Blank screen on boot up, before login screen; slow startup

Remove all hacking software.

Remove all hacked software.

After carrying that out, then post those three files again.

tienjt,

1. Is your system now working correctly?
2. normal removal software will not remove much malware.
3. Use MSE. When you install MSE, then Windows Firewall will automatically be switched on. Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool ( a root-kit remover and a little more) will be run the very first time. There after MS will automaticallay, assuming that you enable updates, once-a-month, update the Malicious Software Removal Tool to make sure that new root-kits have not made it into your computer. MSE has the most frequent AV update cycle. Since I know that, then I run MSE at least twice a day (I tell MSE that I'll choose when to update.)

You won't even need to use MalwareBytes which is a marvelous product, and at one time, was rather much a necessity. Now with WDO and MSE, the program is no longer needed.

Did you uncheck the entry for Resource Hacker in the Scheduled Tasks? Yes/No

To make sure that the program (and a couple of others) haven't made it back to your computer, then
please:
Download, install, and run AUTORUNS.EXE (link follows)
Do NOT uncheck anything you might see there no matter how great the temptation.
This is a very powerful, developed by the SysInternals team and used by them to spot and remove obnoxious malware.

When you run Autoruns, then:
from the top menu bar:
FILE | Save | SAVE button

zip up and upload the resulting Autoruns.arn (it's in you documents folder if you accepted the defaults)

I'll analyze the file for any remaining trouble-children.

thanks,
karl

Tienjt said:

Oh you mean stuff like Resource Hacker? I got rid of that a while ago; I'm not sure why it's showing up in the Scheduled Tasks list.

In any case, I managed to solve the issue. Apparently my antivirus software (AVG) was causing the problem. I noticed that in the boot log, something called "AVGIDSHA" (?) was taking a long time to load. So I uninstalled AVG and downloaded a lighter antivirus software. After three reboots (just to make sure, y'know), the blank screen did not come up, and I could run programs with minimal lag after my desktop showed up (just like before). It's a bit weird though, since I was using AVG before and never had this problem.

Thanks for the help everyone.

You're welcome. Resource Hacker is used by many people here for making modified themes. It allows dll's to be opened for one thing.

ResourceHacker is also used for hacking. When I see ResourceHacker listed, then immediately a red flag goes up, and with good justification.

karlsnooks said:

ResourceHacker is also used for hacking. When I see ResourceHacker listed, then immediately a red flag goes up, and with good justification.

Thanks Karl, I suspect you're right but I never thought of it. Another member used it to change my default images in Devices and Printers, among others.

Tienjt,

I just realized that I failed to give the link to autoruns.
Autoruns for Windows