slow internet speed

XP, Cable modem by router home cabling (in walls), says she opened an attachment and a day later she cannot get on the internet, go to her e-mail, some icons on her desktop have been changed. I ran systematic anti-virus and found nothing, I checked her speed it is down to almost nothing. I connected another computer to the same line (I disconnected her and connected another to the line that was on hers) and it worked perfectly fine fast internet and all. Any help?

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Comments

networker050184

Have you checked the physical connection and the NIC?

binarysoul

Looks to me like a trojan...

Tryin running either Mcafee or Symentic anti virus scan online. It takes long time, but it should detect the trojan/virus....

Plantwiz

badpapajj wrote:

XP, Cable modem by router home cabling (in walls), says she opened an attachment and a day later she cannot get on the internet,

Too late, but was this an attachment the person was expecting? Or one the person decided to simply open because they're so excited to receive an attachment?

go to her e-mail,

??? and what?

some icons on her desktop have been changed.

change from what to what? Was this simply an arragne? View settings change? People do this 'by accident' frequently when they are not familar with things and provide this as a means to syptom. It could be valid, but it could be completely related.

I ran systematic anti-virus and found nothing,

What did you run? Did you run it from a browser? from the existing AV on the system (are the files current?) From boot? in safe mode? or attach the drive independently to another box and scan it without it being the boot destination? Run a couple different ones and make sure the DAT files are current.

I checked her speed it is down to almost nothing.

Checked using what? Report it to the crap-cable company and they can log it and let you know if there are problems in the area or if it's isolated to your cable modem backward.

I connected another computer to the same line (I disconnected her and connected another to the line that was on hers) and it worked perfectly fine fast internet and all. Any help?

physical:
1. what happens if you connect the PC to the cablem modem directly?
2. Power cycle the Cable modem and PC...now what?
3. If working, try the PC behind the router again (after you power cycle the router). Now what?
4. Have you tried a different port?
5. You mentioned cables throughout the walls....so what happens at another point in the home? Perhaps that segment is damaged by insect/mice/etc..

Also check:
Ping the NIC
PIng the router
Ping the cable modem
Ping google or yahoo etc..
ipconfig /release and then /renew

Lee H

cant quite top plantwiz so just one thing

Try open the attachment on a non-important PC and see if it has same effect

Silver Bullet

That's not a bad strategy LeeH. If you can't find/remove the virus that has infected one PC, then install the same virus on the remaining PCs in the organization. This way, no one will feel left out and all users will have the same features/usability.

Now I just need to go disable the AV server and all clients.

Lee H

Funny that Bullet

All efforts to fix this PC stem from this attachment being opened, but what was said in first post is PC stopped working the next day. First thing i would do it acertain if the attachment is the culprit and if so then its fair to asume it contains a virus.

And i did say "a Non-important PC"

A re-install is like a visit the baths, all nice and fresh,

Did this guy find out what the cause was??

Plantwiz

Lee H wrote:

Did this guy find out what the cause was??

not yet. Another "I NEED HELP" and then they disappear without a word success or continued problems.

Oh well...it's fun to type I guess

networker050184

He probably used Lee H's solution and now can't get on the internet at all

Just kidding Lee!

badpapajj

Plantwiz:

1) She opened the attachment out of curiosity, It said something personal, dumb but she's no tech just regular person.
2) Tries her e-mail icon on desktop and it will either time out or just be blank trying o open until you just tier of waiting.
3)Example; google icon change to a blank explorer page icon.
4) Ran updated symantec, AV on system, by the way I did not update it , it wasalready updated from her last login.
5) Speed check, right click on network icon on taskbar at lower left, view status, shows bytes coming in and out( they are in the tens not hundreds nor thousands)
6) All other points in the house, incuding wireless, run great, with high speeds and bytes in the hundreds of thousands, including the one connecting her pc ( I connected a laptop to the problematic pc's connection and it too registered hunreds of thousands of bytes coming in and out.
I have not tried anything else as I have been busy and have an appointment to go back Oct 18. I posted this to get some ideas of what to try when I go back.

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Ahriakin

If a machine is acting oddly and you can't find any direct cause presume infection, and therefore assume the existing AV has been compromised regardless of what it says. Everyone has their own favourite tools and techniques but for starters load up in Safe Mode with networking, install/update/run Spybot S&D and Adaware, let it clean all infections. Go to www.ewido.net and run the online scan, take note of anything above medium priority and let it delete them. Google the high priority/criticl items all of these tools found as you may have to do some manual cleaning too (most malware nowadays incorporates multiple infections and types so do not presume your tools got rid of everything. Run Msconfig (Or d/load and install Startup Control Panel) and untick every startup item you do not recognise, with Startup Control panel it will show you the executables icon which is actually useful as malware tends not to do register their own (so far) so that root infection that may have gotten by your AV/Spyware scans may well be sitting here with a DOS icon. Regardless when you reboot wait a few minutes and run Msconfig/Startup again if you see any unticked entry reappear you can be pretty sure it's your culprit, and that you missed something. At this point reboot back to Safe Mode with Networking and start googling for the High priority infections you noted earlier as you may need specialised tools to finish the job.
Most of all don't take shortcuts. Prevalent malware these days will actively reinfect your machine when it detects parts have been cleaned so you may end up chasing your tail if you only do it bit by bit.

Lee H

Hi

Put the NIC in a known working PC and see if it works, i have had NIC's just suddenly stop working in the past so it does happen

Lee H