A few issues I need some help with!

[slicecbr]

Hi,

My first post so please go easy on me!

I'd really appreciate it if anyone could shed some light on some issues I have.

1) I keep getting Data Base Files appearing randomly on my system, why is that, and how can I stop them from appearing?

2) When I updated to MSN 2011 my 'Live Mail' keeps saying a program has caused it to stop working when I try and write/send an email. I assume it's my firewall? I am currently using the free version of AVG. Which has now revealed another issue, (3).

3) When I go into 'Control Panel\System and Security\Windows Firewall' and click the option "Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall" to hopefully add Live Mail through the firewall, nothing happens, as if I had never clicked it?

I would really appreciate some advice.

Thanks!

 

[Trucidation]

Welcome to the forums! While we wait for someone to post advice on how to detect malware, can you post a screenshot of these "data base files"? And when/how did you notice them appearing?

 

[SledgeDG]

Let's start at the end

[3) When I go into 'Control Panel\System and Security\Windows Firewall' and click the option "Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall" to hopefully add Live Mail through the firewall, nothing happens, as if I had never clicked it? /QUOTE]

OK, the free Version of AVG has no Firewall as far as I know. so your firewall is the regular Windows Firewall that came pre installed, right? Or do you have any other firewall currently running?
Log into an account with admin rights and try again. You should get a (more or less) useful window with the programs that are already allowed.
If that still doesn't pop up, I recommend you run
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html
to make sure that there are no damaged system files interfering.
After that you should run
http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html
just to stay on the safe site

I use the free version this program to monitor and set network rights for my programs that's just more useful to me. But that is something to keep in mind for later

Windows 7 Firewall Control : Sphinx Software

now we're waiting on the database files screen shot

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9733-screenshots-files-upload-post-seven-forums.html

-DG

 

[Tepid]

I would recommend the following....

We will start with this first,
Just incase, you might want to backup any data you don't want to lose if something is really going wrong....

AVG = Uninstall it and never go back. (if I could triple underline and double bold that I would)

Then as suggested run SFC \Scannow ,, could be a good idea to do this now.
however, I might not suggest this if it is infact malware or virus related.
The choice is yours.

Run the following on-line scanners....
Run both of these one at a time till complete.. Very important.

What's new - Windows Live OneCare safety scanner for Windows Vista and Windows 7

Free ESET Online Antivirus Scanner

Then yes, Install Malwarebytes as suggested and run that....

If anything is found,, clean it as needed (clean, quarantine, delete, whatever is needed)
Then run them again till nothing is found in each.
If something is found, but can't be cleaned, then there are other issues to worry about.
I would then install MSE and try scanning and cleaning with that.
Post anything that is found and can not be got rid of.

If everything comes back clean or is cleaned.

Then run SFC /Scannow

Install MSE

You may need to reinstall Live Mail,,, but I would do that later after doing what is listed above.
Then we can see what else might be going on.

Database files being created like that could be caused by malware or virus.
Or a corrupt application or OS.

 

[slicecbr]

Welcome to the forums! While we wait for someone to post advice on how to detect malware, can you post a screenshot of these "data base files"? And when/how did you notice them appearing?

Thanks. I'm pretty sure I had these files randomly appearing when I first had this laptop, bought it around a year ago, so hopefully not a virus and something to do with the OS or something as suggested in one of the other posts. Okay, the first screenshot is within a folder I created on my desktop and the second is a data base file which appeared on my desktop when I saved the screenshot.






Hope this helps? Thanks.

 

[slicecbr]

OK, the free Version of AVG has no Firewall as far as I know. so your firewall is the regular Windows Firewall that came pre installed, right? Or do you have any other firewall currently running?
Log into an account with admin rights and try again. You should get a (more or less) useful window with the programs that are already allowed.

-DG

Thanks for the response, I did have a paid version of AVG on my laptop but when I used 'Glary Utilities' for the first time and restarted my laptop, AVG was saying that it couldn't find the license number, and as I can't find the license number anymore I've reverted back to AVG free. But other than that I haven't installed any other Firewall software, so yes my firewall is the regular Windows Firewall that came pre installed.

I only have one account on my laptop, which is set to admin rights, so I will make a restoration point, back up any data on my external HDD I really wouldn't want deleted and follow the steps you and the other poster (sorry I forgot to quote you, but I have read your response, thanks) have kindly given.

I will post up my plan of action and any issues. Thanks.

