error 80072EFD Windows update at wits end

Hello,

I had posted this in the installation forum, because I was thinking of
reformatting my pc.. I figured I'd see if anyone might know a solution
to this problem.. I'm currently running windows vista 32bit and am
having problems with my pc. I noticed my pc was running slow the other
day and when I looked at the updates tab it states the last time it
updated was in March. I tried to update it, it gives me an error that
when I look it up states its firewall related. (error 80072EFD) I
uninstalled all of my anti virus programs and disabled firewalls...
nada. I've tried to have the pcsafety people do a remote assist 3 times
and they cant find the problem. We've scanned the pc for spyware and
malware 3 different times (Norman antivirus (the tech did this) spy
sweeper and also the tool built into windows. They've tried resetting
the batch etc with no luck. I'm to the point of just reformatting my pc

One thing I did remember and Im not sure if this is related, is about a
month ago I had gotten a virus on my pc that when spy sweeper deleted
it, I would get a .dll error when I booted up. I did a checkdisk and it
fixed the error but I think around that time is around the time it
stopped updating windows. We've ruled out spyware, malware and
firewalls.

I can connect to the internet fine etc, but neither windows update, nor
defender can update. Please help.


--
karaliecaitsith

Were you asked to try installing updates manually ?

>> One thing I did remember and Im not sure if this is related, is about a
>> month ago I had gotten a virus on my pc that when spy sweeper deleted
>> it, I would get a .dll error when I booted up. I did a checkdisk and it
>> fixed the error but I think around that time is around the time it
>> stopped updating windows.

Can you provide the exact name of the virus ?

Running chkdsk does NOT resolve .dll errors that one sees on boot.
Removing the missing .dll reference from the startup axis using the
System Configuration Utility or editing the Run subkey in the registry
resolves that type of an error.

If you would, please provide us with a list of things that were done so
that we don't recommend you try the same steps again.

Has the antivirus software been changed and was a 3rd party firewall
ever used ?

How is the system connected to the internet ... on a home network; is
the network wireless; is a router used; etc ?


MowGreen
===============
*-343-* FDNY
Never Forgotten
===============



karaliecaitsith wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I had posted this in the installation forum, because I was thinking of
> reformatting my pc.. I figured I'd see if anyone might know a solution
> to this problem.. I'm currently running windows vista 32bit and am
> having problems with my pc. I noticed my pc was running slow the other
> day and when I looked at the updates tab it states the last time it
> updated was in March. I tried to update it, it gives me an error that
> when I look it up states its firewall related. (error 80072EFD) I
> uninstalled all of my anti virus programs and disabled firewalls...
> nada. I've tried to have the pcsafety people do a remote assist 3 times
> and they cant find the problem. We've scanned the pc for spyware and
> malware 3 different times (Norman antivirus (the tech did this) spy
> sweeper and also the tool built into windows. They've tried resetting
> the batch etc with no luck. I'm to the point of just reformatting my pc
>
> One thing I did remember and Im not sure if this is related, is about a
> month ago I had gotten a virus on my pc that when spy sweeper deleted
> it, I would get a .dll error when I booted up. I did a checkdisk and it
> fixed the error but I think around that time is around the time it
> stopped updating windows. We've ruled out spyware, malware and
> firewalls.
>
> I can connect to the internet fine etc, but neither windows update, nor
> defender can update. Please help.
>
>

sorry it's taken me so long to reply. I actually didn't know that I
could install manually (I can if I can find the download). According to
my husband it was a trojan that went into system 32 it began with a M
and was a few letters and numbers.. he said "mvc or something like that"
McAfee wouldn't pick it up, spysweeper is what found it and I had a heck
of a time getting rid of it. After spysweeper removed it is when the
.dll error started, and after I ran a checkdisk I didnt get the error
again.

