Extra Topics (Joe’s Blog Site)

I have created an article on How to speed up boot time using Sysinternals Autoruns. I strongly suggest that you read that article first. A lot of people are asking which startup program items can be deleted or unchecked in Sysinternals Autoruns that slows down the boot sequence and those harmful items added by trojans and spywares.

Well I found a great website that have a database of startup programs. It currently has 23,403 startup items on its database at the time of this writing. It allows you to search for programs that you find starting automatically on your computer and determine if they are considered to be harmful, optional, unnecessary, or necessary to run.

The database is alphabetically organized so you can browse through using its index. You can also use its search feature to find the program you want to know.

Each entry in the database will have a Status assigned to it. The key to this status is the following:

• Y - This status flag means that this entry should be left alone and be allowed to run as if it is unchecked it may break the functionality or use of a particular program.
• N - This status flag means it is unnecessary to run this program automatically when Windows starts as you can run it manually when necessary.
• U - This status flag means it is up to you whether or not you feel this program needs to run automatically.
• X - This status flags means the item should definitely not start up automatically. Items that have this flag are generally malware such as viruses, trojans, hijackers, spyware, etc.
• ? - This status flag means the status of this entry is unknown at this time and more research is necessary.

Link to list of startup program items: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/

SDFix is another great tool that you can use. If you love combofix, you’ll also love  this one. This tool is created by AndyManchesta and it removes thousands of different types of trojans and worms.

SDFix targets those hard to remove pests which are usually bundled with other malware that antivirus and antispyware programs can’t completely fix.

You can download SDFix from any of these links: link1, link2, link3.

NOTE: SDFix will only run in Safe Mode in Windows XP and 2000. This also requires Administrator Account Privilages.

Instructions: I’m not going to provide an instruction here on my site because there’s already an easy-to-understand instruction on How to Use SDFix from bleepingcomputer. I highly suggest that you visit this site first before using SDFix.

If you want to see a list of files that this tool can remove, check out their changelog page.

Have you been infected by a malicious program? You think your computer is behaving differently and your antivirus is not telling you anything? You cannot update your antivirus because it is being blocked by something? And even if you update your antivirus, it still has an unusual behavior? Well I got the answer. Try using ComboFix.

ComboFix is a program, created by sUBs, that scans your computer for known malware, and when found, attempts to clean these infections automatically. This tool is so powerful that you are advised not to run this program without supervision. Well if you’re about to format your hard drive as your last resort in removing that annoying malware, then who needs supervision. Just run this program and you might not have to format your hard drive anyway…

This tool has saved my life a lot of times and those who I helped too. I’ve proven the effectivity of this tool many times but not all the time. It failed me once when the infection was so strong that I cannot run ComboFix effectively.

You can download ComboFix from these links:

• BleepingComputer.com
• ForoSpyware.com
• GeeksTogo.com

For the complete guide in using this tool, please check their website on how to use ComboFix.