Posted 16 September 2010 - 01:46 PM
Windows Vista 6.0 SP 2
IE 8
Dell Inspiron 1525
For the last couple weeks, I haven't been able to access the Windows Update page, or many other control panel functions. If I click on Windows Update, Backup and Restore Center, or Security Center (among others), nothing at all happens. I've tried to go to the Windows Update webpage, and it looks like it will open, then immediately closes. If I go to the Microsoft Update page, it's completely blank. No error codes or anything, just blank. Also, on Facebook, I can't "like" anything, or comment on someone's status. Several of the games aren't working either.
Probably not coincidentally, at about the same time, I started getting a message at startup saying something (I don't remember the exact phrasing) about reverting back to the original theme due to a conflict with another program, and also one that says "Runtime Error - Program: C:\Program Files\Dell|Media Direct\PCMService.exe" stating that the application has requested the runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.
When this started, I was running AVG Free, not sure which version. When an AVG scan didn't pick anything up, I switched to Norton 360, which didn't find anything either, so I re-installed AVG Free 9.0. In addition to AVG and Norton, I've run Spybot Search and Destroy, Malwarebytes, Windows Defender (although I get an error when I try to update it). None of them have found anything. I did run a Hijackthis scan, but I have no idea what the results mean. I've tried to do a system restore from Safe Mode, but nothing happened.
I've been to the Malware Removal forum, and did several scans there, including ComboFix when asked, and came up empty. Their suggestion is that perhaps something in Vista has broken?