Recently bought a laptop - ASUS, Windows 8. I hadn't downloaded anything other than the basics - Mozilla, Adobe, Office, etc. Recently I think I was tricked into getting a virus. I was trying to watch a video and I received a pop-up message saying my version of Mozilla wasn't compatible and I needed to update it. So I download... it looked legit... but then pop-ups galore began and I was sure I had a virus.... SO...
I wasn't able to do a system restore. Because the computer is brand-spankin' new and I didn't have much, if any, files to lose, I re-installed Windows. Then I again installed Mozilla, AVG, CCleaner - all products I had used in the past without problem.
I do a run on CCleaner and clean-up everything it recommends. AVG starts beeping away on threats it found and isolated - everything from "Identity Protection" and "Resident Shield" type stuff in my virus vault, currently. Some of them look pretty scary - apparently tools used by hackers to access my computer and steal my information, etc. Anyway, it's all in the virus vault. Pop-ups stopped. I thought I had it under control. This was yesterday.
Today I try and watch a youtube video and notice there's no sound. The sound icon has the mute symbol so I tried to un-mute it. Impossible. Not even an option. The only thing I can do is troubleshoot and then I receive a message, "One or more audio services isn't running - problem not fixed." I do some googling...try some things...and ultimately do a "services.msc" search to find that "Windows Service" is stopped and I can't make it run. The message I receive is, "Windows could not start the Windows Audio Service on Local Computer," error.
So I decided to restart my computer. Well...when I try and do that it freezes on "Please wait," forcing me to manually turn it off and back on.
I try system restore, PC refresh, and then decided heck, I'll just reinstall windows again. None of that works because when I try it gets stuck on the "Please wait" page. My windows installation, btw, is on my computer and not on a CD or flash drive.
PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME. Scared to death I've killed my computer.... no idea what I'm doing. So pissed that I fell for a freaking virus. I'm usually pretty good at avoiding that. NO idea what happened.
I wasn't able to do a system restore. Because the computer is brand-spankin' new and I didn't have much, if any, files to lose, I re-installed Windows. Then I again installed Mozilla, AVG, CCleaner - all products I had used in the past without problem.
I do a run on CCleaner and clean-up everything it recommends. AVG starts beeping away on threats it found and isolated - everything from "Identity Protection" and "Resident Shield" type stuff in my virus vault, currently. Some of them look pretty scary - apparently tools used by hackers to access my computer and steal my information, etc. Anyway, it's all in the virus vault. Pop-ups stopped. I thought I had it under control. This was yesterday.
Today I try and watch a youtube video and notice there's no sound. The sound icon has the mute symbol so I tried to un-mute it. Impossible. Not even an option. The only thing I can do is troubleshoot and then I receive a message, "One or more audio services isn't running - problem not fixed." I do some googling...try some things...and ultimately do a "services.msc" search to find that "Windows Service" is stopped and I can't make it run. The message I receive is, "Windows could not start the Windows Audio Service on Local Computer," error.
So I decided to restart my computer. Well...when I try and do that it freezes on "Please wait," forcing me to manually turn it off and back on.
I try system restore, PC refresh, and then decided heck, I'll just reinstall windows again. None of that works because when I try it gets stuck on the "Please wait" page. My windows installation, btw, is on my computer and not on a CD or flash drive.
PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME. Scared to death I've killed my computer.... no idea what I'm doing. So pissed that I fell for a freaking virus. I'm usually pretty good at avoiding that. NO idea what happened.
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