Is Crunchie out there? ? ?

[coachtls]

If "Crunchie" is out there can you help?

My software eng. friend suggested that I ask your opinion
on a problem I have. My desktop computer with Windows XP
boot-up is slow (and getting slower) and I get unwanted pop-ups.

I ran latest version of McAfee Virus scan it it did isolate an unwanted program
with the name of "PrcViewer". When I hit the remove button after a few moments
an error message comes up that the program cannot be completely removed.

It then has the following detail under Items: C:\documents and Settings\Gar\Desktop\SDfix.zip

Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you in advance for any ideas,
Coachtls

[joytech22]

to be a little bit helpful, you could try to downlaod Avast Antivirus home edition.

this program is absolutely free and has protected all of my comouters since i baught them, it updates it virus database nearly every day, updates are very small (usually about 24KB).

after installing avast, run a boot scan and restart your machine. it will automatically remove all viruses it detects.

Also it has active protection from viruses so if you start your pc one day and you get all these virus popups, click move to chest its the fastest option and safest as you dont have to shut down just to delete viruses that wont terminate to avast'es commands

it comes with its own firewall, active program protection, e-mail protection, internet protection and lots more!

you can even scan your computer for hidden viruses using the normal scanner as well as the Avast On-Access scanner.

[coachtls]

I did take your advice and ran the "Avast" free virus scan and received back
the following message:

a[COLOR="Green"]vast! Virus Cleaner Tool - version 1.0.211 Unicode

Creating log file: C:\Documents and Settings\Gary\Desktop\aswclnr.log

3/25/2008, 12:05:26 PM
Memory scanning started...
No virus body found in memory.
Memory scanning finished (257.8s).
----------
Files scanning started...
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\McAfee\VirusScan\Data\TFR11.tmp... file could not be scanned!
No virus body found.
Files scanning finished (174298 files, 0 infected, 3205.6s).
Drives scanned: C:
----------

Unfortunately it looks like I am back at square one.
When I use the McAfee virus scan it isolates an "unwanted program"
name: PrcViewer
but when I click on remove I receive back a status: "cannot be completely removed"

Another friend explained that some of these programs attached themselves to "wanted"
programs and hide themselves that way. I don't know why the Avast scan did not even
pick up the "PrcViewer" program as potentially "unwanted".

Next step....?

CoachTLS

[joytech22]

true... but there are also False alarms wheras a program may not turn out dangerous at all. but in this case i think wait WHAT! prcviewer?!

i have heard reports of it being part of the factory OS after buying a new pc.

also at the same time i dont think you can remove it unless you boot in safemode and know the directory it's installed in. just delete its folder in safemode.

When scanning did you turn on through scan and scan archive files?