Microsoft did a remote assist 3 different times. They opened notepad
and tried to reset the batch, they tried resetting settings for windows
update, they went into internet explorer and were checking all of the
settings there, they ran a scan through norman, they ran a malware scan,
they checked the bts settings. The last representative said that she
was going to escalate it, but I've never received a call back. They also
tried to connect to onecare under their id but for some reason my pc
cannot connect to the windows servers.

I found last night that I can download the updates that I can find, but
if I tell the pc to check for them it cant. Windows defender is the
same way. My pc is somehow blocking the connection to microsoft, but
there are currently no firewalls aside from windows firewall installed.
My virus scanner is AVG. The only 3rd party firewall I've used was the
one on spysweeper.

The system is a home connection, I have DSL ran through a wireless
router (I've tried running straight from modem to pc and still the same
result)


--
karaliecaitsith

Thanks for posting the requested information. It helps *immensely*.

1) When was McAfee removed from the system and did you run their removal
tool *afterwards* ?
http://service.mcafee.com/FAQDocument.aspx?id=TS100507

The link to it is under Step 2 on the above page.

Since Spysweeper comes in differing forms you would need Webroot
Antivirus with Spysweeper or Webroot Internet Security Essentials
installed in order to remove a trojan. Spysweeper itself, only removes
spyware.
You also mention
> The only 3rd party firewall I've used was the
> one on spysweeper.
Which leads one to assume that this is *not* Spysweeper, but one of
the other Webroot products.

2) Please post *which* Webroot product is installed and it's version.
How many antivirus programs are installed and monitoring the system ?

You also mention that AVG is installed. IF there's another AV included
with Spysweeper that means there are 2 antivirus programs monitoring the
system. That's never a good thing. Only one AV should be monitoring the
system at a time.

3) Were you asked to check the what's contained in the Hosts file ?
Click the Start orb, in the Start Search field type in
system32
Click on system32.
Open the 'drivers' folder, then open the 'etc' subfolder.
Double click the hosts file and choose Notepad to open it.
There should be no entries for *any* Microsoft sites present.
If any are present they will look something like

127.0.0.1 update.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 download.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 onecare.live.com <-- this is the OneCare Safety Scanner's URL

The beginning of each entry is the same, 127.0.0.1.
The second part is the name of the MS site or any sites that are being
blocked so that the system can not access them.

So, a clean hosts file would contain no sites except for what's there
when Vista was installed:

127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost

IF any MS sites are listed, delete them, and then click File > Save and
close the hosts file.


Please provide the answers to 1, 2, and 3 in your reply.


MowGreen
===============
*-343-* FDNY
Never Forgotten
===============





karaliecaitsith wrote:

> sorry it's taken me so long to reply. I actually didn't know that I
> could install manually (I can if I can find the download). According to
> my husband it was a trojan that went into system 32 it began with a M
> and was a few letters and numbers.. he said "mvc or something like that"
> McAfee wouldn't pick it up, spysweeper is what found it and I had a heck
> of a time getting rid of it. After spysweeper removed it is when the
> dll error started, and after I ran a checkdisk I didnt get the error
> again.
>
> Microsoft did a remote assist 3 different times. They opened notepad
> and tried to reset the batch, they tried resetting settings for windows
> update, they went into internet explorer and were checking all of the
> settings there, they ran a scan through norman, they ran a malware scan,
> they checked the bts settings. The last representative said that she
> was going to escalate it, but I've never received a call back. They also
> tried to connect to onecare under their id but for some reason my pc
> cannot connect to the windows servers.
>
> I found last night that I can download the updates that I can find, but
> if I tell the pc to check for them it cant. Windows defender is the
> same way. My pc is somehow blocking the connection to microsoft, but
> there are currently no firewalls aside from windows firewall installed.
> My virus scanner is AVG. The only 3rd party firewall I've used was the
> one on spysweeper.
>
> The system is a home connection, I have DSL ran through a wireless
> router (I've tried running straight from modem to pc and still the same
> result)
>
>