Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Viruses Drive Me Nuts

I got a virus on my computer on the 26th, and I've been fighting it ever since. It's slowing my computer down (especially Internet Explorer), and I'm guessing it's reading my key-strokes because sometimes I'll be typing and a letter will be missing even after I pressed the key for it. Thus it's a little annoying for me to even be writing this right now.

I have cleaned out a bunch of stuff that I found hidden on the hard drive and system registry. I scanned my computer using McAfee with July 2006 definitions (I have to buy it to get newer definitions), but it didn't find anything at all which surprised me. I then tried one of those free online virus scanners, and it found several items and deleted them. Yet I still have problems.

I found something in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 -- a file called "mcinivx.dll". I searched for this on the web and found no results on it. I found an entry for it in the registry and deleted it. Two seconds later, it reappears in the registry. I try to delete the file, and it says it's in use. It created a file called "mcinivx.dns" a couple times, and each time I sent it to the recycle bin. Now however, there's a file called "dn589c4aec.dat" that's in the directory. The moment I delete it, it reappears. Sometimes "explorer.exe" won't even start, so I have to manually start it. Safe Mode hasn't helped any at all.

I'm certain this "mcinivx.dll" file is bad news, but it amazes me that I can't find anything on this file. Usually when you search for a file, you get some results in the search engine. I sent the file to McAfee Avert Labs to have them look into it. The initial test on the file returned no results, so now it's going to be looked at by a professional. I haven't heard back from them yet.

In the meantime, if anyone has any information, it would be appreciated!

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