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norton   05-30-2009 at 05:41:20 PM

WSC is disabled every time I boot my PC. I have to restart it every time I switch on.
I was told that spyware is responsible for this, so I installed Windows Defender and did a full scan. It found two severe alert level objects. One was called "backdoor" and the other one "trojan downloader".
These were deleted, but I still have to restart WSC every time I boot up.
I have also installed ZoneAlarm firewall, and I have always had Norton Antivirus running since the PC was new.
Could there still be undetected spyware on the system?

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sturm   06-01-2009 at 07:58:47 PM
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run a program called Malwarebytes and see what it finds.

http://malwarebytes.org/

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norton   06-02-2009 at 09:54:00 PM
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sturm wrote :

run a program called Malwarebytes and see what it finds.

http://malwarebytes.org/


I ran Malwarebytes and it found two Trojan Agents. One was a file in C;\ProgramFiles\Real Player, and the other was a registry key.
Have deleted them both but still have to start WSC when I boot up.
What Is the `Start Parameters ` box , where it says "You can specify the start parameters that apply when you start the service from here".
The box is blank, should it be?

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Bronze Win XP badge aford10   06-03-2009 at 11:07:57 PM
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I would first run a scan in safe mode. You can catch more viruses/malware in dormant stages there.

You can also check msconfig to see if it's being blocked on startup.

Message quoted 1 times
------------------------------ CM HAF 932 - 300GB Velociraptor
GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-DS3R
E8500 - Sapphire 1Gb 4850
4G DDR3 OCZ Reaper 1333
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norton   06-04-2009 at 10:11:32 PM
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aford10 wrote :

I would first run a scan in safe mode. You can catch more viruses/malware in dormant stages there.

You can also check msconfig to see if it's being blocked on startup.



Did a scan in safe mode and found and deleted another Trojan Agent, but WSC is still disabled when I start up.
Security Centre is checked in the Services tab of System Configuration Utility but I cannot see any reference to it in the Start tab.

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Bronze Win XP badge aford10   06-04-2009 at 10:55:43 PM
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I've never used this program, but it may work for you.
http://www.winhelponline.com/artic [...] start.html

Message quoted 1 times
------------------------------ CM HAF 932 - 300GB Velociraptor
GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-DS3R
E8500 - Sapphire 1Gb 4850
4G DDR3 OCZ Reaper 1333
 Reply to aford10
Zoron   06-04-2009 at 11:17:59 PM
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Download, install and run AVG in Safe Mode... that's what I used to get rid of this little bug in the past. It can be persistant, however... so be prepared for the fact that you might have to reload Windows in order to be rid of it.

Message quoted 1 times
------------------------------ Desktop: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit; Intel Q6600 CPU; E-VGA 780i SLI motherboard; E-VGA E-GeForce 8800GT; OCZ Vista 4GB dual-channel kit; Ultra X2 750W power supply; 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB in RAID 0. Laptop: Acer Aspire 8730-6314;
 Reply to Zoron
norton   06-06-2009 at 02:55:47 PM
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aford10 wrote :

I've never used this program, but it may work for you.
http://www.winhelponline.com/artic [...] start.html



I tried that program but it made no difference. I suppose the only thing to do (apart from reinstalling windows)is to remember to start the security centre every time I start the computer.

I think the security centre must have been disabled for quite some time before I realised it, as there is no indication on the desktop whether it is running or not. So I have been using the PC for probably several months with no firewall.

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norton   06-06-2009 at 03:00:04 PM
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Zoron wrote :

Download, install and run AVG in Safe Mode... that's what I used to get rid of this little bug in the past. It can be persistant, however... so be prepared for the fact that you might have to reload Windows in order to be rid of it.



I began to install AVG, but then got a warning that I should uninstall Norton Antivirus first because of possible conflicts. As I didn`t want to uninstall Norton, I ran that in Safe Mode instead, but it didn`t find anything.

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Zoron   06-07-2009 at 09:53:57 AM
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You can go ahead and install AVG anyway. Right now, your Norton is useless to you as it is... so you're not losing anything by uninstalling it should you really have to. You can always reinstall once you have everything cleaned off.

Message quoted 1 times
------------------------------ Desktop: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit; Intel Q6600 CPU; E-VGA 780i SLI motherboard; E-VGA E-GeForce 8800GT; OCZ Vista 4GB dual-channel kit; Ultra X2 750W power supply; 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB in RAID 0. Laptop: Acer Aspire 8730-6314;
 Reply to Zoron
norton   06-07-2009 at 08:23:54 PM
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Zoron wrote :

You can go ahead and install AVG anyway. Right now, your Norton is useless to you as it is... so you're not losing anything by uninstalling it should you really have to. You can always reinstall once you have everything cleaned off.



I did an AVG scan in safe mode but no infections were found.
Where do I go from here?
Do you think free Antivirus programs such as AVG are better than paid for programs like Norton Antivirus?. It seems like my computer is, or has been, infected with Trojans, yet Norton Antivirus always tells me that everything is OK.

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norton   06-08-2009 at 05:25:18 PM
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I decided to try uninstalling Norton AntiVirus, and `HEY PRESTO`, Windows Security Centre now stays on. So it was Norton that was disabling it and not a virus or trojan it would appear.
I don`t know if Norton AntiVirus is supposed to override the security centre,but that is what was happening.
I now have more security measures in place than Fort Knox, Windows Defender,AVG free antivirus,ZoneAlarm,Malwarebytes and WSC. :D

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Bronze Win XP badge aford10   06-08-2009 at 05:29:51 PM
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Sounds like maybe a little excess. They can bogg down your system if they run in conjunction.

------------------------------ CM HAF 932 - 300GB Velociraptor
GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-DS3R
E8500 - Sapphire 1Gb 4850
4G DDR3 OCZ Reaper 1333
 Reply to aford10
Zoron   06-09-2009 at 06:54:48 AM
- 0 +

When installing Norton, it will ask if you wish to use it's "Security Center" instead of the one integrated with Windows. So yes, this is normal behaviour.

------------------------------ Desktop: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit; Intel Q6600 CPU; E-VGA 780i SLI motherboard; E-VGA E-GeForce 8800GT; OCZ Vista 4GB dual-channel kit; Ultra X2 750W power supply; 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB in RAID 0. Laptop: Acer Aspire 8730-6314;
 Reply to Zoron
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