Laptop slowing down significantly

[Revant]

I also had one more doubt but it is regarding the windows defender. I am attaching a screenshot and in the window security under app and browser control -> Reputation-based protection->Reputation-based protection settings I am unable to change the setting of check app and files as it is showing that the setting is managed by your adminstrator while I am the the admin (and the only user on my laptop)

I was trying to look for a fix for this and came up across this article. Could you see and tell me if it could be applied in my case ?

article link:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/protect_defender-protect_start-windows_10/cant-turn-on-real-time-protection-and-the-error/33cc2886-0c61-4ce6-b3a5-362d4d5cd9b6

[Revant]

In case there is an error with opening the screenshot

[Revant]

I am also facing occasional lags and programs not responding. It's not for a prolonged period (about max 3-4 mins) but it still happens from time to time. Any reason as to why it could be happening ?

[Maurice Naggar]

Hello.

First, the Scan report from Malwarebytes for Windows is great.

Second,  I do not know why you cited a post at Microsoft Answers forum?   Is your system showing a message that says 

Quote

" This setting is managed by your administrator "

?   ?

 

Occasional or momentary lags in any Windows program or app is not unheard of.

Getting diagnostic reports at that time would help.   And perhaps doing some normal pc housekeeping may help.

At this point, lets just get a basic new diagnostic readout report.

open your Downloads folder
    RIGHT-click mb-support-1.6.1.784.exe     & select  "Run as Administrator"   to start the report  tool

Once it starts, you will see a first screen with 2 buttons.  Click the one on the left marked "I don't have an open support ticket".

        You may be prompted by User Account Control (UAC) to allow changes to be made to your computer. Click Yes to consent.
        
    Place a checkmark next to Accept License Agreement and click Next
Now click the left-hand side pane "I do not have an open support ticket"

    You will be presented with a page stating, "Get Started!"
    Do NOT use the button “Start repair” !   But look instead at the far-left options list in black.

    Click the Advanced tab on the left column
    
    Click the Gather Logs button
    
    A progress bar will appear and the program will proceed with getting logs from your computer.  Please do have patience.  It takes several minutes to gather.
   
    Upon completion, click a file named mbst-grab-results.zip will be saved to your Desktop. Click OK.  Then Exit the tool.

    Please attach the ZIP file in your next reply.

[Maurice Naggar]

ps.   Smartscreen for EDGE browser is fine for EDGE.   Though like any other "reputation based" type, it can falsely flag some things / tools/ apps that are actually fine.

[Revant]

Hi,

So I did the gather logs and am attaching the zip file here

TO address the windows security issue. Yes I am having that issue where it states that 

Quote

" This setting is managed by your administrator " 

And it could be bacuse of me having to install Local Group Policy Editor on my windows edition as it is the simple home edition. Lastly could you specify what you mean by normal pc housekeeping ?

 

mbst-grab-results.zip

[Maurice Naggar]

By normal pc housekeeping I mean,  insure all web browsers are cleared / emptied of temporary files & Cache files.

To delete temporary files that are no longer needed.  To do the usual best practices to insure all add-on applications are up to date with security patches.

To insure Windows is up to date on latest security released fixes thru Windows Update.

.

At this point, let's proceed with a scan using a different tool to check for adwares.

I  would suggest to download, Save, and then run Malwarebytes ADWCLEANER.
Please close Chrome and all other open web browsers after you have saved the Adwcleaner and before you start Adwcleaner scan.
Adwcleaner  detects factory Preinstalled applications too! 

Please download  Malwarebytes AdwCleaner  https://downloads.malwarebytes.com/file/adwcleaner
 
Be sure to Save the file first, to your system.  Saving to the Downloads folder should be the default on your system.

Go to the folder where you saved Adwcleaner. Double click Adwcleaner  to start it.
At the prompt for license agreement, review and then click on I agree.

You will then see a main screen for Adwcleaner. ( if you do not see it right away, minimized the other open windows, so you can see Adwcleaner).
Then click on Dashboard button.
Click the blue button "Scan Now".

allow it a few minutes to finish the Scan.   Let it remove what it finds.
NOTE:  When it comes to the section "
Pre-installed applications

You can skip that.
Please find and send the Adwcleaner "C" clean report.
In Adwcleaner, click the "Reports" button.  Look at the list of reports for the latest date & type "Clean".
Double Click that line & it will open in Notepad.   Save the file to your system and then Attach that with your reply.

