mytyfyn

Hi Kevin, I did all that you suggested in your above post. I ran successfully, it appears. Att is the scan log and a print of the finished run. Thanks again, ~Bill mwb_scanlog.txt MWB_success.rtf

Kevin, I do plan to do as you suggested - I've just been super busy lately. Didn't mean to ignore your advice. ~Bill

Never mind ... I forgot that the shortcut for Defender is not for MSE, which is running. I rebooted and all the system tray icons came back. I am posting MWB check log CheckResults.txt

Hi Kevin, Um ... something odd happened; I ran DelFix and it turned off my Windows Defender (MSE) and I can't turn it back on. Also it removed icons in my system tray, and though I added them back they still don't show.

Kevin, hi, Just letting you know that I did not forget, nor am I ignoring your suggestion ... plan to get to this tonight if possible. Thanks very much, ~Bill

Odd that you should mention that, as I was considering asking you if you thought that it would be wise to upgrade to W10. I'd like to try using the machine for a little while first in any event if it remains stable, just so I can calm down and enjoy working on it instead of fixing it, if you get my drift Yes, though, I did mention something of it - so you are not wrong. I was, however, a bit non-committal, as you can see

Hi, I was planning on installing unchecky - I already put it on my workplace machine; I just have not started up my personal laptop in a few days to do it there. As to the Malwarebytes Premium ... I'm looking askance at it. Since the free version does not complete, why would the premium version? I have in the past really liked Malwarebytes - that's why I tried it first thing which led me here in the first place. ~Bill

Hi Kevin, Just got through reading the information at the three links that you posted. While I already knew and practice most of what is recommended, I learned a few things. For instance ... Although my 'gut' told me that registry cleaners aren't needed, or might even cause issues, now I 'know' it. If I've ever used one, it was so long ago that I can't recall. Also, I had not realized that it was really necessary to do 'custom' installs for legitimate software installs - I didn't realize that the 'extras' could cause problems. I certainly didn't like the extra browser bars that I sometimes ended up with though. It was mentioned that we should have: AV, firewall & anti-spyware. At this point I have the first two. Do you think that I should re-install SpyBot? ~Bill

Sure, thanks. One question: Why is it necessary to 'remove disinfection tools?' ?

Kevin, I just want to thank you for all your help. I am going to call this a wrap. The original problem that I was having was not being able to update the laptop with MS updates. After looking into various things, I downloaded Malwarebytes, since I had run it before with good results and our help desk here also recommends it. I was able to successfully get MS updates on Saturday, and I might soon update to Windows 10 while the free update is offered. I ran Malwarebytes again from safe mode and it found not malware and did complete successfully. I am at this point thinking as you had thought at one point, that there might be some process that is interfering with Malwarebytes, but I don't have any more time to devote to this right now - and I am certain that you do not either (I was frankly amazed that you stuck with me on this for as long as you did). So I just want to say thank you very much for all your help - I learned a lot! Best regards, ~Bill

I located the Dell support software and ran diagnostics on all the laptops hardware and it stated that every test passed. Just an FYI

Okay it finished and it's clean. Please see att system-log.txt clean.rtf mbar-log-2016-02-19 (18-42-54).txt

K

Hi Kevin, I'm running MWB anti-rootkit now - if you're there, can you say how long it usually takes; because there is not scrollbar? Yes I did mean MSE, not MWE, sorry. Anyway, it might well be a coincidence then, but the laptop was running and booting much faster than it had been in a long time after I removed all the software you encouraged me to remove; however, then it slowed down again just around the time I installed MSE. Regards, ~Bill

Yes it is frustrating, and I really appreciate all your help. I was not able to do further with this last evening, but plan on doing this tonight. Tell me though ... what's your gut feeling about what's going on with my machine. As an update, as of last evening: 1. My Firewall was on 2. MWE stated that my computer was protected 3. Windows update was finding updates - including a Windows 10 upgrade 4. I had internet access 5. Since installing MWE, the machine takes about 2X as long to boot up - is that normal? Thanks, ~Bill