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Is my hard drive dying? [Solved]
jmk909er:
I avoid toolbars and add ons like the plague I don't know how they got in there, I always uncheck all the extras when I download anything.
I ran Find and fix problems then again under System and Security and it shows a bunch of startup programs and ask what I do not want to run. I don't know if I need these or not. I made a video here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tizryhf8p3fj6ui/System%20and%20security.mp4?dl=0
The errors in event viewer (see attachment) are minimal and it is starting up pretty good.
Something that happened last night when I ran the online scanner was I could not get to the boot menu. I normally hit F12 to get to the boot menu and after starting 5 times I could not get to it while starting up. The only way I could get to it was to let it finish starting up and then doing a hard shutdown with the power button, than it automatically started with the boot menu screen.
Boggin:
I've never seen Windows Host Process (rundll32) in a Startup menu before as that should reside in Windows\System32\rundll32.exe so that one could be malicious.
I have rundll32.exe neither showing in Task Manager Processes or Services or do I have the Host Process showing anywhere in my msconfig.
Have you tried the clean boot as Shane had advised earlier ?
The video was a bit too quick for me to follow but were they under the Startup or Services tab ?
The only program I have under the Startup tab is for the Epson Event Manager as I find the printer works better that way when I want to use it.
Any programs that you want to use can be started normally as and when you want them so there's no need to have them running in the background which unnecessarily takes up memory and can impact on performance as Windows has snagged.
I think I stopped Toshiba Reeltime but can't remember what it does now, but I leave all of the other Toshiba services enabled - I have a cheap Satellite C660D.
Sometimes this site will tell you if you need a particular service enabled under the Services tab http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/ but Process Explorer will tell you if you have anything malicious running. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx
When you have it up and running, click on Options and ensure the Verify Signature box is checked then hover over VirusTotal.com and check its box.
Virus Total will produce a column in blue with items marked as a low value/~50 but where there are items in red with a highish value/~50 - they will be suspect, especially if their Signatures aren't verified.
You can Google any of those and where they are malicious, removal tips are usually linked.
jmk909er:
Attached is where the Windows Host Process (rundll32) is at. Should I check the box so it doesn't run?
Boggin:
The best thing to do would be to go Start - type msconfig - press enter then check to see if it's listed under the Startup tab or Services when you check the box to Hide all MS services.
Did you download Process Explorer as that should tell you if it's a legit process, but I'm reticent to advise stopping any dll32.exe and if Process Explorer doesn't snag it then I would prefer to leave that one to Shane.
Do you need Skype or Dropbox to be loaded on start up when you can boot them up on demand ?
I don't know what that Office one is for - while it may be advantageous to have something for Office preloaded, this is what I get for Xmarks for IE http://www.shouldiremoveit.com/Xmarks-for-IE-13606-program.aspx
Is that something you have personally downloaded ?
jmk909er:
I have to be honest with you the process explorer is very complicated, what am I supposed to look at in there? Is it "rundll32"? Are all start up items? I did a save as of it and attached.
I do use dropbox a lot and store everything on it and not on my computer. It is also convient to be able to use different computers to get to my stuff.
I do like to keep Skype up all the time because I use it although it would be nice if it started up with a delay, it does not need to run right at start up. It could be a few minutes later.
The office one is part of MS Office that has cloud storage, I really don't need that to run.
XMarks is an app that syncs all my bookmarks across all browsers and all machines that I use. I dabble in web design and like to test in IE, Firefox and Chrome
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