7 replies to this topic

[oshmir]

I'm really confused. I've had firefox for three weeks now, but all of a sudden it won't load up any sites. Instead a box pops up saying, "The connection was refused when attempting to contact www.google.com" (or any other website).

Right before firefox stopped working Norton Anti-virus went beserk! It kept scanning this one email that was sent to me and I think it said it had a virus or something. Norton anti-virus kept popping up boxes showing that is was scanning and no matter what I did, it wouldn't stop. I had 15 boxes at one time. So I did the only thing I could do and restarted my computer. After restarting and trying to go back on firefox, it didn't work.

I heard the problem might be some settings with the firewall that came with this computer. But I don't know why it would act up after 3 weeks of surfin the net with firefox. I'm thinking that it's some problem with the anti-virus thing, though. I've tried opening up Norton Internet Security (for the firewall) and Norton Anti-virus but neither one will let me! So now I can't really do anything at the moment.

I have XP home edition, by the way.

Edited by oshmir, 20 July 2004 - 11:40 AM.

[WyoCowboy]

Usually, when you see a large number of Norton email scanning notifications popup and the machine becomes unresponsive, it is because you are already infected with a virus, and the virus has launched its smtp engine after detecting a connection to the internet. It then starts blasting out infected emails and this along with Norton scanning, hogs the cpu/system resources.

There may also be a problem with Firefox, but the first thing to do is to update Norton and do a full system scan.

If you can borrow some time on a friend's machine, you can download a file here
and run it to update your Norton. It will be about 5 meg in size, so you will need to transfer it using a USB mem stick or burn it onto a CD. This file gets updated at least once a week, so try to run the very latest, and then do a full system scan.

[oshmir]

I just installed Opera on my computer and that doesn't work either. I get the impression that you think I'm on another computer, but I'm actually using IE on my home computer. So I can just download the update myself

edit: My subscription has expired, so that doesn't work. My mom said that she needs to renew it, but knowing her I'm not sure that will ever happen. Since I can't open Norton at all, I can't scan. Argh, this is annoying.

Edited by oshmir, 20 July 2004 - 11:54 AM.

[Acsell]

Try an online virus scan-

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

or

http://www.pandasoft...com/activescan/

There also free antivirus program available-

http://free.grisoft....1/lng/us/tpl/v5

http://www.download....tml?tag=lst-0-9

Edited by Acsell, 20 July 2004 - 12:17 PM.

[WyoCowboy]

Sorry I missed the part about Norton not running, so the advice about the updater is still valid once you get Norton running - it will update NAV with expired subscriptions (definitions only). Many of the current crop of viruses try to hammer anti-virus software, and Norton Internet Security uses files in common with the AV.

[oshmir]

Well Norton completely worthless to me right now.

I used panda virus scan and it found over 400 :eek: infected files. I used panda scan less than a week ago and nothing came up so it must have been that email. Only one of the files couldn't be disinfected. Should I post a HijackThis log or what? This is what the report from panda said:

Virus:Trj/Downloader.GK

No disinfected

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Local Settings\Temp\THI7E8A.tmp\twaintec.cab[polall1t.exe]

edit: Could I just delete it? I wouldn't think so, but you never know. Oh and somehow I was able to open Norton and it says that my firewall is disabled. And I'm scanning my computer with Norton Anti-virus as I type.

Edited by oshmir, 20 July 2004 - 11:43 PM.

[WyoCowboy]

It is generally safe to delete anything in that temp directory, _except_ for the Temporary Internet Files subdirectory. It is best to do it when booted into safe mode.

If the firewall is disabled, you may or may not be able to get to the internet - it depends on why it is disabled. If you can enable it and disable it at will, all might be ok. If it will not enable, and you can't get to the internet in either case, then the virus may have damaged some of its files.

If you still can't get to the internet, it is because there are registry entries pointing to the Norton Internet Security proxy, and if the proxy is not running, the web-bound traffic hits a dead end (gets refused). If it will successfully uninstall, then you should then be able to get to the internet.

Once you get all the viruses off, you will need to uninstall/reinstall/liveupdate Norton Internet Security. Run Liveupdate multiple times until it says that you have downloaded all available updates.

If the NIS uninstall program fails, you can download a removal utility from Symantec's website that should do the job.

[oshmir]

Alright! I deleted that temporary file and now firefox is working again. Yay!

Thanks for the suggestions Acsell and WyoCowboy.