That C clean report will be the one with the most recent Date and time at folder  C:\AdwCleaner\Logs
Thanks.  Keep me advised.
 

 

[Revant]

Could you please send an updated link. I am having issues loading the page.

Error message is 

"This site can’t be reached"

[Maurice Naggar]

Just so you know,  the link is good.  It wokds on my machine   & has always worked for countless others.

Nevertheless,  here are alternates

http://downloads.malwarebytes.com/file/adwcleaner

or

https://malwarebytes.com/adwcleaner

 

I do wonder which one of your web browsers encountered a glitch ?   You may try the EDGE browser instead.

[Revant]

So I tried all 3 links and only the 3rd is working on both chrome and edge. But the issue with the 3rd link is that it is not donwloading adwcleaner but malwerbytes (which is already installed on my laptop) and just to see it I tried to install it and it got installed again (is it supposed to do that ?)

And later I tried to do it again and when I click on download button I get redirected to download.toolslib.net and then it is unable to load the page

[Revant]

And I ran the network diagonistics on it and am attaching the report here 

windows_network_diagonistics.pdf

[Revant]

Okay so I installed it but I had to use a VPN connection (IP of UK) and then was able to download it. Sorry for the trouble

[Revant]

I am attaching the clean report from AdwCleaner here

AdwCleaner[C00].txt

[Maurice Naggar]

I am glad to see that you did manage to get & run the Adwcleaner.   And that report shows it found and removed "santivirusclient",  which is a rather pesky piece of work.

It can be rather involved to get all of it out.

I would like for you to Read ....digest .... to do what is listed on an expert "how to remove " article.

https://forums.malwarebytes.com/topic/256002-removal-instructions-for-santivirus/

 

You can skip the part about downloading or setting up Malwarebytes for Windows.  Your pc already has the  program.

But I would suggest that you restart the pc into Safe Mode with Networking.

Step 1:
Boot into Safe Mode with Networking:

• Restart your computer.
• When the machine first starts again it will generally list some equipment that is installed in your machine, amount of memory, hard drives installed etc. At this point, you should gently tap the F8 key repeatedly until you are presented with the Advanced Boot Options menu.
• Select the option for Safe Mode with Networking using the arrow keys.
• Then press Enter on your keyboard to boot into Safe Mode.
• If prompted to choose a user account to login, click on your normal user name (not Administrator unless that is your normal user account) to log into Windows

Step 2:

 

Run a scan with Malwarebytes.
Start Malwarebytes from the Windows  Start menu.

Click Settings ( gear icon)   at the top right of Malwarebytes window.   We want to see the SETTINGS window.

Then click the SECURITY  tab.
Scroll down and lets be sure the line in SCAN OPTIONs for "Scan for rootkits" is ON
Click it to get it ON  if it does not show a blue-color

Now click the small X  to get back to the main menu window.

Click the SCAN button.
Select a Threat Scan ( which should be the default).

When the scan phase is done  ( if anything is found or listed)     , be real sure you Review and have all detected lines items check-marked on each line on the left. That too is very critical.

Then click on Quarantine selected.

Be sure all items were removed.    Let it remove what it has detected.

 

Then, locate the Scan run report;  export out a copy;  & then attach in with your  reply.
See https://support.malwarebytes.com/hc/en-us/articles/360038479194-View-Reports-and-History-in-Malwarebytes-for-Windows-v4

 

When all done, Restart Windows back into normal mode.    Provide me a new current summary about the current condition.

Please do have patience in all this.

Sincerely,
 

[Revant]

so I am attaching the scan report here 

scan_report.txt

[Maurice Naggar]

Very very good scan result from Malwarebytes for Windows !

 

I would suggest a free scan with the ESET Online Scanner
Go to https://www.eset.com/us/home/online-scanner/

Look on the right side of the page.  Click Scan Now
It will start a download of "esetonlinescanner_enu.exe"
Save the file to your system, such as the Downloads folder, or else to the Desktop.

Go to the saved file, and double click it to get it started.
When presented with the initial ESET options, click on "Computer Scan".

Next, when prompted by Windows, allow it to start by clicking Yes

When prompted for scan type, Click on Full scan
Look at & tick  ( select )   the radio selection "Enable ESET to detect and quarantine potentially unwanted applications"   and click on Start scan button.

