Windows 7: Another Windows 7 suddenly not genuine issue

I suspect that there's something inhibiting the SPPSVC at times - do you have any game-optimising software installed? This type of thing has a nasty habit of blocking such services in the mistaken belief that it frees clock-cycles for the came.
The other likely cause is malware (or even your AV!)

<thinking aloud>
In the 10,000 or so MGADiag reports I've analysed in the past couple of years, I don't recall ever seeing this particular error message before
C:\Windows\system32\slmgr.vbs(1333, 5) (null): The service has not been started.

The 80070426 error is a relatively common one, but usually present in the MGADiag report - and indicates that a service couldn't start within the timeout (usually the SPPSVC).
Since your SPPSVC seems to have no problem starting manually, there should be no problem running normally unless there's interference.

As the problem only shows in the SLMGR.VBS area, it is more likely to be something associated with the scripting at that point - unfortunately my scripting skills are best described as non-existent.
</thinking aloud>

Did you run the script commands in my earlier post? (SLMGR.VBS.... etc?) what happened?

I'll do some research - but I'm occupied most of tomorrow, so it'll probably be Friday before I can get back to you.

What you see in the System properties page is the Product ID - not the Product Key.

Windows Product Key: *****-*****-3CWJQ-MRVTW-DCPPQ
Windows Product ID: 00359-OEM-8802172-70121

Searching Google for the error, I see that I have actually seen it a couple of time before - but the outcome in both instances was not a happy one.
In general, it seems that if a System Restore doesn't fix the problem, then a repair install (at least) has been required.

I'd like to change that - do you feel up to what could be a long and grinding thread, attempting to isolate the problem and fix it?

As you requested, I did download Rkill and got the following results: I admit I have no clue what I'm looking at After I ran Rkill, I proceeded to run Malwarebytes, which found nothing (it's log is listed below as well)

Rkill 2.3.1 by Lawrence Abrams (Grinler)
Bleeping Computer - Computer Help and Discussion
Copyright 2008-2012 BleepingComputer.com
More Information about Rkill can be found at this link:
RKill - What it does and What it Doesn't - A brief introduction to the program

Program started at: 08/22/2012 05:50:18 PM in x64 mode.
Windows Version: Windows 7 Service Pack 1

Checking for Windows services to stop.

* No malware services found to stop.

Checking for processes to terminate.

* No malware processes found to kill.

Checking Registry for malware related settings.

* Explorer Policy Removed: NoActiveDesktopChanges [HKLM]

Backup Registry file created at:
C:\Users\Bridget\Desktop\rkill\rkill-08-22-2012-05-50-31.reg

Resetting .EXE, .COM, & .BAT associations in the Windows Registry.

Performing miscellaneous checks.

* Windows Defender Disabled

[HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Defender]
"DisableAntiSpyware" = dword:00000001

Checking Windows Service Integrity:

* Plug and Play (PlugPlay) is not Running.
Startup Type set to: Automatic

* Plug and Play (RpcSs) is not Running.
Startup Type set to: Automatic

* Windows Defender (WinDefend) is not Running.
Startup Type set to: Manual

* AppMgmt [Missing Service]
* CscService [Missing Service]
* PeerDistSvc [Missing Service]
* UmRdpService [Missing Service]

* PlugPlay [Missing ServiceDLL Value]

Searching for Missing Digital Signatures:

* No issues found.

Program finished at: 08/22/2012 05:50:40 PM
Execution time: 0 hours(s), 0 minute(s), and 21 seconds(s)



Malwarebyte log:

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (Trial) 1.62.0.1300
Malwarebytes : Free anti-malware download

Database version: v2012.08.21.13

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 x64 NTFS
Internet Explorer 9.0.8112.16421
Bridget :: GAMING-PC [administrator]

Protection: Enabled

8/22/2012 5:51:03 PM
mbam-log-2012-08-22 (17-51-03).txt

Scan type: Full scan (C:\|)
Scan options enabled: Memory | Startup | Registry | File System | Heuristics/Extra | Heuristics/Shuriken | PUP | PUM
Scan options disabled: P2P
Objects scanned: 322650
Time elapsed: 33 minute(s), 3 second(s)