 

[Trucidation]

Oh, "Thumbs" - fairly sure that's referring to "thumbs.db", which Windows itself creates. They shouldn't be a problem. I'll let the others help you on your other questions since I don't use MSN or Live Mail. Good luck.

 

[slicecbr]

Oh, "Thumbs" - fairly sure that's referring to "thumbs.db", which Windows itself creates. They shouldn't be a problem. I'll let the others help you on your other questions since I don't use MSN or Live Mail. Good luck.

Phew...hopefully not any viruses then. Thanks for your input mate, appreciate it.

 

[slicecbr]

Run the following on-line scanners....
Run both of these one at a time till complete.. Very important.

What's new - Windows Live OneCare safety scanner for Windows Vista and Windows 7

After downloading IE I keep getting "We were unable to install the scanner
Please follow the instructions for each troubleshooting step below and then click Retry Installation to try to install the scanner again.
"

I accept the installation from a pop up but I keep getting the above message?

 

[SledgeDG]

That might be related to your problem that you can't allow stuff through your firewall.
I just tried Eset and it requested permission 3 times.
From your answer I suspect that there is still some "residue"/leftover from the AVG firewall that now interferes with windows FW. So if you can't run online scanners due to FW permissions you can't install resident scanners either (they also would need permission to update their database)
That's why I would say remove AVG completely for now, run the sfc /scannow and then try the online scanners again.
Don't forget...once we're through here you will need to install an AV solution again.
If you go with the free AVG again, free AVAST or free MSE that's up to you. I would recommend AVAST as it kept me safe for 3, 4 years now on 5 PCs...so I am partial now
-DG

 

[wilywombat]

To remove AVG completely as suggested by SledgeDG you should download the correct tool from the list here:-
AVG - Download tools as the normal uninstall provided doesn't do the full uninstall required.

 

[slicecbr]

Okay, so I have used the program above to uninstall AVG, thanks for the link, then ran [FONT=&quot]SFC/SCANNOW and "Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations".

[FONT=&quot]What's new - Windows Live OneCare safety scanner for Windows Vista and Windows 7
This still didn't open.

[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Free ESET Online Antivirus Scanner
I used this and it did not find any threats.[/FONT]

Then I installed Malware, as suggested, and did a full system scan, with no threats.

Then I installed Microsoft Security Essentials, and I am planning to use it as a replacement to AVG (?) as I can now write/send emails on 'Live Mail 2011'.

I do still however get 'thumbs' appearing on my system (been like that since the day I got the laptop)?

Thanks for all the advise and comments, helped alot so far!
[FONT=&quot]http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html[/FONT][/FONT]

 

[SledgeDG]

That is GREAT news
Now to the last problem:
Thumbs.db usually are Thumbnail cache files. To stop Windows 7 from creating them you need to prevent the creation in the group policy editor. under
UserConfiguration/Administrative Templates/Windows Components/Windows Explorer Turn off the chaching of thumbnails.....But I think Home premium doesn't have that option, so here is a reg file to make that change directly in the registry. You will have to delete the old thumbs.db files manually but the creation of new ones should be stopped.
For curious people...here's what's inside :
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesExplorer]
"NoThumbnailCache"=dword:00000001


Just start regedit with Admin rights and merge the reg file in.
-DG

 

[slicecbr]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm going to have a go at the instructions which you posted to attempt to get rid of the 'thumbs'.

However, although I have successfully sent an email via Live Mail, it did crash on itself like it was doing previously, but was then able to send an email when it restarted?

I suppose it brings me back to one of my initial issues, from the position, shown below, how would I go about adding Live Mail to the firewall?




Thanks for the help so far, really appreciate it

 

[SledgeDG]

It is most likely not your firewall !!! A firewall either blocks or lets through. But it does not block at first and let through after a reboot.
Besides your picture shows that incoming connections are blocked if not specifically allowed (just as it should). Your mailer program connects to a server to deliver mail, so it's an outgoing connection.
You said that all started after you updated to WLM 2011. A short skim on the internet reveals that there are many people out there having the same problem. So what you could do, would be to uninstall wlm and try togo back to the former version.

-DG

 

[slicecbr]

The registry fixed worked! I no longer get these 'thumbs', as for WLM, as you said I'm going to revert back to an older version and wait for a new version to come out!

Thanks for your help guys, especially DG.

 

[SledgeDG]

You're very welcome
glad you got your problems sorted out
and thanks for the feedback.

-DG

 

[gregrocker]

Normally when Thumbs appear it means you've unhidden System Files in Control Panel>FOlder Options>View.

I would keep the System and Hidden files hidden by default as intended.