I was working on a spyware filled system, and was getting to the end of the clean up, when on a reboot, the system32 folder started opening up, on booting into windows. I've seen this in the past and tried what has worked before. Highjackthis did not see what it was. Even using msconfig to do a diagnostic startup, which disables just about everything on boot, the folder would still open up.
Searching the web did not turn up a quick answer. In a post I ran across, someone said to use the Autoruns tool from Sysinternals to see where and what things are really being told to startup. I used it to look things over. This utility makes msconfig look as pathetic as it is!
In looking at all of the entries, I found references to the spyware files I had just deleted, and an odd entry for kernel32 to run. I disabled the kernel32 entry and rebooted the system. Now the system32 folder does not pop open at boot.
While I solved the problem, I thought I would pass along the info on the very useful program.
Autoruns utility
Searching the web did not turn up a quick answer. In a post I ran across, someone said to use the Autoruns tool from Sysinternals to see where and what things are really being told to startup. I used it to look things over. This utility makes msconfig look as pathetic as it is!
In looking at all of the entries, I found references to the spyware files I had just deleted, and an odd entry for kernel32 to run. I disabled the kernel32 entry and rebooted the system. Now the system32 folder does not pop open at boot.
While I solved the problem, I thought I would pass along the info on the very useful program.
Autoruns utility
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