Windows Crashing and now Norton

[Driskoll]

Alright, I'm not exactly sure what the hell is going on with hp laptop but I'll try to explain it as best I can.

Six days ago (8/22) I turned on my computer only to get an error message telling me that windows failed to launch. I immediately tried to do a system repair, but after about twenty minutes I got another message telling me the problem couldn't be automatically repaired.

An hp menu opened up afterwords and gave me a few different options on what to do, and after backing up everything on my computer onto a 32GB flashdrive, I did a system restore to six days prior to that (8/16). Once it finished, I got a message saying the system restore wasn't fully successful. Before I could read the entire thing though, my computer restarted and windows launched. After taking few moments to load another message came up saying that the system restore was successful, and as far as I could tell everything was working properly.

I of course ran a full system scan through Norton Antivirus 2012, and had a look through task manager to see if anything suspicious was running, but I couldn't find anything that looked out of place nor could Norton, as it came back saying my computer was fine.

Now, six days later (8/28), windows failed to launch again. After system repair failed once again, I once again did a system restore, this time going further back to 7/24. After getting the same message that the system restore wasn't fully successful, my computer restarted and windows launched. This time though, my computer was a lot more sluggish, possibly due to all the updates trying to come in at once. More importantly though, I can no longer get Norton to open, and it occasionally pops up with an unclosable window that says error 8504, 104.

Looking on Norton's site, that error seems to suggest that I may have a rootkit, but I'm also concerned that my windows may be corrupted. I'm going to go ahead and follow the steps on the Norton site for now, but any feedback, comments or general advice would be greatly appreciated.   

[Oniya]

Have you tried M-BAM?  Veks has that and a few other repair programs linked down in Elliquiy U as a sticky.

[Driskoll]

Have you tried M-BAM?  Veks has that and a few other repair programs linked down in Elliquiy U as a sticky.

Once I finish reinstalling Norton and run it, that might be my next step. Again, I'm not entirely sure if the problem is resulting from malware of some sort or if it's a software issue. Hopefully I'll know more soon.

[Driskoll]

Sorry for the double post.

So as Norton was reinstalling, it stopped. No clue as to why. I tried a few times to get it going again but each time it stopped.

Downloaded and ran M-BAM, and it came up with zero detections. I hope that means I really am free of malware, but honestly I'm still not too sure. Again, any advice or suggestions would be great.   

[Psi]

Often Norton is part of the problem.   Particulary if you can't install it because of an issue.

I would suggest, if you have backed everything up, to let HP do a full restore of the system.
If you have another computer, or before you wipe it download Microsoft Security Essentials.

Install MSE after uninstalling an AV on the HP image, and then once its done that, and your sure the firewall is active - then connect to the internet.
Force it to download an update for MSE, and if you need a Service Pack, install that that manually. Once that is done, then run it through windows update until it says no more updates.

See how you go after that.

[Driskoll]

Often Norton is part of the problem.   Particulary if you can't install it because of an issue.

I would suggest, if you have backed everything up, to let HP do a full restore of the system.
If you have another computer, or before you wipe it download Microsoft Security Essentials.

Install MSE after uninstalling an AV on the HP image, and then once its done that, and your sure the firewall is active - then connect to the internet.
Force it to download an update for MSE, and if you need a Service Pack, install that that manually. Once that is done, then run it through windows update until it says no more updates.

See how you go after that.

Hey Psi, thanks for taking the time to help me out here. I think I should give a small status update first before I do a full restore just to see if it changes your opinion on anything.

So a while after Malware-bytes came up with a clean report, I eventually managed to get Norton back up and running. My computer is back to the way it was after the first time windows failed to load. I'm concerned that windows will keep failing intermittently, but as of right now it's been turning on like a champ, and I can't find any other problems.

That being said, do you still think I should let HP do a full restore? Do you also think I should opt for MSE over Norton?   

[Psi]

I work in an environment - that on an instance of a virus being reported to us (IT Support rather then the user) we re-image rather then worry about scanning.

It takes us - on average less time to restore an image that's relatively current.
This is us doing the work, not the end user.

However, if an AV fails to protect, I would rather trust a freshly imaged system, than a repaired one.
Norton is something you have to pay for, and doesn't always work.   MSE has some good reviews and is one of the better free AV solutions.

If its working ok now, then dont' worry about a restore.   But do you trust it - and thats the ultimate question.  Would you trust it with your banking details, do you trust any AV to completely remove all traces of any malware or parasites?

Even myself, when I used windows, I used to reload my system on average once a month.  (Admittedly i tinkered)
On mac, I do once a year or so.