Untitled thread

[dumontal 0]

Hi all.

 

I have a little problem with my WINXP. Well, two problems i think.

 

First of all, when i'm in the "my documents" folder (or some other folders, but it happened mostly with my documents), it sometimes (about once every five times, i'd say) goes "not responding" for like 5 minutes. When i click on "end task" with the task manager, it sometimes causes the computer to restart... 2/3 times, though, it just closes the folder, freezes everything, and goes back to normal after a while.

 

I've run hijackthis, adaware, bazooka spyware scanner and my antivirus and none of them find anything. Except hijackthis that tells me:

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [KernelFaultCheck] %systemroot%\system32\dumprep 0 -k

 

I've made a sfc/scannow and nothing came back, i've used regclean and bigfix (on another forum, it said it worked for someone who had a similar problem) and still, nothing...

 

Also, i don't know if it's relevant, but once in a while (2-3 days), zone alarm asks me if i want to give idesk mfc application permission to access internet. It gives me the program name idemlog.exe in my windows/system32 directory. But when i search it, there's no sign. I don't know if it's a spyware or a legitimate program... I googled it and some say idesk is a program that's the same as explorer but for linux, and some say that idemlog.exe is part of a spyware. Is it dangerous and should i let it access internet?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

P.-S. Even if you can't solve my problem, i'd appreciate it if you could give me a hint on what's happening...

[Sampson 0]

Let's take this one thing at a time. Despite the very clear description you give, you make several jumps that muddies my following you.

 

I am presuming that what concerns you is that when you use Windows Explorer to pull up your files, it takes too long. To close Windows Explorer you bring up the Taskmanager, click on explorer.exe and then the button End Task. If this is what you were trying to relate, then your computer is doing exactly what it is supposed to do. You see your Desktop is run by explorer.exe also and so by terminating that process, basically you are closing down the Desktop which confuses windows and so it reboots. This in turn causes Windows to create a "dump" file with information that generally is meant to be sent to Microsoft - hence the Registry entry: HKLM\..\Run: [KernelFaultCheck] %systemroot%\system32\dumprep 0 -k . This entry simply means it is used in connection with memory dumps - you can disable these by - right clicking on My Computer, selecting Properties and then the Advanced tab. Click on the Settings button in 'Startup and Recovery'. In the bottom pane - under 'Write debugging information' - click on the down arrow and then select 'None' - OK your way out if you don't want to see it again. But, the long and the short of resolving part of your problem is not to end the explorer.exe from the Task Manager.

 

Now as to why Windows Explorer takes so long - that's the mystery. I've seen this happen on moderate sized networks whose computers are fairly distant from one another and whose hubs are either a little flakey or overtaxed. In XP Windows Explorer tries to go out and get as much info on every drive and shared folder it can. It sometimes refuses to timeout which means you wait. If your machine is on a network, consider that angle - which computer is being stubborn and dropping packets.

 

Since you didn't mention that this machine was on a network, and I am only guessing now, given what you have written - you may have installed some software that would permit you to access let's say your office computer from your home. IDesk, which you mention, is an open source program that software like Tarantella - now owned by Sun (maker of Java)- uses so that you can communicate across operating systems on the internet. Basically, all idesk does is create the icons, coordinates them, and allows a call to be made. In other words, you would have an icon on your desktop that when you click it, it connects to a specific client pretty seamlessly - unless the client you are trying to reach is down (or off)in which case, it either times out (which may take it a while) or it asks to start another process on your machine to see if the client is responding.

 

I hope this is a start to resolving what is happening to your computer. Come back to this forum and give us some more info about your setup. The more that is known, the better we can figure out the specifics as to what is happening.

[Sampson 0]

It looks like I forgot to mention that you may want to scan your machine for viruses, trojans or spyware before you do anything else just in case some backdoor program has been installed on your machine.

[dumontal 0]

Hello there.

 

First of all, thanks! It didn't solve the problem(s!) i had, but at least i understand what's happening. I don't use explorer (not actively though), i just double-click on the folders (and that's the folder that's not responding and causes the computer to freeze and that's on the folder i click to "end program"). I don't know if that's what you meant by using explorer.

 

But i think it's an explorer problem, 'cause the last time it happened, i just used the task manager to start a new program, explorer.exe and no rebooting...

 

Also, you guessed right: i installed a program to share some photos/videos with my dad. But it's not always on. Could it causes the problem even when it's not running?

 

As for idesk, the only thing that's bugging me is that i can't find it, neither with google desktop or the windows searching dog, even if i include hidden files. It doesn't exist and still manages to ask to go on the internet. I mean, wow!

 

There are also a "main MFC application", "redirect mfc application", "uninstallkey MFC application" and "version MFC application" that are present in zone alarm, but ask for nothing, and they, too, are not there when i search them.

 

Thank you!

[Sampson 0]

Yes, just clicking on the folders starts Windows Explorer. Anyway, the program you installed to share with your Father, was it Instant photo gallery? There is a security advisory about it in relation to idesk: http://secunia.com/advisories/17841/

[Sampson 0]

Also found this: http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/virusencyclo/default5.asp?VName=TROJ%5FEMFSPLOIT%2EA&VSect=P

Explorer.exe starts to implode once this trojan is installed. This is in reference to the vulnerability found in the way Windows does its graphics. Since Trend Micro found it, you can go to their Housecall and have it scan your machine online.

 

Right now I am shooting in the dark since it seems you have some kind of software or some kind of virus/trojan that is interfering with your explorer's performance. Again, it could just be a registry entry. Will keep looking. Whenever you see something or a message write it down and report it here.

[Relic 0]

Found this from 2004, methinks this is the cure for your problem. Read through the whole thread, seems to be a bitch to get rid of, so don't give up, you can disappear it.

 

Good luck, and let us know what happens.

 

http://forums.subratam.org/index.php?showtopic=6121&hl=idesk+mfc

[dumontal 0]

Wow!

 

Was that long! But i finally got rid of the idemlog file. And from some other file that AVG found but couldn't heal/delete/move to vault too!

 

As for my other problem, i checked with all the new things i had (ewido, killbox, blacklite, etc) they found about 150 new things (mostly trojan i think) and, i don't want to ruin this, but i think it's gone. Well, i hope so!

 

If not, i know where i can go, though!

 

Thanks guys.

[Relic 0]

Very cool dumontal, happy to see you got it fixed.