Suspicious processor activity

boron

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My system is Windows XP with service pack 1. AVG free edition (manual updates and scanning). Zone alarm free (online access granted to only recognised programs). I have frequently noticed my processor working hard without apparent reason.. The circumstances would be - I will be online (dial-up connection) with my monitor on standby. I move my mouse and inevitably the processor activity will return to normal just before my monitor screen is visible. I am extremely cautious about Trojans and viruses (having had much experience of). I would be very interested to hear any suggestions as to reasons why my processor would behave in this way. My suspicion is that it may be responding to external stimuli.

 

PaulR

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How do you know that he processor is working hard? Do you check in computer properties? Or do you mean hard disk activity becuse the activity light is flashing?

Anyway - it could be the automatic updates of XP if you have that option enabled.

PaulR
 

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Hi Boron, a friend had the same problem although he was using a broadband connection with A*L. He still had his 56K modem installed though. I took it home and installed Bullet Proof spyware program and sure enough it found 259 items of spyware, one being a rogue dialler for premium mature content lines at a fortune per minute. Get a spyware checker and do a full scan. Trojans are often downloaded with a web page and 'free' software so you do not see them. Get Avast free anti virus as well cos AVG does not auto update, Avast does. I have been trojan and spyware free for 6 months now. Also found Kerio firewall better than Zone alarm
Good luck
 

boron

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PaulR said:
How do you know that he processor is working hard? Do you check in computer properties? Or do you mean hard disk activity becuse the activity light is flashing?

Anyway - it could be the automatic updates of XP if you have that option enabled.

PaulR

Thanks Paul - I should have said "I have frequently noticed what appears to be excessive hard disk activity (as evidenced by hard disk noise and rapidly flashing HD led)" No -it's not automatic updates of XP (I wouldn't visit a Microsoft site). I can't investigate what aspects of XP might be working because the activity will always stop before I get to see my monitor screen. In any case why would the energetic hard drive activity always go back to tickover level seconds after I move my mouse.
 

boron

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brewby said:
Hi Boron, a friend had the same problem although he was using a broadband connection with A*L. He still had his 56K modem installed though. I took it home and installed Bullet Proof spyware program and sure enough it found 259 items of spyware, one being a rogue dialler for premium mature content lines at a fortune per minute. Get a spyware checker and do a full scan. Trojans are often downloaded with a web page and 'free' software so you do not see them. Get Avast free anti virus as well cos AVG does not auto update, Avast does. I have been trojan and spyware free for 6 months now. Also found Kerio firewall better than Zone alarm
Good luck
Part 1: Very interesting, Brewby, I have Spybot but I never use it. I only except cookies when essential and delete my temporary Internet files very frequently when online. I suppose this may not be enough however. How do you know you have been Trojan and spyware free? I'm pretty sure that with the latest AVG update no suspicious files would be found.
 

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Get the latest ZaPro & Spysweeper (webroot.com & free) and never put anything on your H/D that you are not able to lose.

There is NO sure way of protecting data unless you copy your stuff to CD/DVD
and then maybe not!

A Wundows install takes only 30mins (assuming you use that O/S) so what is the hassle ?

L
 

brewby

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I know I have been trojan and virus free because I run scheduled checks(full system scan)also both spyware and Anti virus are continously monitoring my system in the background even when not online.
I don't think its windows auto update either cos an item appears in the taskbar first. you can turn off auto updates if you want to or configure it to inform you before it downloads anything. Do you use peer to peer? or napster type progs? this appeared to be the source of my mates problems.
 

boron

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brewby said:
I know I have been trojan and virus free because I run scheduled checks(full system scan)also both spyware and Anti virus are continously monitoring my system in the background even when not online.
I don't think its windows auto update either cos an item appears in the taskbar first. you can turn off auto updates if you want to or configure it to inform you before it downloads anything. Do you use peer to peer? or napster type progs? this appeared to be the source of my mates problems.

Thanks Brewby, the second part of my response was not successfully posted to hear it is:

Part 2: I'm pretty vague about how registry entries work. Maybe I should think about Zone alarm Pro. I will certainly check out the programs you recommend. I think my best defence is that I never have anything of particular value on the hard drive I use online, but I would like to get to the bottom of this.

