Can this be a virus?

[mojaam]

WindowsRun.exe keeps popping up in the task manager, crashing my XP Home after 5 mins. It started yesterday. I restart the PC, everything is fine, then after 5 minutes or so of usage, programs crash, internet stop working, among all these other problems.
Tried system restore, but that didnt help. The only thing I noticed was a process in the background called WindowsRun.exe which continues to come back. I will hate to keep restarting to use my computer for only 5 minutes. Is there anything I can do or is reinstallation an order?

 

[mechBgon]

What antivirus and firewall software (and hardware) are you using?

 

[daniel49]

there does seem to be a trojan out there thats commonly associated with kaaza.. and (WindowsRun.exe) most of the hits I got on it were spanish pages though. But if you translate them you may get some info.
http://translate.google.com/translate?h...x%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:unofficial

 

[mojaam]

Yeh me too, I tried reading it but it wasn't geared torward my problem. Now my system getting even worse. But thanks to Zone Alarm, I can see all these spyware that are being blocked. Ugh, I am finally seeing what all this spyware, XP security flaws, etc etc talk is all about...

 

[tyborg]

ok ok ok. First off, get some free anti-spyware software. go to http://www.lavasoft.de and get ad-aware. Then get spybot Search and Destroy at http://www.safer-networking.com. Then go get a program from microsoft that gets rid of spyware, appropriately called the MS Malicious Software Removal Tool. http://www.microsoft.com. Then go to http://www.merijn.com. Go to downloads and find a link to download CWShredder to make sure you don't have Coolwebsearch on your computer (a particularly nasty type of virus.).

Then go get an antivirus program at http://www.grisoft.com and download AVG 7.0. It's $40 for two years, or they have a free version with no tech support.

If you can, scan it for viruses when the harddrive is plugged into a different computer. If not, oh well. Next, boot up in safe mode, (press f8 REPEATEDLY) when booting up your computer, and run all your new anti-spyware/antivirus programs to clean out your system. several reboots and scans may be necessary. Once you're all cleaned out, head to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com and patch up that bad boy.

I know most of this is basic, but I want to be sure you have all your bases covered. In the shop we have these programs all on a CD and put them on every computer that comes here.

EDIT: To answer your question, yes it is a virus. The fact that you can end the task, but it just comes back, tells me that.

 

[mechBgon]

Try this. Download the items below.

WinsockFix You will use this after the other stuff. It fixes broken web browsing after you tear out spyware.

30-day trial of Kaspersky Antivirus Personal 5

download this text file and save it Download the scanner that is mentioned in the text file, and unzip it as directed. Keep the text file too.

30-day trial of Webroot Spysweeper

Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta
Uninstall any antivirus software that you have installed now.

Install the Kaspersky Antivirus. Open Kaspersky's interface and go to the Real-Time and On-Demand scanner panels and set them to Maximum detection level. Go to the Threats & Exclusions panel and set it to Extended databases. Run an update. Do not get hasty and scan right now, you will scan LATER.

Install and update the Webroot Spysweeper. Do not get hasty and scan right now.

Install and update the Microsoft Antispyware. Do not get hasty and scan right now.

Make sure you have that McAfee scanner properly unzipped to C:\McAfee.

Disable System Restore by right-clicking My Computer > System Restore and disabling it.

Reboot the computer in Safe Mode.

While you are in Safe Mode, you will run four scans.

1) Start with the McAfee scanning utility that you had to download and unzip. Let it run until its window disappears, which could be a long time if you have lots of data.

2) Stay in Safe Mode and now run the Kaspersky Antivirus scan.

3) Stay in Safe Mode and run the Microsoft Antispyware scan. Make it do the Full Scan, not the Quick Scan. Make sure it does not do an Ignore on anything it detected.

4) Stay in Safe Mode and run the Webroot Spysweeper scan.

5) Run WinsockFix.

6) Reboot into normal Windows and see how you did. If it came up clean, go to Control Panel and enable Automatic Updates, then drag the computer through Windows Update several times until it comes up clean.