Help please! Stop Error

I'm running WinXP, SP2. I recently downloaded and installed McAfee Security
Suite which is offered free by my ISP (Comcast). For years prior, I used
Norton AV and never had a problem with it. Since my NAV subscription was
running out, I went with McAfee. I removed NAV completely using the Norton
Removal Tool, downloaded and installed the McAfee Security Suite. There are
no incompatible programs running that would interfere with McAfee Virus
Scan. The McAfee protection status is fine, but the scan feature has the
following problem which the McAfee techs have been unable to resolve. They
said Microsoft has a solution for this problem and told me to contact
Microsoft.



The problem:

When running a complete scan of my system using McAfee Virus Scan, the scan
proceeds uninterrupted until it reaches a point somewhere around the 110,000
file mark. That's when Windows abruptly shuts down and I get the following
screen:



"A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent
damage to your computer.

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

Tech Information

***STOP: Ox00000050 (OxFFFFDFF8, Ox00000000, Ox80550211, Ox00000000)"



Before posting here, I went to the Microsoft Knowledge Base and pulled up
the following article:



KB Article 903251 - The HaxDoor virus may cause a "STOP 0x00000050" or
"STOP 0x0000008e" error message



May I add one more piece of info. When bypassing the program scan and
running the McAfee Free Online Scan (which checks all files for viruses
only, but not for spyware or malware which the program does check), there is
no interruption and the scan completes with no virus detection.



I need help! I'm not very computer savvy...I'm afraid to fool with the
Registry. Can someone tell me what they think may be the problem here and if
there's a workaround to the problem. Do you think it's this HaxDoor virus
and is there some way I can tell if it's in my system?



Many, many thanks.

I just have to solve the exact problem but Vice versa with Norton not Mcafee
and it was a nasty malware installed by a trusted software, so try to
download either AutoRuns from Microsot and see what is running in the
background or download the HijhackThis and send the report to one of many
forums.
HTH.

Actually, I just ran AdwareAlert which detected over 600 "infections",
including a slew of registry infections that require cleaning. Just
wondering how good this program is before I spend $20 to register it. This
program was once recommended to me by my ISP provider, so I'm sort of
inclined to go with it if others have had good results.

Don't bother.

The vast majority of what it's reporting is probably cookies, and you can
simply delete those for free. Also clean the temp folders and browser
caches.

ccleaner, www.ccleaner.com can automate this pretty well.

Well, it seems I have a major problems somewhere and it appears to be
spyware or malware. I downloaded and ran the free version of Ad-Aware 2007
and within a minute of it's scan, I got the same Stop error and Windows shut
down. I started back up again and ran a free scan of Registry
Optimizer.......WHEW! It didn't even get started before the Stop error hit
again. I rebooted and uninstalled BOTH programs immediately. So, here I am
again.

It appears I have no active viruses because ALL virus scans complete with
nothing detected. I just can't clean up adware, malware or
spyware.....something is interfering with those scans and/or something is
seriously corrupted in the registry.

Help!

See if the info in this article applies to your system:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=894278

Apparently, it DOES apply to my system. I followed the instructions under
"More Information" to see if my system is infected with such malicious
spyware/drivers and it did not reveal any such infected spyware. So, here I
am again back to square one.

Neither Ad-Aware nor Spybot causes my systems to crash. There must be
malware somewhere. By the way that error about a page fault in the non
paged pool can only come from a driver because non paged pool is where they
exist.

Observing that you have only run McAfee and an MS AV program, it would seem
premature to assume that you have no spyware. Proving that you have no
spyware is equivalent to proving a negative. This act is impossible.
What you have done is that neither program can detect malware based on its
internal list of malware to locate. This leaves unanswered the question of
"how many can you find"?

To supplement what you have already done, obtain David Lipman's MULTI_AV
package which runs 4 AV programs.

"Jim" <j.n@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:5fYii.18256$2v1.2932@newssvr14.news.prodigy.net...
> snip
>>
> By the way that error about a page fault in the non paged pool can only come from
> a driver because non paged pool is where they exist.
> snip

Not *only* from a driver.....see here:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro....mspx?mfr=true

"Faulty hardware, a buggy system service, antivirus software, and a corrupted NTFS
volume can all generate this type of error."
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

Jim......assuming it is in fact a driver which you say it must be given the
Page Fault message, then why didn't the malicious driver(s) show up after
"unearthing" every possible bit of information of ALL drivers in
"%windir%\system32\drivers"? I directed that ALL hidden files and folders
be shown, that ALL file extensions be shown, and that ALL protected
operating system files be shown, and that the contents of ALL system files
be shown. I then checked the attributes to search for hidden attributes (HA)
as well as product info, company and date. Nothing came up. Are you saying
that malware can still be present? The Multi_AV site is down and the only
place where it can be is from a European site and the instructions are
either in Swiss or German, neither of which I can understand.

There just has to be a GOOD spyware detection and repair program that can
handle this. When I ran the free version of Ad-Aware, the system crashed
immediately with the aforementioned Page Fault stop error. All virus scans
complete without incident, it's just when the scans get to the malware that
the system crashes.

Nass.....Wow, that's an awful lot of information for a novice like me. This
sounds like it's a job for an expert (which I'm not). It just bothers me to
have to spend $200+ to have someone come in to clean up my system when my
computer is already over 4 years old. Seems like I should just live with the
problem until I'm ready to purchase a new computer since it isn't causing
any trouble except during the full McAfee scan. When I bypass the full scan
feature of the installed McAfee program and run the free McAfee Online Scan
for viruses only, it completes without any problem. Therefore, it seems to
me that the problem is NOT a virus infection, but a spyware/malware
infection that kills the system once the full scan reaches that point in the
scan. I'm sure that ridding my system of all spyware/malware would greatly
improve my computer's efficiency, and if it were a fairly new machine, I
wouldn't hesitate to have the problem fixed. In the meantime, my computer is
protected by McAfee, so I'll just bypass the weekly scan and run the Online
Scan from time to time.

I was really hoping there was a good spyware/malware detection program that
could find and fix the problem without much input from me. I certainly do
appreciate all the good information you have supplied, but I just don't feel
competent enough to work through all the steps. By the way, the McAfee techs
already had me clean up all the caches, internet files, cookies, etc. and
that didn't solve the problem.

Hi nybarton,
You are not stuck in Gear, you don't like to reverse and change directions
(lazy Shall I say or Dizzy from life day-t0-day trouble?).
Download the HijackThis File and send the Log to a forum it is free but you
need to register with a forum (free) and send the Log and I'm sure they will
get you out of this.
You don't need to live with an infected Machine and McAfee not protecting
you (it been compromised).
Just try a step and if you need help of something you cannot perform or
misunderstood write back here and all will help you.
HTH.

Nass......

thank you for being so helpful. One question: After downloading HijackThis,
do I need to disable McAfee before running the scan? Thanks.