Recovering from 10 hours Windows XP activation horror

[hartiberlin]

Hi,
I just had to work a 10 hours to fix some horrible Windows XP
activation loop on my laptop PC.

It was started by trendmicro.de online scanner trying to delete
the winlogon.exe file and then there was always a bluecreen
on bootup and not coming out of this loop.

So I am really sick now of the Windows XP crap with all
its activation hurdles and annoying big installation files...

More than 50.000 Files on drive C:
what a f..ck this is...

I am going now to switch to Linux for sure.
I have enough of it now...

[Paul-R]

Turning your back on the "Beast of Redmond" will be the best thing you will
have done in computing for many a long day.

Ubuntu is well spoken of, and so is Debian, although the latter is said to
be less easy to deal with.
Paul.

[stanis]

Check whether you multiple copies of  winlogon.exe  If yes then your Pc is infected.

Troj/Madr-B is a backdoor Trojan which allows a remote intruder to access and control the computer via IRC channels.

When first run the Trojan copies itself as winlogon.exe to the folders <WINDOWS>\system\ and <WINDOWS>\system32\wins\ with the read-only and hidden attributes set and creates the following registry entries, so that winlogon.exe is run automatically each time Windows is started: [/b]
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\
Winlogon = <WINDOWS>\system\winlogon.exe

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\
Winlogon = <WINDOWS>\system32\wins\winlogon.exe

Each time the Trojan is run it tries to connect to a remote IRC server and join a specific channel using a random nickname. The Trojan then runs continuously in the background, listening on the channel for commands to execute.

Recovery
Summary  Description  Recovery   
This section tells you how to remove the threat.
Please follow the instructions for removing Trojans.


Windows NT/2000/XP/2003

In Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 you will also need to edit the following registry entries. The removal of these entries is optional in Windows 95/98/Me. Please read the warning about editing the registry.

At the taskbar, click Start|Run. Type 'Regedit' and press Return. The registry editor opens.

Before you edit the registry, you should make a backup. On the 'Registry' menu, click 'Export Registry File'. In the 'Export range' panel, click 'All', then save your registry as Backup.

Locate the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE entry:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\
Winlogon = <WINDOWS>\system\winlogon.exe

and delete it if it exists.

Each user has a registry area named HKEY_USERS\[code number indicating user]\. For each user locate the entry:

HKU\[code number]\Software\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Run\Winlogon = <WINDOWS>\system32\wins\winlogon.exe

and delete it if it exists.

Close the registry editor and reboot your computer.

[Earl]

Hi Harti,

here are some Linux user groups in Berlin:

Titel:          Berliner Linux User Group

Beschreibung: Zweiwoechentliches Treffen von Linux-Begeisterten (und
              solchen die es werden wollen). Die Dauer ist auf ca. 2h
              festgesetzt. In den ersten 60-90 min ist ein Vortrag zu
              einem vorher vereinbarten Thema geplant, die restliche
              Zeit dient zur Information und zum Erfahrungsaustausch.

Treffen:      Jeden 2. und 4. Mittwoch im Monat um 18:00 Uhr.
              Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Institut fuer Informatik,
              Berlin-Mitte, Lindenstrasse 54a, Raum 326.
              Zu erreichen: U-Bahn Linie 2, Station Spittelmarkt,
              hinter Ebbinghaus.

Infos:        WWW: http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de/Themen/Linux/BeLUG/
              Email: linux@informatik.hu-berlin.de
                     fr@hoshi.in-berlin.de
==========================================
Berlin - Charlottenburg
BWDG - Berlin Web & Design Group
Mit dem speziellen Interesse an WebDesign und Multimediaanwendungen unter Linux
Treffen:     Wird auf der Webseite bekanntgegeben !
WWW:    www.bwdg.de
Email:    info@bwdg.de
Telefon:    0172-3801606
Fax:    03032531084
=============================
Die Linux Usergroup Berlin
http://www.pro-linux.de/lugs/de/LUG-Berlin.html

Parallel finden jeden 2. Mittwoch die Einsteigertreffen seit 1999 statt, wo sich Neueinsteiger gegenseitig bei ihren Problemen helfen k?nnen.

Unsere Webseiten sind unter http://www.belug.org, http://www.belug.de und http://www.belug.net erreichbar.
==============================

I suggest you go for Ubuntu.

In the German magazine "easy LINUX" Ausgabe 03/2007, Juli-September, there is a DVD with Ubuntu 7.04.
It is a live DVD so you can take a look before deciding to install.  Your computer must be set in the BIOS to boot from CD before hard disk, then the live DVD will load and you can try out Ubuntu without installing it on your computer.  Of course, your drive must be one that can read DVD.

Regards, Earl

[Iosh]

Good for you Stefan.
I'd encourage you to try an user-friendly distribution first, like Ubuntu/Kubuntu, PCLinuxOS, Mandriva... and although some "hardcore" distributions may be harder to understand or configurate at first, some are doing efforts to ease things for the newcomers, like Debian, which now allows to start the installation process from within Windows itself.