Certain Games, Device Manager, Display Settings, other Control Panel options refusing to open

R

RawheatC

Novice
Hi. First of all, I apologize to the site moderators for not making my first post on the intro thread, since I am in a desperate situation here, and I also apologize if the thread is in the wrong forum. Extensive Google search did not bring up even one result relevant to my issue, so I thought that I'd post on a forum a lot of my tech-savvy friends use.

I am using an ASUS K52 laptop, running on Windows 7 Home Premium, which was already included upon purchase. For the past 3-4 months, I have been unable to launch certain applications, more specifically, certain games. On attempting to open them, the mouse cursor changes for a few seconds before going back to normal and then nothing happens. In fact, the process for the game doesn't even show up in the Task Manager. I earlier assumed this to be a problem with my Graphics driver, but updating them made no difference. Another indicator suggesting that it isn't a problem with the graphics driver is the fact that I can play Command and Conquer 3, but not Silent Hill 2 or even Age of Empires 2 (yes, I am fond of archaic games). This is not a compatibility issue, since I run those games in compatibility mode for Windows XP SP2, and they used to run just fine few months ago.

I certainly do not remember clicking on a malicious link or downloading something that could possibly be malware-ridden, or making major changes to the registry (except changing some values for S.T.A.L.K.E.R : Call of Pripyat, but that was long before this problem started).

This problem isn't exclusive to Games either. I have been unable to open my Device Manager, Display Settings and other options in the control panel, such as Network and Sharing Center and Windows Update.

I'll be grateful if someone is able to diagnose the issue with whatever little information I have provided and help me out with it.
 
Hi. I followed your instructions, and attached the log file generated by Hijack This.

As far as I remember, I had not downloaded or installed any tooldbars, so I have no idea what this ConduitEngine toolbar, as indicated by the log is. Do you suggest removing it? As for updates, I haven't installed Windows updates for a month now, since I disabled the automatic updates (using an alternative procedure, since Windows Update wouldn't open) because I was prompted to restart my computer for installing updates almost every day. I am using Avast! Antivirus 7.0.1474, and my virus definitions are up to date.
 

Attachments

That's a bummer, considering that my laptop came with Windows 7 already installed on it. Is there any way to legally procure a copy of Windows installation without having to buy a new one?

Edit: Regardless, I have installed the latest Windows Updates, and will check if that helps. Thanks for the help, anyway.
 
you need to remove a lot of things from your services/startup list not sure which one is the malware. but I seriously suspect a malware.

do one thing, download the Autoruns and the Process Explorer from sysinternals.
launch them using run as administrator.

from the process explorer kill the following processes. don't worry, if they are not essential processes and wont kill your computer.
if some process looks suspicious, right click on it and click search online to find out if that is malware or not. you can also click "verify" button on the "Image" tab of the properties for that process.
Code: 
C:\Program Files (x86)\ASUS\SmartLogon\sensorsrv.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\ASUS\ASUS Live Update\ALU.exe
C:\ProgramData\DatacardService\DCSHelper.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\DAEMON Tools Pro\DTShellHlp.exe
D:\uTorrent\uTorrent.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Connectify\Connectify.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\McAfee Security Scan\3.0.318\SSScheduler.exe
C:\Users\Admin2\AppData\Roaming\Dropbox\bin\Dropbox.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\ASUS\ATK Package\ATK Media\DMedia.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\ASUS\Wireless Console 3\wcourier.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Elaborate Bytes\VirtualCloneDrive\VCDDaemon.exe
D:\Avast\AvastUI.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Java\Java Update\jusched.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\PC Tools\sMonitor\SSDMonitor.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Java\Java Update\jucheck.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\ASUS\ASUS Data Security Manager\ADSMTray.exe
C:\Windows\AsScrPro.exe
D:\Last.fm\Last.fm Scrobbler.exe
D:\Idea Net Setter\Idea Net Setter.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Firefox\plugin-container.exe
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerPlugin_11_6_602_168.exe
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerPlugin_11_6_602_168.exe

Now at this stage, you have killed all the malware and suspicious programs. so now, its time to cleanup the startup settings.
launch Autoruns as administrator. delete everything that looks suspicious. when in doubt, right click and select search online.

after this step, reboot the system.
after rebooting, run autoruns again and check if there are any entries that re appeared.
 
Back
Top