I just installed Comodo today. Everything was working well. I set NOD32 to run a manual scan. Before NOD completed the scan I tried to open firefox and it wouldn’t open. Neither would Opera or IE respond. I figure something crashed. So I decided to restart the computer. Eveything froze. I ulpugged the pc and tried to restart the PC again and windows no longer loading. It just sit there’s like it’s trying to start but it never starts. Safe mode is not working either I finally got it to try to start in safe mode and i can’t get pass log in screen.
If i can get it started i did an Image and a system restore before installing comodo. I uninstalled ZAP this morning. And everything was working well.
Okay, when I said you could ask questions as needed, gugarci, this wasn’t what I had in mind! Okay, now from joking to serious.
A couple questions.
Did you by any chance turn off NOD32 prior to installing CFP?
Did you reboot after installing CFP?
And just to clarify, you opened (or tried) Firefox while NOD was scanning, and it was at this point that everything froze? And since then, you have not been able to reach the Windows login screen?
OK no NOD32 was turned on during the installation. I rebooted after the installation. And yes I tried to open the browser while NOD was scanning. But i was surfing the net with Firefox prior to my browswer freezing. I had close Firefox and when i went to reopen it and everything froze.
Right now I’m using my old Win 98 PC with Firefox 1.5 and no firewall.
The initial freeze is probably due to excess memory/CPU usage from opening FF while the scan was running; that the system was overloaded at that point. I know FF uses quite a bit when it first opens (70% or more, sometimes, on my systems).
However, the difficulties since… I’m not sure there.
Can you reach a login screen at all, whether in regular or Safe mode?
If you can, what happens when you try to log in?
If you can’t, what exactly do you see?
LM
PS: Try unplugging all power from your computer, LAN cable, everything, and leaving it for 15 - 30 minutes, then reconnecting and powering up.
Do an image rollback or system restore to pre-CFP.
Once that’s accomplished and you’re back in regular mode, be sure to run a registry cleaner just to catch any stragglers…
Then if you have the strength left to have another go at it, completely disable NOD and any other security software that might be actively running (antispyware, HIPS, etc).
AFAIK, I have not seen this exact scenario before; not with this firewall. Very odd.
Looks like I finally log in to safe mode but things are not working properly. I cannot access the control panel or my computer. And while logging on I got an error message saying then drive C which is where XP is installed is not formatted.
Something nasty no doubt. Any errors in event viewer (run this Windows command from the start menu: eventvwr.msc)? Any memory dumps? Are you even able to run scandisk?
When I tried eventvwr.msc at the run command I get an error message saying windows cannot create a short cut. That makes no sense. I’ll try scan disk if it will load. I would love be able to find system restore. It’s not in my start menu/accesories and I couldn’t find it the control panel. Otherwise i would try that first. I’m also trying to get True Image to start. It’s almost there. But I have never use it ever to restore an image.
If you have access to My Computer, right click on your C: drive > Properties > Tools tab > Error-checking is scandisk itself. If anyone wants to correct me, go ahead.
Once the above instructions have been followed, post the results and if the problem has not been found at that point then it MAY be a virus so:
Do the following but in safe mode (Maybe download hijackthis on another computer and burn it to cd to get it on the problem computer).
Hijackthis instructions:
GOTO: “http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/index.php”
on the left hand side goto “Downloads tab”
Select “Hijackthis”
Download from a mirror.
Instruction on how to use hijackthis:
1. Once downloaded, extract it to it's own folder somewhere on your computer. (Do Not run from within the Zip file)
2. Make sure you logged onto an administrative account.
3. Once extracted, run the "hijackthis.exe" that was extracted.
4. Click "Do a system scan and save a logfile", wait a few secs.
5. Once finished it should save a "hijackthis.log" file in the same directory as you ran the program from and open the file.
6. Copy the contents of the file into your post, or attach the "hijackthis.log" file into your post, please do not zip it as this makes myself nervous because of file infecter viruses.
OK, I made a change during the boot set up so it will boot from a cd. I have True image running as I type. Crossing my fingers. I still would love to know what happened.
Best $29.00 I’ve ever spent. True Image has save the evening. Although this began around 1pm. Thanks the help. Now I know what to do in case I revisit the ZAP to Comodo move again this Thurs.
I got to think about this real hard.
Although I kept getting error messages while in safe mode saying my “the C drive is not formatted. Would you like to format?”
Which I kept closing. While installing Comodo I turned off the XP Firewall for about 2 mins. Could I have been attacked in that time???
Anyway good night folks.
This is definitely not a benign message. You should scan your computer with everything at your disposal. And yes, it only takes a few seconds to infect your computer. And it could have been a dormant/sleeper program as well.
Use any antivirus and malware/spyware program to see if you can root out the cause.
Didn’t someone in this forum posted it takes an average of 6 minutes to be hacked? Maybe it takes less time to be infected with malware even by merely being connected on the net?
That’s what security folks say in Security forum | DSLReports, ISP Information.
I don’t think it was Comodo’s fault but it was scary. And I’ll say it again Thank God for True Image. Best $29.00 I’ve ever spent. I’m looking into adding a router. I’ll pursue Comodo another time.
Thanks.