Nearly Impossible To Describe, But I'll Try

Norwood · 02 Dec 2010

This morning, while attempting to move some files around my Windows 7 64bit laptop began telling me that I didn't have permission to do so, as I needed permission from the "TrustedInstaller". I googled this issue and resolved it by configuring permissions.

Feeling a little suspicious I decided to run Malwarebytes. As I attempted to install it, when asked what language I wanted - the program defaults to "Bosanski". Being that I work in IT and have cleaned hundreds of machines I installed it anyway and was able to blindly walk my way through it and run a scan. It came back clean.

I then went to "Region and Language" in the Control Panel and once I got in there, all the values started scrolling around madly until it settled on "Afrikaans (South Africa).

I then went to download Speccy, as to give you a screenshot of my system specs and the installer did the same thing. It chose the "Portuguese" language. I then tried to download some other programs and they all did the same thing.

Another bug that is happening is that when I attempt to move any files, Windows will not allow me to scroll down...it locks onto "My Documents" and then if I scroll down and choose a different directory...it immediately scrolls back up to My Documents.

I'm at my wits end with this, as googling as brought me nothing. One thread came close to what I was describing but it had no resolution. And most of the things from his log appear identical to mine. I've sent him a PM to see if he came to a resolution but haven't yet received a response.

Has anyone seen this behavior before? I wonder if it had anything to do with the "TrustedInstaller" problem earlier, yet I applied fixes according to MS kb articles.

mborner · 02 Dec 2010

Trustedinstaller *belongs* to the operating system and should not be moved or modified in any way. Also, keep in mind, just because you scanned with MBAM and came up clean, doesn't mean that your system, is in fact, clean. It sure sounds like malware, or some kind of virus, to me. If you have an installed AV, run a full system scan. Perhaps you could try restoring to a point before you had issues. I don't believe Trustedinstaller would have anything to do with the language issues that you are experiencing.

Norwood · 02 Dec 2010

Also, I don't have an AVp installed. Which was why I was trying to install MBAM...which refused to install in English.

NO program will install in English. Spybot, AVG, Norton etc...they all go nutty on the language. And I still can't scroll.

What I mean by that is...

Open "Computer"...the list of Libraries, Networks, Favorites and other things are listed along the left hand side. If I select one, and attempt to scroll down...it's like there's a magnet at the top of the list that doesn't allow me to scroll down.

So, the restore finished...but these problems are still here...and they only started this morning (of course a virus could be installed and not set to detonate until a later date, so I could have picked a point that was after the virus made it's way onto the box).

I think I'll get home and do a fresh install, unfortunately.

DeaconFrost · 02 Dec 2010

If you started mucking with permissions, you could spend a LONG time trying to resolve them...far less than just doing a clean install. It is possible the MBAM installer was corrupted, as well.

kword88 · 02 Dec 2010

try running SFC. maybe some system files are corrupt or have been changed.

also, click start and type: region and language and select it from the search results.
are all those settings correct?

it sure sounds like virus behavior, though..

geeve420 · 02 Dec 2010

Sounds like a virus to me. One thing I do when fixing a computer is pull the hard drive and take it to a working computer with an antivirus and malwarebytes installed. I then hook it up as an external drive and scan it (both Antivir and malware bytes have a right click option to scan just certain things). If you have the tools (SATA hot swap or IDE to usb) this will clean them out with out any of the nasties being able to hide in running processes. Just a thought if you have the means :)