Need Help With Adobe Flash Player wanting to download

davidms · 29 Oct 2011

Hi, JMH, I uninstalled Microsoft Security Essentials, and installed Malwarebytes. I did a full scan 3 times, and all 3 times it scanned only until 34349 it was 2minutes 55 seconds into it when it froze, ( said not responding at the top ) the whole computer completely froze. The only way I could get out of it was to hold the power button to turn it off. This happened 3 times.

Since I can only have 1 anti virus installed at once, I will uninstall malwarebytes, and try Housecell.

Is there anything else I can try, or do?

Thanks,

David

davidms · 29 Oct 2011

I just installed, and scanned using House call, and it found nothing. This is driving me crazy. Any suggestions, or anything else I can do?

Thanks,

David

marsmimar · 29 Oct 2011

Not trying to step on any toes. Just offering some additional info. :)

Malwarebytes, Trend Micro Housecall, etc. are not traditional antivirus programs. They are designed to work along side Microsoft Security Essential, Avast, and most other traditional antivirus programs. So, it's OK to leave MSE and Malwarebytes on your machine at the same time.

You might want to try running the Malwarebytes scan in Safe Mode.

Safe Mode

There are two other free products you might consider as well. (No need to uninstall MSE.) They are Hitman Pro and Norton Power Eraser. NPE is a powerful utility and warns: "You should use Norton Power Eraser only when nothing else will remove the threat and you are willing to accept the risk that the scanner may quarantine a legitimate program." As with any malware removal tool, if in doubt about permanently removing something, ask first.

Hitman Pro 3 - SurfRight

Norton Rescue Tools

And Microsoft offers this:

https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...m-sweeper.html

JMH · 30 Oct 2011

Just back online.
Thanks Lee for stepping in. :)
We are moving right away from the original Adobe problem.{s}
However it appears David needs quite a bit of advice re Security as well.

David.
Lee has given you good advice.
I would however caution you re Norton Power Eraser unless you are VERY familiar with it.

DustSailor · 30 Oct 2011

JMH said:

David.
Lee has given you good advice.
I would however caution you re Norton Power Eraser unless you are VERY familiar with it.

Very true, Malwarebytes works with MSE very well. And I would caution you with using norton power eraser as it is quite strong (in taking out too much sometimes)

You might check in control panel for anything else that you have installed that may just be crapware and bloatware. check it and make sure everything you want installed is installed. also check all your browsers' add-ons for stuff you don't want. uninstall.

If I haven't already, I urge you to update windows through its updater. There is also a windows software removal tool you could use

davidms · 31 Oct 2011

Marsmimar and JMH,
I haven’t used Norton, since I’m not familiar with it, so I won’t use it unless it’s a last resort.

I re-installed Microsoft Security Essentials.

I tried Microsoft standalone sweeper, and it didn’t find anything.

I’m going to try installing Hitman Pro 3 - Surfright.

I will also try using malwarebytes in safe mode.

So chances are this Adobe Problem, is a virus, or malware?

Dustsailor,

How Do I check my browser, for the add on’s that I have? How do I know which one's I need and which one's I don't?

I checked in control panel, and a lot of the stuff installed are updates ( atleast I think these are updates. Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributale ( x 64) and other things along those lines. One of those not the same title, was installed on 10/25/2011 right around when I started having this problem, I'm afraid to uninstall anything microsoft or Windows. I don't want to mess up my computer even more.

There are some things in the control panel that I don’t know what they are, they are:
None of these were installed recently, they came on the computer when I bought it from best buy in July 2010.

Windows Live Essentials 2011
Windows Live Sync
Microsoft Silverlight

The only adobe thing that I have on my computer now is
Adobe Flash Player 11 Plugin 64 Without this I can’t see anything on you tube. Should I uninstall this?

So, Is this pop up from adobe, causing Windows Host Process to stop working, a virus?

Thanks for the help, and advice everyone,

David

DustSailor · 31 Oct 2011

depending on what browser you have, mine is IE9, so it is under settings and manage add-ons:

Need Help With Adobe Flash Player wanting to download-untitled.png

Here is the actual manager:

Need Help With Adobe Flash Player wanting to download-capture.png

I'd say anything not from adobe, microsoft, or sun microsystems is just extra stuff. Now depending on wether or not you want that stuff is up to you, but the more you take off, the more speed you save, generally

davidms said:

So chances are this Adobe Problem, is a virus, or malware?

I checked in control panel, and a lot of the stuff installed are updates ( atleast I think these are updates. Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributale ( x 64) and other things along those lines. One of those not the same title, was installed on 10/25/2011 right around when I started having this problem, I'm afraid to uninstall anything microsoft or Windows. I don't want to mess up my computer even more.

There are some things in the control panel that I don’t know what they are, they are:
None of these were installed recently, they came on the computer when I bought it from best buy in July 2010.

Windows Live Essentials 2011
Windows Live Sync
Microsoft Silverlight

The only adobe thing that I have on my computer now is
Adobe Flash Player 11 Plugin 64 Without this I can’t see anything on you tube. Should I uninstall this?
David

It COULD be a virus, but if you've updated all the virus protections and then ran them, perhaps not. Those microsoft items in your control panel are fine. I strongly suggest removing the 64bit adobe software from your browser, and if you are using IE9x64, switch to the 32 bit one instead and download the 32bit flash.

64bit browsers are still under developement (IE9x64 was a good test subject, wasn't it?). 32bit has more functionality and is actually faster, as has been reported. AS WELL, adobe is still testing its 64 bit flash players, and they are not completely ready to be released yet. You only have a beta version if you have 64bit. see if this clears anything up.

And in case you have this question, yes 32bit software(browser and adobe) works seamlessly with 64bit software (windows 7 operating system). It will be fine

If all of this doesn't work, then perhaps we can go a little deeper into control panel items and add-ons. I just noticed you have 3 web browsers. this could get fun.

marsmimar · 31 Oct 2011

This probably won't help at this late stage but do you have a restore point going back to a date/time prior to receiving that very first popup about 5-6 days ago? The one asking if you wanted to install Adobe 11? If you do, try using system restore and maybe your machine will fix itself. (Big maybe.) But if it does we can guide you along as to what to install/uninstall in the way of programs, updates, etc as well as explain all those mysterious control panel items.

System Restore

If you can do a system restore I'd still recommend doing a Malwarebytes scan in safe mode.

DustSailor · 31 Oct 2011

shoot I've had my fair share of trouble from chrome. despite some objection, I personally would recommend nuking that thing unless you consider yourself more an intermediate computer person who likes updating his computer and web browsers whenever needed. Firefox hasn't really given me much problem in the past, but check ALL browsers for adobe add-ons and remove them. I don't know if you have some kind of 64 bit browsers from chrome or firefix (haven't looked at them recently), but switch to 32 bit and see if this problem persists.