Windows 10: Persistent Virus Issue After Multiple Clean Installations

Hello,I unintentionally downloaded a virus that seems to be associated with XAMPP, causing my computer's applications, including Windows programs, to attempt connections to malicious IPs, which Malwarebytes has been blocking. Despite formatting my C: drive and deleting D: drive partitions followed by another format of C:, the issue persists, with Malwarebytes continuing to block these requests from regular PC files to malicious IPs.I have performed multiple clean installations the same way, and each time, Malwarebytes keeps blocking these IPs. Malwarebytes and Windows Defender scans show no vi

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Clean Install Workaround for Vista

You may remember this news story on techPowerUp! a couple of days ago relating to the lack of clean installs when using the Upgrade Editions of Vista, which required an old OS to be installed. However, Paul Thurrott has managed to find a workaround for this issue, which ironically lets users do a clean install Vista without any previous version of Windows, albeit a little tedious. Here are the steps:

• Boot from the Windows Vista Upgrade DVD as normal
• When prompted for a product code, leave this blank
• Select the version of Vista you have purchased and let Vista install
• When you boot to your desktop for the first time, run the Vista setup from Windows
• This time enter your product key
• When asked whether you want to do an Upgrade of Custom install, select custom and choose a clean install
• Windows will now install for a second time and you should be able to activate it

Remember, these steps are only advised for use in order to achieve a clean install of Vista, it is only legal to use the upgrade editions if you have previously purchased the appropriate version of Windows.

Source: DailyTech

 

Clean the Virus

Hi,

Virus infection usually happens on a computer when it is exposed to an infected website or removable devices. For us to help you clean the malware on your device, we would need you to answer the following questions:

• Which build and version of Windows are you using?
• Did you encounter any error messages related to having a virus infection on your device?
• What are the troubleshooting steps have you done so far?

In the meantime, we suggest running any available antivirus software on your PC. It would be very helpful to us if you could also provide the result of the antivirus scan process.

Looking forward to your response.

 

Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 Issues Persist After Multiple Clean Installs

Hey everyone,

A month or so ago I started having this weird issue with Windows 8.1. A portion of the interface became unresponsive to mouse clicks. The most notable issues being:

• taskbar icons
• the options under "PC Settings"
• every program window (random)
• the scroll feature in Internet Explorer
• and others little things

I'll go into more detail with each point, but before I get into that I'd like to point out my "hotfix." Pressing the Ctrl+Alt+Del combination occasionally makes some things a bit more response to the mouse, as well as resets the random issues with program
windows.

• Regarding the taskbar the icons are occasionally unresponsive. To fix I would use the Ctrl+Alt+Del combination. I haven't noticed this issue cropping up recently however.
• When clicking "PC Settings" under the right charms menu, a metro window will pop up with all the PC settings on the left hand side. These are unresponsive and no amount of restarting, shutting down, pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del or even doing a clean install will
  fix this issue. If I need to do anything under this menu I have to navigate it using the arrow keys and tab/enter. It's a partial solution, but I'd like to be able to use my mouse pointer. I will point that the occasionally a clean install will allow me to
  click on options under this menu, but only for a few moments before it becomes unresponsive again (whether I'm online or not).
• Fairly frequently my program windows become unresponsive to mouse clicks. By that I mean; I can't select windows, move them, resize them, close them, minimize them or select any links within them. This also applies to full screen windows like browsers and
  video games. It's random in frequency, occurring hours or minutes apart. The only way to regain responsiveness it to use the Ctrl+Alt+Del combination. This doesn't fix every window however...........
• Internet Explorer has a lot of issues, which like PC Settings I can sort of work around but not fix. Now I'd like to point out that I barely use IE, but the issues it has remain even after a clean install so that when I'm trying to setup the computer initially
  I have to deal with them. The main issue is that I can't scroll. Neither a mouse wheel, touchpad controls or mouse cursor (clicking on the sidebar and dragging it) will allow me to scroll on a web page. I though I'd be unable to even google for help after
  because of this issue, until I realized that I can still navigate webpages with the arrow keys. Unfortunately even they are unresponsive occasionally (requiring the Ctrl+Alt+Del fix). I also can't click on certain windows and pop ups within IE (or Windows
  overall) such as the pop up for downloads. If I want to open a downloaded file I have to navigate to the folder instead of simply clicking "run," "open," or "open folder."
• That brings me to my last point. All sorts of little links and icons are unresponsive to mouse clicks. The Ctrl+Alt+Del combination can fix some but not all of these problems I come across throughout Windows 8.1.

As I mentioned at the beginning I have done multiple clean installs of Windows, and before that multiple system restores. When the issues first cropped up I tried doing a system restore. It actually worked for a few moments before the issues returned.
Then I tried a clean install. I actually wiped my drive with Partition Wizard (booted from a USB drive) and then installed Windows 8.1 from another USB drive. That didn't help. So I tried again, this time offline so that if some random update or virus was
causing the issue it would be able to connect to the internet. That didn't help either. So I just decided to live with it for a few weeks until Windows 10 was released. At that point I decided to try another fresh install after upgrading. So I upgraded to
Windows 10, installed it and guess what? The issues remained. I wasn't too surprised, so I set up a Windows 10 USB and tried a clean install. That didn't work either. So I tried it again, this time offline. It actually worked! Until I connected to the internet,
after which the issue popped up soon after. So I did another clean install, this time remaining offline. It worked until the computer when into sleep mode, after which the issues came back. So I did another clean install offline and everything worked until
I rebooted the computer. So I did another clean install, this time online, and the issues were present immediately. Getting desperate, I setup a Windows 8.1 USB and did a clean install of that instead. The issues remained, so I tried again. After multiple
fresh installs, online and offline, I gave up on 8.1 and tried 10 again. That didn't work of course, so I went back to 8.1 and of course the issues are still there.

So now I come to you, is there anything I can do to fix this nightmare? I'm currently typing this from my last clean install of 8.1. Using IE, I'm fighting with the arrow keys and Ctrl+Alt+Del just to even type this. Am I dealing with a particularly
resilient and stealthy virus? One that evaded and remained undetected by Avast, Malwarebytes and Windows? Is there some other underlying issue with my computer? I will point out that even during the clean installs (of both Windows 8.1 and 10) the windows and
link within the installation would be occasionally unresponsive until I pressed Ctrl+Alt+Del. So it maybe an issue outside the OS.