I am running Windows XP on a Dell and use IE8 as my browser.
About 2 weeks ago I notice some hijack issues. I tried Malware and AVG, neither one found a problem. AVG was consuming quite a few resources and bringing performance to a crawl, so I removed it from my machine.
Based upon a scan of this site, I installed gmer.exe on my desktop. When I ran the program it crashed my computer. I started up in safe mode, ran gmer.exe, and it again crashed my computer.
Here are symptoms of my hijack, or virus problem(s):
1) On Reboot I frequently get the following error message
Pure Networks Platform Service has encountered a problem and needs to close:
2) There are random browser hijacks. Some occur after a Google search, others just happen.
3) There seems to be attempted hijacks. When try to open a browser, an additional iexplore.exe shows up
in my process list, usally about 3K in size. The browser I wish to open does not open.
When I kill the additional iexplore.exe process, then the first browser opens up.
4) An SVC Host file tends to grow to about 250 megabytes. Sometimes when I click to open a
browser nothing happens. When I kill the SVC Host process, then the browser opens.
5) I notice there are multiple instances of MSHTA.exe in the process list.
8) When I open IE8, I notice there are usually 2 iexplore.exe processes per browser. Sometimes there are
more than 2 processes per browser.
9) At some point I get a Generic Host Process for Win32 has encountered a problem and needs to close
error message.
Extremely appreciative for any help anyone may provide!
Best,
Gary B.
Edited by hamluis, 26 December 2010 - 11:06 AM.
Moved from XP to Am I Infected ~ Hamluis.