My DigitalZone

As I had problems with VERY persistent trojans (see this post), I spent this weekend reinstalling Windows XP. It was tedious but went well except for 2 glitches. The computer didn’t recognize the network connection and audio devices. So, I had to download drivers from the ASUS sites. I didn’t have to do this when I first installed WinXP, but anyhow, everything is fine now.

Of course, I installed Virus protection and firewall program to protect it.

The “NTLDR-is-missing problem” is not limited to Dell computers or to the Windows XP operating system; however, it seems to happen to Dell computers often and it is a pain to fix it. The cause of this is corrupt boot files. Most of the time, when a user powers up the computer, it doesn’t boot and all he/she sees is “NTLDR is missing. Press Ctrl, Alt, and Del to reboot your computer” on a black screen. If the boot files are corrupt, booting up to a Safe Mode to troubleshoot is not an option. I’ve tried to go to a Safe Mode on Dell computers, but I had trouble doing so because pressing F-8 didn’t work on a Dell computer.

In order to fix/troubleshoot the problem, please follow the procedure below.

1. Make sure that the CD/DVD drive is empty and you are not using any USB device (USB flash drive, etc.) If your computer has a floppy drive, make sure it is empty.
2. If nothing is in the CD/DVD/floppy/USB drive, and you still see the missing NTLDR message, you need to repair the Windows installation. If you have the Windows installation CD at hand, do the following.
   • Get into the CMOS setup screen by pressing the F-2 or DEL key right after powering up the computer.
   • On the CMOS screen, change the boot sequence to CD-Rom Drive, USB, and Hard Drive.
   • Insert the Windows installation CD and power up the computer.
   • When prompted to press any key to boot from the CD, press any key.
   • In the Windows set up menu, press “R” to repair Windows.
   • When asked for the administrator password, type in the password. For a blank passowrd, just pressing the “Enter” key should work…… (However, it didn’t work for me maybe because I was using my installation CD on my friend’s computer. If that is the case, you need to setup the computer to boot from a boot CD just like I did. Please see the explanation below.)
   • Assuming that you had the admin passoword and entered it correctly, you need to copy 2 files from the CD to the root directory of your PC. Here, I’m assuming the drive letter for the CD-ROM drive is D and your PC’s root directory is C.

                 copy d:\i386\ntldr c:
                 copy d:\i386\ntdetect.com c:

   • After copying the above 2 files, remove the CD from the CD-ROM drive and reboot.
3. If “repairing the Windows” does not work because: 1) you don’t have the Windows installation CD or; 2) you don’t have the administrator password, you can still get the computer up and running by creating a boot CD. In an ideal situation, you’d already created a boot CD when your computer was working properly; however, most people, including me, just take a working PC for granted and procrastinate to create an emergency boot CD. You can download an ISO of a boot CD and burn it on a CD by using the following method.
   • Go to AnswersThatWork.com site and download “Boot Disk – Windows XP Emergency Boot Disk (XP SP2 Pro & XP SP2 Home).”
   • Unzip the file and burn the unzipped file on a CD using “creating a bootable CD” option of a CD burning software.
   • Make sure the boot sequence of your PC is set to the CD-ROM first. Insert the CD and boot up your PC.

The above methods are non-destructive methods in which you can keep the files on your computer. If you don’t mind wiping out everything on your PC, you can always resort to “Reinstalling the Windows,” which is not fun at all. But if your PC had other problems, e.g., sluggishness or constant freezing, it may be a good idea (only if you are OK with losing everything on your PC.)

Antivirus 2008 is malware and is becoming rampant. It is extremely annoying and oftentimes makes a computer unoperable with its pop-ups and fake warnings. According to Wikipedia, Malware is “software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner’s informed consent.” Most people get infected with Antivirus 2008 by installing a fake codec for audio or video files or by installing software that hides malicious software in the package. You can remove Antivirus 2008 with free software called “Anti-Malware” by Malwarebytes. So, do not buy software that Antivirus 2008 recommends.

Infections
It has many variants but the main characteristics of this malware is to rely on scare tactics (about virus infection on the PC) and to convince the user to buy Virus removal software online. When Antivirus 2008 gets installed on a computer, it will start giving warnings about viruses on the computer. It will ask the user to scan the computer with Antivirus and will show the results. All the infections shown in the result window are actually fake, planted by Antivirus 2008 itself. When the user tries to remove infections, he/she will be notified that the removal capability is disabled with the free version of Antivirus and only the purchased version will be able to remove the infections.

Here are a few screenshots of the Antivirus warnings.

Removal
It is possible to remove Antivirus 2008 manually; however, it is a complicated process and can be intimidating if you are not familiar with computers. There is excellent software that can take care of Antivirus 2007/2008/2009 infections and other malware problems. The software is free for basic uses, and you don’t need to buy an upgraded paid version. Please go to Malwarebyte’s home page, download Anti Malware, install it, scan your computer, and follow the directions. I’ve used this software many times on my and my friend’s computer. It is effective and easy to use.

Additional software for precaution and regular maintenance
I also recommend to use Lavasoft’s Ad-Aware. One note of caution for this software is that their latest version seems to be a bit buggy, at least on my computer. This software scans for spyware and other malware that can cause problems.