 

boron

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Lancelot said:
Get the latest ZaPro & Spysweeper (webroot.com & free) and never put anything on your H/D that you are not able to lose.

There is NO sure way of protecting data unless you copy your stuff to CD/DVD
and then maybe not!

A Wundows install takes only 30mins (assuming you use that O/S) so what is the hassle ?

L
Lancelot, I totally agree with you (everything on my online hard drive is disposable). I think you have to have two hard drive bays with removable hard drives and have all but the most recent data backed up twice on the two hard drives which will never be used for online activity. I use Norton Ghost so I can replace my operating system in about 5 minutes.
 

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aswell as norton AV and internet security 2005, i use a neat little program called
Ad-Aware, it really does get rid of ALL spyware... and its FREE
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

you get regular free updates too, that keeps up to date with all dialers,miners,tracking cookies,dodgy registery entries and the windows ads!!! yes microsoft is guilty of this too

it comes highly reccomended :)
 

boron

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Thanks devil I'll try ad aware and see what it comes up with - I just did a scan (having updated Spybot) and found three instances of WurldMedia (I've seen it before) I think they were located in the registry. I think these may well have been responsible for my problem........ (hard drive working when it should have been inactive) I should really use this program more often as it is so easy to use (and free). In response to an earlier question - I have Kazaa Lite K++ installed and use it occasionally, this could well be associated with WurldMedia .

 

brewby

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Kazaa Lite K++ is full of spyware. I use Shareaza 2.0 (it's free) no spyware or ads at all and no centralised server unlike Kazza which the authorities are citing in their priacy cases. Also works well with my firewall and antivirus Kazza did'nt do it for me at all.
 

boron

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brewby said:
Kazaa Lite K++ is full of spyware. I use Shareaza 2.0 (it's free) no spyware or ads at all and no centralised server unlike Kazza which the authorities are citing in their priacy cases. Also works well with my firewall and antivirus Kazza did'nt do it for me at all.
I'll try Shareaza 2.0 but I've never had any problems with Kazaa Lite K++ (that I'm aware of) I wouldn't touch Kazaa proper unless I was really desperate as its the most irritating programme ever. Kazaa Lite K++ gets me anything I want. I hardly use it because I've got all the programs I need and I've given up alcohol so I don't need any more MP3s. I'd like to have Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7. I note that Windows XP (cracked) is once again available from Kazaa which makes me happy.

 

boron

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I just did a scan with SpyBot and it was totally clean. While online I initiated Gozilla (an auto downloading program) I closed it and immediately did another scan with SpyBot. Three WurldMedia entries were present in the registry e.g. the location starts with HKEY_so I think this might be what has been causing the problem. I will still use it but run spy bot immediately after I have finished. Does anybody know of a more trustworthy free downloader?
 

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boron said:
Does anybody know of a more trustworthy free downloader?

I use XDCC Catcher Pro which is around £6, or you can get free version(less features) from their site, it uses IRC to get the files. It is not as user friendly as Kazaa though, but is pretty simple to use when you get the hang of it. There is also a forum to get help if you need it.

Dont know if I am allowed to post link but just do a search for the above program on altavista its about the 4th result down.

Hope this helps.

Richard.
 

boron

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thanks malling vbmenu_register("postmenu_164107", true); I will check it out.yes you can post links
 

boron

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That last posting makes me look insane (which I'm not) it made perfect sense when I typed it.
 

brewby

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Hi Boron, I usually use free software(and there is loads of it) from nonags.com, they only have nag/ad free software. also if you search shareaza for download applications you can findwhat you want, sometimes full programs with serial keys to unlock full progs, Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7 should be there.you may need winrar zip program to unzip. again get it with shareaza and you won't get any spyware because it does not come from a website rather from shared folders of peers conected to the internet.
 

boron

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Excellent stuff brewby you should also check out http://linkworld.to/fosi (if that doesn't work due a search for fosi) I have got so much excellent stuff from that site and there are no viruses. Yes I would dearly like to get my hands on Dragon 7. I should probably double my 256 gigabyte memory and the same with my 900 MHz processor to get it to work optimally.
 
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