Computer running slow, convinced its Malware but cant find evidence!

Hi there

Im convinced I have an issue with Malware or something similar but I cant track it.

To tell the whole story...my I have a Dell Inspiron 1764 laptop and about a week ago the fan packed up meaning that it kept over heating and crashing.

I ordered a new fan and heat sink and in the meantime read on a forum about a program called Speed Fan that would turn the fan on. I downloaded this...big mistake! A lot of other programs downloaded with it that I didnt request, a number of these inserted themselves into my browser. I initially uninstalled what files I could see through Control Panel.

My parts arrived, I installed them and now my fan issue is fixed. However, the laptop is running EXTREMELY slowly. I have spybot installed so run that and it found a number of items which it deleted - one of these was Zone Alarm. After the scan and removal Zone Alarm still showed in my browsers so I removed it.

Since then I have run the following -

* Microsoft Security Essentials Virus Scan.
* Eset Online Scanner
* Microsoft Online Malicious Software Removal Tool
* Checked there is space on the hard drives (11GB on C and 397 GB on D).
* RUn the defragmenter.

And still the laptop is slow. Im wondering if when replacing the fan I did something to slow the laptop down when replacing parts. Or, the only other thing is I havent been able to remove something nasty that I inadvertently downloaded.

Any advice appreciated

 

Go to Avast forum, they are extremely good in finding and fixing malware, you don't need to be running Avast. You"ll need to post some scans, within a day an expert will help and usually cure your machine very quickly.

 

I suggest you install and run a scan with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware.

 

What about a deep anti rootkit as PowerToo lV, GMER, NoVirusThank ART, even by CD ?

 

Run a scan with one or more of the following:

1. Hitman Pro
2. Emsisoft Emergency Kit
3. Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool

You may also run scans with one or more Antivirus Rescue CD's. Some examples are:

1. Kaspersky Rescue Disk 10
2. Dr.Web LiveCD
3. Avira Rescue CD
4. Bitdefender Rescue CD

 

I agree.

If you have trouble running the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware installer due to Malware blocking it, you may want to download and run Malwarebytes Chameleon.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/chameleon/

 

There's some good advice above. But if you want a little extra help, head over to MalwareTips.com and ask for assistance in the malware removal section.

 

Just a small suggestion.
Do you have a clean image you can revert back to prior to running speedfan.?
Maybe a clean re-install of windows may help.

 

Speedfan is a safe programme are you sure you dowmloaded it from legit sources?

 

This is just a shot in the dark, but maybe you didn't install the heatsink and fan correctly and the CPU is downclocking in response to the heat? Download CPU-Z and see what clock speed it is actually running at.

 

you can try hitmanpro, because it has some engines included, or go to an forum like Bleeping Computerwith many proffessional helpers

 

the only way to really check for virus when you think your machine is already infected is to boot it from a rescue CD or USB flash drive (created earlier, or created on a different, clean computer) and scan your windows partition when it's offline.

i use BartPE for XP and Win7PE for Windows Vista/7/8 to create the rescue disk. I use command line scanners for the virus check e.g. Emsisoft Commandline Scanner, which I update before booting to BartPE/Win7PE in case internet connection is an issue in the pre-install environment (PE) and then run to scan all exe and dll files in C:\ or whatever is your system partition when it's offline. And if I only get a few hits, then I double check the results with VirusTotal or similar to make sure they are not false positives.

There's lots of other free offline or portable scanners, maybe you can even install a bootable one with YUMI, but I can only recommend Emsisoft Commandline Scanner since that's what I've used in these situations. Still YUMI is easier, here's a list of bootable Antivirus Tools it has in its menu (it should even be able to download these for you):

However, your computer speed issues may well be caused by driver conflicts or other software conflicts (third party firewalls and realtime antivirus scanners are the usual suspects, but I take from your list that you aren't running any - still if you've had any in the past then check for leftovers; sometimes they don't uninstall properly).

 

Wouldn't it just be a lot easier just to format the drive and reinstall, this is the reason I always keep a clean image available, if I thought I had been infected I would never trust that setup again, kind of like a bad women, once she had been unfaithful there is no trust anymore and no future, start with a new OS and a clean slate

 

that's only easier if you have a recent clean image available.

 

Step by step help from the master himself - Mr Russinovich

http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/ATC-B308#fbid=67g4UgyqjNv

 

Before doing anything rush, have you actually checked, if there is anything using CPU, RAM or HDD? Try http://processhacker.sourceforge.net

 

The OP is missing !

 

Hahahaha he probably nuked his PC.

 

See: If you are currently infected -
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1533481

How do I know if my computer is infected with a virus or other malware?
http://kb.eset.com/esetkb/index?page=content&id=SOLN2563

 

Yeap, lost in action...

 

Hi

Sorry was offline most of the weekend. Thanks for the advice. I ended up downloading Avast and ran a scan using that which found 2 Malware viruses. Avast fixed them and for that session my laptop ran as it used to.

However, the next day I logged back in and again it was running slow. I ran Avast again and it found the same 2 Malware viruses, then removed them. The laptop is set to permanently connect online but I hadnt browsed to any 'dodgy' sites or downloaded anything so Im unsure how the Malware got back on the laptop.

This seems to be the pattern now, works ok, I end the session or hibernate and the next time I login (if I dont shut down mainly) Im plagued by performance issues.

Im not starting to think perhaps the poster who mentioned the fan and heatsink not being connected properly may be onto something (although they appear to be working ok).

 

some viruses clone themselves on reboots or if part of them (the files that show up infected) are deleted, check your autoruns to see if there's anything unusual. also, google the virus and infected file names to see if people have any advice on how to deal with them specifically. i still think an offline scan would be a good idea because some viruses you cannot delete (maybe not even detect) when the system is running.

 

Sounds like you "might" have a Rootkit or MBR infection, due the persistant issues.

As others have mentioned, download & run HitManPro,also Mbam

If they detect anything as above, you should seriously consider changing ALL your Passwords for Everything.

 

Try this.