[SOLVED] Problems after malware removal

[sorcerer]

Got an Acer Aspire X1430 desktop running Win 7 Home Premium SP1 x64 on the bench at the moment. It came in because of malware infection - no real viruses as such as far as I could see, just things like Conduit, Babylon, My PC Backup, MySearchDial etc., etc.

After running TDSS Killer, MBAR, MBAM, JRT, AdwCleaner and Rogue Killer (oh, and also Hitman Pro, but I forgot I'd used it on this machine about a year ago so it told me that the trial licence had expired and wouldn't fix anything), the machine is now pop-up free and running a lot faster than when I first got it.

However, I still think it's a little on the slow side (ran hardware diagnostics first and everything alright so I doubt that's the reason) and there appears to be a real problem with playing Youtube videos.

There are three browsers installed - IE, Firefox and Chrome - and all of them refuse to play any Youtube video. They all fail with the very informative error message shown in the attached picture. Even D7's own built-in browser does the same. Java, Silverlight, Shockwave and Flash are all present and correct and all up to date, although I think only Flash is required for Youtube so why I've just listed the others I don't know - probably because it's Sunday

Any ideas on what's happening because I've never seen this before?

EDIT: I should have said - when you do click on the link to "learn more" on the Youtube video, it just goes into generic stuff like "You're connection may be having problems" etc., none of which apply here. My own bench machine next to this one can play then as good as always.

 

[PBComputer]

Tried SFC or a new profile?

 

[sorcerer]

Tried SFC or a new profile?

Not yet Paul, but a good suggestion and I'll do it now. Cheers sir

 

[Martyn]

Got one here that had a similar problem. Even problems with the hidden administrator account. Created a new profile and fine.

 

[Markverhyden]

tweaking.com's AIO and subinacl? But new user may be the nickel solution to the dime problem.

 

[sorcerer]

Got one here that had a similar problem. Even problems with the hidden administrator account. Created a new profile and fine.

Thanks Martyn, I'll keep that in mind for later.

 

[sorcerer]

tweaking.com's AIO and subinacl? But new user may be the nickel solution to the dime problem.

Cheers Mark

 

[AlexCa]

Maybe a firewall rule added by malware to block access? you could try to reset firewall to defaults.

 

[sorcerer]

Now this gets weirder. Just out of curiosity and before I do anything else, I went to Vimeo to see if any video from there would play - and they do! They play perfectly!

Now I really am baffled. Don't you just love this job of ours

EDIT: Whoops, spoke too soon. That one or two seem to have been a fluke - now Vimeo vids aren't playing either. Ah well, I'll try your suggestions and see what happens. Thanks folks.

 

[AlexCa]

Now this gets weirder. Just out of curiosity and before I do anything else, I went to Vimeo to see if any video from there would play - and they do! They play perfectly!

Now I really am baffled. Don't you just love this job of ours

i put my money on firewall rule

 

[ohio_grad_06]

Run tweaking.com all in one repair tool ans see what it does afterward.

 

[bertie40]

I had something similar last week.

Desktop (8 yr old acer) with win 7 home. 3gb ram
Malware infections : cleaned
...... But slow.

It just felt........ Wrong.
Not scientific I know, but anyway...

Hard drive checked ok.

The remaining problem was the wifi connection. It took 3 minutes for the net gear dongle to connect to the router (4 feet away) every time the machine booted.

I ran a temporary Ethernet cable. Same connection issue.
Rebooted the router.

Tried more scans,
SFC found unrepairable files,
system log showed SSL errors.
Tried a new profile, that tweak AIO repair tool etc.
D7 firewall fixes and stack fixes etc.

Ram checked ok.

Reinstalled dongle software, using windows as the controller. (I never use the manufacturers GUI crap). [emoji6]

Interestingly, machine was quicker, but internet still took ages to become live.


(Yes, I wish I had written that error down)

In the end, I advised the frustrated customer that there were multiple corrupted files, and that, economically, it wasn't worth digging so I advised to have the machine nuke and paved.

She said no, as she was planning on a new laptop anyway.

(Small scream).

In your case, I wonder if the system log would reveal anything here, also, if some web page redirect was taking place, such as a marketing analytical 3rd party such as google analytics ?

PS. I didn't charge.

 

[cypress]

Tweaking AIO is gonna help in checking alot of what was suggested. Runs the SFC and also checks issue with firewalls and such. Can't count how many times this has really helped solve those nagging issues either before or after doing a virus removal.

 

[sorcerer]

Well, the system log didn't throw up anything and tweaking.com's AIO repair tool didn't really help - it said that it found and fixed a bunch of things and it may well have done, but none of them solved the problem of not being able to play Youtube (or other) videos, nor did they take away the general feeling of, to use Bertie's phrase, 'wrongness'.

Sadly, this machine may be heading down the N&P route I'm afraid.

Thanks to all who offered help - much appreciated as always.

EDIT: OK, weirder and weirder. Just tried all three browsers and IE and Firefox still fail to play videos, showing the same message as the attachment in my OP, but Chrome now works - properly and repeatably works!

I feel I'm so close and yet so far!

 

[Moltuae]

I've had this before ..... trying to remember what I did to fix it.

I seem to remember it was (rather illogically) DNS related, even though DNS seemed to be functioning correctly for everything else.

Try setting the adaptors DNS settings from automatic (or whatever they're presently set to) to Google's public DNS servers (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4).

 

[sorcerer]

Thanks Moltuae but unfortunately that didn't work.

 

[Martyn]

Did you try a new profile? Created 2 new ones and all the functionality came back. There were lots of programs missing in Programs and Features. It's going back tomorrow fully working.

 

[altrenda]

I had similar problem recently with Firefox. Both Client and I reinstalled Flash, but no go.

I finally uninstalled Flash completely with Revo and then did a fresh install, now it works fine.

Worth a try.

 

[KarlChilders]

Had a similar youtube problem that went away when I plugged in speakers. Strange.

 

[Moltuae]

I finally uninstalled Flash completely ...

Thinking back , that was one of the things I did when I had the problem too.

I tried so many things at the time though, I can't remember if that was what fixed if for me or not. As you say though, certainly worth a try.

@sorcerer: I would delete any remaining Flash program or data folders too before reinstalling it.