I’ve got some serious virus action happening on Vista. Last night I noticed I couldn’t run Task Manager. It had been greyed out. I also don’t have Shutdown, Restart, Run, Hibernate – they are all missing from the ORB. I’ve spent a bit of time today investigating and it seems to be either virus or scumware related. So I’ve run a bunch of things today – Windows Defender, AVG AV, Lavasoft AdAware – and they found a bunch of crap which I deleted, so at least I got Task Manager back – but still no ShutDown etc.
So I don’t know what to do from here. Bloody annoying.
Oh and the first person who says “Buy A Mac” gets slapped with a fish.
I hate to say it…but go XP!
Buy a Mac!!!!…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………Where’s my fish?????
Buy a Mac!!…………………….Where’s my fish?????
i guess the way of not falling into the apple stereotype would be to continue to buy windows. and the way to not fall into mac vs windows advertising stereotype is to shut off all those vista security prompts because the mac guy on the ad is a dweeb. its at about this point the chris pirillos of this world go back to xp. but adam couldnt go back after taking a bite of the apple. get a mac.
cam also “The Mac is the only computer in the world that can run all the major operating systems, including Mac OS X, Windows XP, and Vista. With software like Parallels Desktop or VMware you can even run them side by side.”
also on apple.com : “Mac OS X was designed for high security, so it isn’t plagued by constant attacks from viruses and malware like PCs. Likewise, it isn’t plagued by never-ending security dialog boxes like those in Vista. So you can safely go about your work — or play — without interruption”
114,000 viruses? Not on a Mac. To get a sense of just how big the virus problem is, search for “virus†at both Apple and Microsoft. Compare the number of results. What’s more, the 100 most virulent attacks cause 99.9% of damage from malicious software. None of these attacks work on Mac OS X. Don’t you deserve such protection?
Vista is good… It may have errr… Some Problems that were not fixed from XP but if you had the money to splash out on a equal mac to what your PC is I am sure you would have got one. Macs aren’t cheap FULL STOP.
and the other possibility is Linux but I would wait until more people use it, then more drivers, better programs etc.
Well ya know i want a fish too but I like others would suggest going to XP. When I get my new Mac I will install Windows but you can bet it won’t be Vista I will be putting on it. Will mostly just be for gaming anyway.
*cough* Ubuntu *cough*
Not wanting to turn this into a OSX v Windows debate, but it’s still basic economics – Mac’s lower penetration is making it ‘more secure’. Blah, blah its based on Unix so it’s all cool… One day the complacency they instill into all their users will bite them back.
Is it better to have a company that’s has resources to proactively deal with security threats 24/7, or one that may or may not produce more secure code, but sweeps security under the carpet and almost secretly releases ‘security fixes’ as updates?
One thing you might want to check is whether or not the permission to turn off your computer is allowed for your user/user group – check Vista’s equivalent of control paneladministrative toolslocal security policy.
Thanks Sam, at least *someone* has something useful to say!
But yeah, I checked that. It all looks ok. Definitely a freakin’ virus. Just wish i could figure out how to seek and destroy the mutha. None of my defenses are picking it up.
Hmm… can you shut it down using the Task Manager by pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL?
Smells fishy. I’m still suspecting some sort of permission change somewhere (possibly by a virus/malware), but I don’t think it’s your typical ‘replaced-a-file’ or ‘added-as-a-startup-item’ virus.
Thanks Sam. I don’t even get a shutdown option (or restart etc) when I C-A-D.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929658
Suggests a problem in the power-saving config.
I can’t seem to find anything directly related to your problem… Not even on the Microsoft website.
Interestingly enough, there seem to be a plethora of utilities to help shutdown Vista… what’s that all about? Is clicking “Shutdown” not good enough anymore? Whatever happened to just pushing the power button, anyway?
I have seen a couple other similar problems from people when I do various Google searches on the topic (as I’m sure you have as well).
Yet another reason why I won’t install Vista. I’ve been thinking about purchasing an Acer laptop, but if I do, I’m pretty sure that I will be reformatting it when I get it and installing XP instead of Vista.
Microsoft is no help either… They’ve decided to stop supporting XP after Jan 2008, so they’re basically saying “Yeah, we have a new buggy OS, but we’re just going to keep going ahead with it and we’re going to dump the previous OS before we’re sure the new one is working correctly! And if you don’t like it…tough!”
Apparently they’re releasing a Vista update this week as well.
Hi,
I think it is a virus, specifically the w32rontok@mm virus. I have had the same problem but mine is worse. I dont have the shutdown button, all task manager buttons are disabled, all anti-viruses cannot be executed, all .exe’s do not run, access to the registry is disabled, and at certain times it shuts down the PC.
All removal tools are .exe’s so they don’t work. They also recommend restarting the PC in safe mode but this variant kicks in even when in safe mode.
I have sent word to Symantec and McAfee and I’m waiting feedback.
This is a nasty one.