Have patience.  The entire process may take an hour or more. There is an initial update download.
There is a progress window display.
You should ignore all prompts to get the ESET antivirus software program.   ( e.g.  their standard program).   You do not need to buy or get or install anything else.

When the scan is completed, if something was found, it will show a screen with the number of detected items.  If so, click the button marked “View detected results”.

Click The blue “Save scan log” to save the log.

If something was removed and you know it is a false finding, you may click on the blue ”Restore cleaned files”  ( in blue, at bottom).

Press Continue when all done.  You should click to off the offer for “periodic scanning”.

Also, let me know, How is the situation at that point ?

Sincerely,

Maurice

[Revant]

Yeah so I did the full scan and am attaching the report here. The Santivirus was found again.  Is it possible that there is some malicious software just re-downloading it unto the system or something ? Also the occsional lags are ther not that prominent but just there (it porbably lilke 1-2 mins max) and I think it could be due to my laptop being like 2 years old and I should just porbably get it cleaned and checked for hardware I guess

es et_scan_report.txt

[Maurice Naggar]

The ESET ONline scanner found a file in a TEMP folder

C:\Windows.old\Users\revan\AppData\Local\Temp\tmpSec5116341\sasetup.exe

and removed it.   That by itself does not indicate that "santivirus" is around.    It seems that remains was there only due to being a a TEMP sub-folder of Appdata

Where else have you spotted any suspicious thing ?

.

You can run another scan to re-scan this system.

Dr.Web CureIt is the name of the tool.

Do not click on the small popup mini-window that shows up.   Look for the green color button that says "Download Dr.Web CureIt"  with the down-arrow icon

 

Download Dr.Web CureIt to the desktop. 
The download is nearly 208  MB in size

 

After the download is completed, then close the browser and all other web browsers too.

Use the Windows File Explorer to go to the Downloads folder.

 

doubleclick on  the download file file to start the tool.     ( drweb will randomize the name of the file when you download it )

 

⦁    You will see a screen similar to this:

 
Click the checkbox to participate, and then click on Continue button.

 

⦁    Next

 
Click on Select objects for scanning
⦁    Next

 
Put a checkmark by clicking on all the boxes    EXCEPT for

"Temporary files"

"System restore points"

Do not select Temporary files or System Restore points.

Then click on Start scanning button

⦁    The scan in progress will be shown like this

 

⦁    IF something is detected, you will see a screen similar to this

 

 
For each item "detected", click on the Action column down arrow, like this
 

Your options will be Cure or Ignore

IF you see an item that you are very sure is ok, then un-check the checkbox for that item.
Typically, you will keep the Cure default.

Then click on the Neutralize button.

 

⦁    When the actions are completed, you will see this

 
⦁    Click on the green Open Report line. It will pop-up the report in NOTEPAD.
Save the report to your desktop. The report will be called Cureit.log
⦁    Close Dr.Web Cureit. 
⦁    Reboot your computer to allow files that were in use to be moved/deleted during reboot. 
⦁    After reboot, attach the log Cureit.log you saved previously in your next reply. 

 

Have patience in all this. 

 

 

[Revant]

Okay I shall do this. I am currently going to sleep so expect a delay of around 8 hrs before I start doing all this. 

Appreciate your help and advice

[Revant]

Attaching the report of Dr Web Cureit here.

cureit.log

[Maurice Naggar]

Thank you for the DrWeb CureIt scan report.  The CureIt log says,  There are no infected objects detected

 

Tell me, is there anything else that you need at this point ?

[Revant]

Just wanted to confirm this setting is okay if it is turned off right (see attached screenshot from my laptop) and if I need it turned on how do I do that ?

 

[Maurice Naggar]

Those setting would be fine to have.

You can see that screen if you just select Windows Settings >>>

then just do a search on "reputation-based protection"

[Maurice Naggar]

Also, too, keep in mind, Smartscreen protection can have false positives.   Just like any other "reputation based" tool can have false positives.

[Revant]

Okay understood. I'll just make sure to keep scanning with malwarebyte from time to time. 

Also this is the screenshot from my settings but I get it that it is fine anyways

Thank you for helping me. Is there any way I could return the favor ? If yes then do let me know