepad and you may be prompted to Restart.(See Extra Note)
    • The log is automatically saved by MBAM and can be viewed by clicking the Logs tab in MBAM.
    • Copy and Paste the entire report in your next reply.
    Extra Note: If MBAM ENCOUNTERS a file that is difficult to remove, you will be presented with 1 of 2 prompts, click OK to either and let MBAM PROCEED with the disinfection process, if asked to restart the computer, please do so immediately.

    ----------

    Download random's system information tool (RSIT) by random/random from and save it to your Desktop.

    • Double click on RSIT.exe to run.
    • Click CONTINUE at the disclaimer screen.
    • Once it has finished, two logs will open.
    • log.txt <will be maximized and info.txt <will be minimized
    • Please post the contents of both logs in the next reply.


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