Thanks David. I mentioned on a later post that I finally fixed it by running Spybot.
Hi everyone. I had this problem too. Fortunately i found a way to solve this problem.
First of all, either you run spybot or go in registry:
HKEY_USERSS-1-5-21-2291346433-2493603234-3576682624-1000SoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesExplorer
and change the value of Noclose and NoLogOff to 0
to active the Hibernate:
Click Start button , click All Programs, and then click Accessories.
Right-click Command Prompt, click Run as administrator, type powercfg -h on, and then press ENTER.
You probably notice that either the Lock button or the command Windows-L is working, to fix it:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem and change the value of DisableLockWorktsation to 0
Then to enable the Task manager:
HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem and change the value of DisableTaskMgr to 0
I have a qustion…do you have BSPlayer installed?
Yes, I have it (version 2.15.943 pro). Why?
For the previous problem, let me know if it’s ok.
I’m not sure why but the aforementioned problem seems to occur when I install BSPlayer. At first I was not sure but then I did a little experiment. I reinstalled my windows and installed all my software except BSPlayer. Everything was great. Then after a while (approximately two weeks) I installed BSPlayer to see what would happen. After the installation something strange happened. All my folder views kept returning to the default settings (meaning: if i would set a certain folder to List View or Tiles, close it and open again it would be set on Details). When I restarted my computer the problem was gone and everything else was OK. At that point I concluded that I was wrong and the problem was not related to BSPlayer. But the next time I started windows the problem was there. My folder views were OK but my shut down, restart, sleep, hibernate, run command, task manager…all disabled. Even my regedit was disabled. I didn’t install or uninstall anything my last windows session so it couldn’t have been any other program. So I decided to do it all over again… I reinstalled windows, installed BSPlayer, the folder views problem was there, i restarted my computer, folder views problem was gone, everything was great (no problem at all), then i wanted to restart my computer again but i accidentally logged off, when i logged on again (without restarting) the problem was back, no shut down, restart, task manager, regedit…. (folder views were OK). So basically that’s all I can tell you. I’m pretty sure BSPlayer has something to do with the problem, well at least in my case… Hope this helped.
Yeah I see. First of all i’m french so i hope you could understand clearly what i mean. Concerning BSplayer i can’t tell you much, i just notice with some people that this problem appears when you try to install a software not fully compatible with vista, in our case BSplayer. Often we think first it’s a virus but it’s also somes softwares. I hope webtech will release a version compatible soon. Maybe you can do as above after installing your software.
I’ve tried spybot and it solved MOST of the problems (registry editor is still disabled).
You can use an alternative soft like tune up to go in registry. To enable your registry try this:
Open your start menu click Run and paste in the folowing command:
REG add HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem /v DisableRegistryTools /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f
No, it didn’t work. I still get the message: Registry editing has been disabled by your administrator.
Did you restart your computer ? if yes maybe you can try this one on :
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/tool.to.reset.shellopencommand.registry.keys.html or this one:
http://www.dougknox.com/security/scripts_desc/regtools.htm
No, didn’t work but I found something that did: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_do_you_enable_or_disable_the_registry_edit
oki, good!
Always love those typically clueless mac answers.
First why is this true? Less than 4% mac usage, so who would waste time writing a virus for that?
If a pc users was actually as clueless as mac users and took their advice that shows up everywhere and actually shifted the balance then the mac would no longer be unaffected!
One day maybe mac fanboys would actually grow a brain!
For an those who feel smart, Mensa(which means stupid) is a club for the smart.
I guess in macspeak Genius means moron.
Also there is no more Mac OS, only a mac gui running on unix.
Mac is better but lets use pc memory
Mac is better, but lets use pc ide
Mac is better but lets use unix based os
Mac is better but lets use pc cpu
So now its better because it costs so much more but is a pc running unix with a mac gui?
HUH? more mac logic, i’ll find my answer elsewhere.
ohhh sounds like someone has insecurity issues and takes it out using anger. maybe some anger management courses should be in your schedule dude.
In the long it dosen’t matter if you use a Mac or a PC. i switched from PC to Mac a few years back and don’t plan to go back. I have just purchased a intel Mac so that i can run Windows under bootcamp but that will primarily for some gaming stuff. I don’t plan running it on a daily basis like I do Mac OSX.
There are Mac fanboys, like PC fanboys like yourself. Live with it don’t care what the other uses, unless it’s to poke fun at Cam because that is entertaining.
Everything is in the Group Policy, applies to all windows XP, Vista, 2003 Server…
c:windowssystem32gpedit.msc
User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Start Menu and Taskbar -> you should find “Remove Run menu from Start Menu” -> Properties -> set it to “Disabled”, “Remove and prevent access to the Shut Down command” -> Properties -? set it to “Disabled”,
Go back out to — User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Locate “Prevent access to registry editing tools -> Properties -> set it to “Disabled”. Don’t have to restart, it should automatically.
this helped!!