Facing an unknown problem with my PC; only folders open.

[VistaKing]

Download HiJackThis from this link HiJackThis | Free software downloads at SourceForge.net . Double click on the exe and choose " Do a system scan and save a log file " . You may run this in Safe Mode. Upload the file once you're done . The log file will be a regular .txt file .

 

[tom982]

Download HiJackThis from this link HiJackThis | Free software downloads at SourceForge.net . Double click on the exe and choose " Do a system scan and save a log file " . You may run this in Safe Mode. Upload the file once you're done . The log file will be a regular .txt file .

HijackThis is a tool of the past and won't show most modern malware. It will also struggle on x64 systems so it really isn't a great tool for here

 

[Vynarus]

Oh boy oh boy. Ladies and gentlemen of SevenForums, it seems that my computer just doesn't want to get fixed. From being unable to run .exe's in Regular Mode, to shooting my RAM sky high, it just won't give up.

When I turn on my PC, it asks me the usual "windows error recovery," i,e. starting in "Regular" or "Safe Mode" and, wanting to do as Jacee directed, I choose "Regular."


All goes well for a while, it brings me to the login screen and...
Then it does it again?
It's struck me as odd, but, I just accepted it was a bug. Everything goes forward and I go back to the login screen once more. Only this time, the colors are ALL out of whack. The only solution I could think off is to reboot the tower, which I do.


Now when I choose "Regular" in the windows error recovery screen, the login screen shan't ever appear. Just a black (well, grey, because the screen is producing light) screen for all eternity. Now, this worries me, so I reboot again into Safe Mode. Thankfully, that works just fine.


So this computer adapt comes to the masters of SF, reaching out a hand and asking "where do I go from here?"
It seems like my PC really wants to be lugged into town for a repair. I don't see why, I mean, there's not much to see in town anyway...
Jokes aside, I apologize for my computer producing more problems that I can't fix and end up coming to here with my tail between my legs. I hope I, as a newcomer, am not too much work for this forum site.

 

[A Guy]

My apologies, my time is limited during the week. I am pointing the Gurus towards your post. Hopefully some help is on the way. A Guy

 

[Vynarus]

My apologies, my time is limited during the week. I am pointing the Gurus towards your post. Hopefully some help is on the way. A Guy

I have no one to blame but myself. My stupidity got me into this mess, and it sure as hell won't get me out.

 

[Layback Bear]

You have some fine people helping you. If it was my computer I would remove IObit everything that has anything to do with IObit. (Advance System Care) Safe Mode should work. Then run sfc /scannow. After done with that see if you can go back through the thread and try to complete the request.
Use cmd prompt from admin and type in sfc /scannow.
If need be run it 3 times with boot after each.

 

[marsmimar]

My apologies for jumping in. It's not my intent to step on anyones toes. It seems there's a possibility of malware on this computer. Would running Windows Defender Offline be prudent?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/166445-windows-defender-offline.html

The boot media should be prepared on a non-infected machine and the non-infected machine should match the architecture of the infected machine. (If the infected machine is 64-bit, so should the non-infected machine be 64-bit.)

 

[Layback Bear]

marsmimar I do believe the good people here know neither one of us are trying to step on toes. At least I hope so. If it matters I like your idea with WDO.

 

[Golden]

Hi,

I'v had a very quick look at your attachment, and spotted this:

.
==== System Restore Points ===================
.
RP301: 2/14/2013 12:58:55 AM - Scheduled Checkpoint
.
==== Installed Programs ======================
.
Adobe Flash Player 11 ActiveX
Adobe Flash Player 11 Plugin
Advanced SystemCare Ultimate 6
Apple Mobile Device Support
ATI Catalyst Install Manager
Bonjour
[B][COLOR="Red"]bProtector for Windows[/COLOR][/B]
Command & Conquer™ Red Alert™ 3
Google Chrome
HP Auto
HP Client Services
HP Deskjet 1050 J410 series Basic Device Software
HP Deskjet 1050 J410 series Product Improvement Study
HP Vision Hardware Diagnostics
iCloud
iTunes

Pushing that into Google, I then found this:

BITS and PC's - News From the Trenches!: BProtector for Windows: A Case of Digitally Signed Malware

Which appears to be a very comprehensive description of an especially malicous piece of rogueware product known as BProtector for Windows.

