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I think im infected!!!

post #1 of 10
9/20/07 at 1:00pm
Thread Starter 
Theres a file in my Task Manager called "system". It just showed up yesterday, and when i try to end it, it initates a shutdown and gives me 1 minute. Luckily, I knew the Shutdown -a command, so I could stop it. The dell is also running alot slower, so its not looking good. I only want to do a reformat as a LAST resort, but if everyone agrees i need it, i will.
Thanks for any help!
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post #2 of 10
9/20/07 at 5:41pm
i have it also.

system slow:
when was the last time u defrag? clean up browser caches? there r a few process where i would take a 2nd look and see if u can disable their start

cheers ...
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post #3 of 10
9/20/07 at 6:37pm
Sorry to inform you but 'System' is actually a legitimate process in windows.
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post #4 of 10
9/20/07 at 8:00pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vchat20 View Post
Sorry to inform you but 'System' is actually a legitimate process in windows.
Idk if this one is legit here. It just showed up yesterday, and when i attempt to close it, it refuses and begins a shutdown of the entire system, but if you're sure, ill start my search somewhere else. To QHN, I defrag about once a week, with 2 days ago being the last time. I run CCleaner every day almost to clean caches, etc PS. Vchat20, how did you make that signature, I REALLY WANNA DO THAT!
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post #5 of 10
9/20/07 at 8:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by toshibaiba View Post
It just showed up yesterday, and when i attempt to close it, it refuses and begins a shutdown of the entire system, but if you're sure, ill start my search somewhere else.
Well, I dunno why it would have just shown up. But the fact that closing it deliberately causes an 'administrative shutdown' is a dead giveaway usually that it's a legit system service.
Quote:
Originally Posted by toshibaiba View Post
PS. Vchat20, how did you make that signature, I REALLY WANNA DO THAT!
Mostly just simple photoshop work really.
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post #6 of 10
9/20/07 at 9:12pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vchat20 View Post
Well, I dunno why it would have just shown up. But the fact that closing it deliberately causes an 'administrative shutdown' is a dead giveaway usually that it's a legit system service. Mostly just simple photoshop work really.
Cool, Im gonna have to try to make something like that. I dont know, maybe I just flat out havent seen it (the system process) before. I dont really know where to start now, Spybot is clear, AdAware is clear, Kaspersky and Trend Micro Housecall are clear, and my hard drive is 0% fragmented, but its still running slow. I dont know, I may just back up whats vital, and restore it. Thanks for the help!
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post #7 of 10
9/21/07 at 9:05am
turning off disk indexing first and see? if u have not done so

cheers ...
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post #8 of 10
9/21/07 at 10:37am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by qhn View Post
turning off disk indexing first and see? if u have not done so cheers ...
Yes, Ive already turned off Indexing. Any More Ideas would be great! By the way, this was my first attempt at a signature, ive only used photoshop once before, so dont laugh at it
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post #9 of 10
9/21/07 at 11:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by toshibaiba View Post
Cool, Im gonna have to try to make something like that. I dont know, maybe I just flat out havent seen it (the system process) before. I dont really know where to start now, Spybot is clear, AdAware is clear, Kaspersky and Trend Micro Housecall are clear, and my hard drive is 0% fragmented, but its still running slow. I dont know, I may just back up whats vital, and restore it.
Thanks for the help!

If it passed all that, I'd say it's got to be legit. For future reference, a quick way to check whether a system process is legit or not is to look at the directory it's running from. virtually all legitimate Windows processes (not counting programs you're running) run out of the WINDOWS/system32 directory, so if you've got what looks like a Windows process but isn't running from that directory, it's worth a closer look.

If everything's okay and your system is still running slow, purchasing more memory could be helpful.
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post #10 of 10
9/21/07 at 11:55am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Djembe View Post
If it passed all that, I'd say it's got to be legit. For future reference, a quick way to check whether a system process is legit or not is to look at the directory it's running from. virtually all legitimate Windows processes (not counting programs you're running) run out of the WINDOWS/system32 directory, so if you've got what looks like a Windows process but isn't running from that directory, it's worth a closer look. If everything's okay and your system is still running slow, purchasing more memory could be helpful.
I've got plenty of ram available, Heres a pic while im using some other apps, just to show how much is availableI think I may just reformat if I can't figure anything out. Any more ideas before I do a backup and restore, is appreciated!
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