Pending Start menu programs are empty!

Discussion in 'Virus, Spyware and Malware Removal' started by help meee, Jun 20, 2011.

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  1. help meee Bronze Member

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    Ok sorry, I didn't realize that there was a second page... I KNEW i had posted those malware bytes results already! Please disregard that. So now my question is if you want the log from the Combofix results that I ran right before the post, or if you want me to uninstall avg, run a Combofix scan, and give you those newest results. Also, from another thread, the person in your position had the name Crush, and he informed the person with my similar problem to rename Combofix to Crush.exe before running it. Should I do that or just run it as is?

    help meee, Jun 21, 2011
    #16

  2. Pancake Security Team

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    Lets have a new Combofix scan..no need to rename it.Run it as is.
    Pancake, Jun 21, 2011
    #17

  3. help meee Bronze Member

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    Okay, will do. Also, before you said that you saw two AV programs and to remove one. That is the avg and the symantec one, correct?
    help meee, Jun 21, 2011
    #18

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  5. help meee Bronze Member

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    Okay.. Attached is the log for the Combofix scan..

    Attached Files:

    • log.txt
      File size:
      14.8 KB
      Views:
      3
    help meee, Jun 21, 2011
    #19

  6. Pancake Security Team

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    Yes.I suggest you remove one of those anti virus programs as two cause conflicts and slowdowns....


    Ok.All done.I see no more malware.Log looks good! All those detections are either in quarantine or system restore, both of which we'll be cleaning out in just a minute. Congratulations, well done.

    Go to :
    Start > Run then copy and paste the following highlighted (blue) text below into the box and click OK.

    ComboFix /uninstall



    Over the course of the fix you've used a variety of special tools to help with the cleaning process - none of these are of any use to you now that you're clean, and it's best not to have them hanging around on your computer. OTC is a small program that removes all the leftover tools and logs from cleanup of malware.

    Please download OTC to your desktop.

    Double-click OTC to run it. (Vista users, please right click on OTC and select "Run as an Administrator")
    Click on the CleanUp! button and follow the prompts.
    You will be asked to reboot the machine to finish the Cleanup process, choose Yes.
    After the reboot all the tools we used should be gone.
    Note: Some more recently created tools may not yet be removed by OTC. Feel free to manually delete any tools it leaves behind.

    Here are some tips to reduce the potential for malware infection in the future; I strongly suggest that you read them and take them to heart so that you don't have to endure the process of cleaning your computer again.
    Afterwork
    Malware Prevention
    How Did I Get Infected
    More Tips on Prevention

    =============================
    Pancake, Jun 21, 2011
    #20

  7. help meee Bronze Member

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    Okay when I paste the uninstall link into Start>Run, it tells me that the publisher can't be verified and prompts me whether or not I want to run combofix.exe. Do I click run in that box? It looks like that will just allow the program to run again, not uninstall it...

    Can I download OTC and run that without having removed combofix??

    Lastly, so far this did not solve the problem, as all of the programs still remain (Empty) in the start menu... this is true like i said for Start>All Programs>Games>(Empty), for Start>All Programs>iTunes>(Empty), etc.
    help meee, Jun 21, 2011
    #21

  8. Crush Administrator & Security Team Leader

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    Hi,

    The program will just uninstall after clicking Yes.

    The empty program files are not empty:

    Please download Unhide by Grinler from here

    Save it to your desktop and double click Unhide.exe to run it

    Has that resolved the hidden files issue?
    Crush, Jun 21, 2011
    #22

  9. help meee Bronze Member

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    Okay, I hit run after copying and pasting the combofix /uninstall into Start>Run. It started doing it's thing and then my avg came up with it's threat detected message about combofix.exe. I had it quarantined and deleted its shortcuts. Does this mean it is off of my computer now??

    I will now download OTC and let that run it's course and then I will try the Unhide. I believe I tried this unhide program before starting this thread with no success but I will certainly try it again and get back to you..
    help meee, Jun 21, 2011
    #23

  10. Crush Administrator & Security Team Leader

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    No. Unless you get the ComboFix Is Uninstalled message then its not off. You'll need to uninstall AVG again as it will conflict.

    I would personally switch to Avast free as AVG has gone downhill in recent months. Up t you though.
    Crush, Jun 21, 2011
    #24

  11. help meee Bronze Member

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    Ok, I uninstalled avg and tried copying and pasting the combofix /uninstall into Start>Run but a message comes up saying that Windows can not find 'ComboFix'...?

    I downloaded and ran OTC and deleted the other files I still had (basically only from the pre-work)

    I don't have the time to run the Unhide program right now, but I will do it later on tonight and let you know if it fixed the problem of my programs appearing to be Empty.
    help meee, Jun 22, 2011
    #25

  12. Crush Administrator & Security Team Leader

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    Is ComboFix.exe still on your desktop?
    Crush, Jun 22, 2011
    #26

  13. help meee Bronze Member

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    Combofix.exe is not on my desktop. When avg detected the threat by combofix and I had it quarantined, the shortcut was still on my desktop as well as being pinned to the start menu under the name "Shortcut to Combofix. I still have that in the recycle bin.
    help meee, Jun 22, 2011
    #27

  14. Crush Administrator & Security Team Leader

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    Ok. Restore that and the Uninstall command will work
    Crush, Jun 22, 2011
    #28

  15. help meee Bronze Member

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    Just ran the Unhide program and that did not solve the problem. Most of the items in my start menu still show as (Empty)
    help meee, Jun 22, 2011
    #29

  16. help meee Bronze Member

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    I restored the combofix from my recycle bin but the uninstall command still results in the same message that Windows can not find ComboFix. It then tells me how to search for a file...
    help meee, Jun 22, 2011
    #30
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Start menu programs are empty!

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