Could this be at least one of the issues you have? I will email Jacee and ask her to have a look at this for you again.

Regards,
Golden

 

[Layback Bear]

Good find Golden.

 

[Jacee]

bProtector for Windows ... searchplugins and browser PUPs. AdWare Cleaner will take care of these pests.

See if it runs in safe mode.

 

[Vynarus]

bProtector for Windows ... searchplugins and browser PUPs. AdWare Cleaner will take care of these pests.

See if it runs in safe mode.

AdWare Cleaner from "Adware Cleaner - Free Trial Download - Tucows Downloads"?

Edit:
Wait, brainfart. I went back a few posts. I ran AdWare and it got rid of something, but when I tried to open it, it would not.

 

[Vynarus]

Okay, so, I finally cracked down and took it to my local PC repair shop. The fellow working there plugged it in, booted it up, and everything went well. They said they would have a look at it and see what was wrong, even though they determined my RAM was no longer shooting up at a quick rate.

With that statement, I bid him farewell, and went on my way and wait to see what comes up. Between the time of drop off and pick up, I did research on some external hard drives to buy so that I could back up every little bit every week or so. I thought that after the PC was fixed, I'd ensure it to never happen again.

However, it wasn't necessarily fixed. In fact, I do believe it's in a worse condition. The man failed to back up the PC correctly, and when he tried to restore it, only some files (like a few in the %appdata%) survived, as well as every PC folder I had, and not a single .exe file (thank goodness I took a screenshot for some reference in case I accidentally buggered my background, allowing me to fix it,) made it through. Keeping a calm head, I paid him his money, left, and went to see if I could do anything to get it back.

Plugging it in, and booting it up resulted in a very familiar state...
IT WOULDN'T SHOW UP TO THE LOGIN SCREEN ONCE MORE. Frustrated, I thought "Well, then what the heck could be causing this havoc?", and decided it must lie in the cords. Putting that as the "only reasonable explanation," I raced down to buy a new PC display cord. And guess what was the result with that?

Success.

Coming to realization, I now knew I pretty much just paid some guy to wipe most of my files WITHOUT even the thought "Oh, jee wiz, it works just fine with my cables. Maybe I should tell him to go buy a new display cable first and then return to me if it persists," occurring to him. Outraged, I begin to tinker away, downloading .exe after .exe. But, sadly, with my country internet, I knew it was no use. I'd have to just wait for better bandwidth.

Okay, now after my excellent little story, I wanted to ask if there's any way to retrieve my lost files, or if I should just give up, and re-download EVERY little megabyte? I know cops can find some supposedly "deleted" files pretty well on hard drives, so, this gives me a sliver of hope.

Also, I looked at my system restore points, and not even any points from last year (my last restore point) showed up, so a System Restore is out of the question.

 

[marsmimar]

Perhaps this would help.

Recuva - Undelete, Unerase, File and Disk Recovery - Free Download

 

[Vynarus]

Perhaps this would help.

Recuva - Undelete, Unerase, File and Disk Recovery - Free Download

Alright, got that downloaded, and ran it to scan the largest it can go (all files every where), and after a few hours of scanning, I'm met with the error attached to this post.

A question I have is: Are these supposed to be USB drives? If so, I checked Start > Computer and have no USB drives plugged in, other than my keyboard USB, my mouse USB, wifi adapter (I think that's the name...) and my USB hub (just for the sake of conformity, the 3 USB devices are plugged in to the hub). Obviously all devices are instlalled correctly, me being able to type, navigate to this website and be connected to the internet.

 

[hybridfan]

Do you have a card reader on your PC? that might be the reason as it can't find media on those devices.

 

[Vynarus]

Do you have a card reader on your PC? that might be the reason as it can't find media on those devices.

The only devices I have plugged into my tower via USB are those listed above through the HUB tower, a display cable and an unplugged-on-one-end HDMI cable.

Should I run the program through something like TeamViewer on another devices with everything else unplugged?

 

[Vynarus]

Well, I've got Recuva to run, and wanted to know if it'd be best for me to put the restore path to something such as an external hard drive, or right onto my computer's drive? I'm unsure of it, and am a little anxious, wanting as much advice for this as available.