Memory Processes Detected: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Memory Modules Detected: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Registry Keys Detected: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Registry Values Detected: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Registry Data Items Detected: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Folders Detected: 0
(No malicious items detected)

Files Detected: 0
(No malicious items detected)

(end)

*sighs* It figures that my machine of course would have the one problem that isn't easy to fix

And thanks for clearing up the issue over the product keys--goes to show I really know very little about trouble shooting computers!

I'm willing to try a few more things before finally going back and doing a complete re-install. It was a headache and hours just to get this thing to work for me--I hate the idea of having to go through it again!

Oh, and in answer to your first post: I don't use this machine much myself--my roommate uses it. It's my computer, but she uses this one and I use the old one because she's the gamer, not me. As far as I know, the only games she plays on it are Lord of the Rings Online, Sims 3, and various little games from Big Fish. If she had downloaded any kind of accelerator, I don't know, and she probably wouldn't know what I was talking about if I asked her.

I just ran rkill and malwarebytes to ensure I don't have Malware, or at least as sure as I can be.

One thing I can say is that about 3 weeks ago, I had problems with McAfee after the software attempted to update. After searching McAfee's forums, I found it was a common McAfee problem (though now I can't quite remember now what the problem was--I think it had something to do with the real time advisor, I think). In any case, I had to completely remove McAfee and re-install it--twice. It seems to be working fine now.

One final note: this computer does give us the blue screen once in a while, and I have had the occasional issue with loading software or drivers. I've always chalked it up to it being Windows 7 64 bit. And it does tend to freeze once in a while-though sometimes those freeze moments I suspect would be fine if my roommate would leave it alone. I've caught her doing a hard restart--i.e. turning it off by the power button--a few times, and I know she does it when I'm not around to catch her. I've told her and told her not to do that, but she keeps insisting that it froze, or gave her the blue screen and she had no choice......


I really wish I could just put XP on this machine *sigh* My older PC has XP and I don't have problems with it!

Funny you should mention McAfee
The two worst enemies of Windows in my opinion are Norton and McAfee software. They are both incredibly bloated, and attempt to take total control of the machine for themselves, rather than for the user - and are installed in a vast number of computers.

I really would suggest that you uninstall McAfee and run the MCPR tool (again?) - then install something less intrusive.

For 99% of people the Windows firewall is more than sufficient, and the free MSE Anti-Virus is perfectly good enough. The other 1% should be running inside virtual machines anyhow. The extra bundled software that comes with Norton and McAfee borders on being malware itself, IMHO.

It may be that your problems with McAfee are what began this problem, so it's even more likely that a proper removal will at least assist in finding the source of the problem - McAfee does make significant changes to the registry, which the uninstaller is supposedly designed to undo.

I can do that--which thread was the MCPR tool?

A friend did suggest Avast, but I had kept McAfee because it had already been paid for the year and because it was on my other PC as well, and I had a nightmare trying to network two machines with different AV in the past.

Thanks!

The MCPR tool....


Download the McAfee removal tool from:

http://download.mcafee.com/products/licensed/cust_support_patches/MCPR.exe


Click Save, and save the file to a folder on your computer.
Navigate to the folder where you saved the file.
right-click on MCPR.exe and select 'Run as Administrator' to run the removal tool.

when complete, reboot immediately, whether asked to or not!

Has any other AV EVER been installed on this machine? If so, then you need to run the removal tool for that as well.

[interject facts]Norton does not have any bundled software, just a light weight and efficient security suite. In the past 3-4 years it has become very light on resources, lower than MSE, which I have also tried, plus it will catch more "bad stuff". McAfee and AVG are buggy though.[/interject facts]

Norton carries with it sundry things that bear no relation to its function - while strictly speaking these are not 'bundled' software, they are not in any way or form useful products and are known to cause problems in use.