My car has somewhere around 160,000 miles. I knew I was due for a major malfunction, I just didn't know where the other shoe would drop. I was out running some errands when the car started to lurch forward then coast then lurch forward. It actually wouldn't move at all at one point.
I talked to a mechanic and got the bad news that I likely needed a transmission rebuild and that would run me about $2,300.00... Ouch. I checked some other sources and learned that my problem could be as simple as, perhaps, low fluid.
I checked the level, added more fluid, and took her out. She ran pretty well until I'd been out for a while and was traversing some hills when she again ceased engagement of forward momentum. A few more checks with a few more people in the know and it was decided that the fluid was dirty as hell, the crud was being stirred up, clogging the filter and impeding the flow. Once she sat for a bit, the sediment would settle out and she'd move again so that seemed reasonable.
I called the local repair shop and asked about a flush and fill. After describing the symptoms they told me they wouldn't touch it because they'd had too many cases of the cars no longer moving after the procedure. Basically, the particles causing the problem were the only thing keeping the transmission together.
So now, I turned to the Internet. I found a YouTube video entitled, "10 Min Automatic Transmission Fluid Flush + Replacement." It looked so easy. I said it LOOKED easy. He was even working on the same kind of car I drive. I consulted my Hanes manual, which provided even less detail, and decided to take the chance. I figured I couldn't make it much worse and might even get some more mileage out of it.
I went out to my car and looked under the hood. I couldn't make heads or tails of it much less figure out where the feeder line was so I thought I would just drain and fill.
And so I proceeded. I drove my car around the neighborhood a few laps to warm everything up then brought her home to start the procedure. I jacked up the car and put it on stands (NEVER work under a car supported only by a jack). I looked at the picture in the book then at the front of the transmission casing. Why are there two bolts? Let's see, liquid flows to the lowest point so I'll take out the bottom one.
Funny, it looked like a regular bolt. The one in the video was larger and had a magnet on the end of it. And the fluid doesn't seem to be flowing, exactly. Maybe if I remove the other bolt, too, it will allow for some sort of air displacement... no, now I just have fluid dribbling out of two holes and slowly dripping off the bottom of the transmission.
I wonder what would happen if I started the car? Would that cause the flow to increase? I'll start it then turn it off immediately and see what the result is... The result is I gotta go find the kitty litter.
Okay, what if I stuck a tube in that hole then started the car? Let's see... the tube I have doesn't fit. I got it, I'll cut it at an extreme angle then jam it in there. Oh, hey, that kinda worked! ... but the drain pan wasn't quite under the spout... more kitty litter.
I did that a couple more times with my wife starting the car so I could observe and catch the flow and decided that was good enough for now. It had been WAY longer than 10 minutes and I was tired. I put the plugs back in and topped off the fluid. Good news, she was still moving. Bad news, I hadn't drawn out nearly enough fluid to have drained it completely.
The next night, round two. This one started pretty much the same but I let the car run much longer to be sure the fluid was nice and warm with a very low viscosity. Still, I got a miserable drip. This simply can't be right. Hmm, my tube doesn't seem to want to fit anymore. Ah, a box knife. Let me trim it a bit. There, that seems to be shoved in there pretty well. Let me go start the car... the tube didn't hold. More kitty litter, please.
As it continues to dribble, I go back inside to again consult the internet on flushing the transmission fluid but this time I tell it exactly what kind of car I have.
I came across, "2003-2007 Honda Accord Transmission drain and refill." I start watching... "take out the dipstick so you get better air displacement." Hadn't done that. Pause... out to garage, remove dipstick and set aside, no change in flow, return to video. "Now we're at the drain plug. It's right here next to the oil pan. It faces sideways so..." Excuse me? It faces which way? Did you say sideways? SIDEWAYS? Pause... out to garage, look under car... I had been approaching the job pretty much from the passenger side. Guess which side the drain plug is on... yep - the driver's side. I put the bolt I had removed back and broke free the correct drain plug and the fluid came gushing out as expected.
I went inside to finish watching the video. I wrapped up in another 15 minutes. I cleaned up ... well, I poured the old oil out of the drain pan into an old milk jug and shoved everything else aside ... and the wife and I went for a drive. Everything seems to have gone well. No hard shifting, no lurching, no... not... moving. I'll drive it around a few days, letting the remaining crud recirculate through the fluid, then do it all over again... minus the kitty litter, I hope.
Showing posts with label Dufus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dufus. Show all posts
Thursday, May 09, 2013
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Elbow Update
The ortho said it was a non-articulated fracture of the radial head. I have a hairline fracture of the elbow-end of my radius. He left me in the splint with instructions to take it off at least twice a day and do range of motion exercises with my elbow and wrist.
It's doing pretty well so far. I did go in yesterday to have my wrist double-checked because it hurt really bad on Friday. No damage there but the swelling and inflammation are putting pressure on the wrist causing the pain.
Sleeping has certainly been a challenge but the worst has to be typing. I type a LOT for my job and doing it with only one hand is inefficient and tedious. Plus, I have to look at the keyboard and that doesn't do my neck any good. Mousing with my left hand is a little shaky and inaccurate but it's relatively easy.
800mg Motrin tablets help with the pain but they've started upsetting my stomach so I've had to cut back on those. I'm avoiding the Lortabs unless I REALLY need them.
The big bummer is that MS had a free XBox Gold weekend this weekend and I wasn't able to participate. :(
that's enough typing for now.
It's doing pretty well so far. I did go in yesterday to have my wrist double-checked because it hurt really bad on Friday. No damage there but the swelling and inflammation are putting pressure on the wrist causing the pain.
Sleeping has certainly been a challenge but the worst has to be typing. I type a LOT for my job and doing it with only one hand is inefficient and tedious. Plus, I have to look at the keyboard and that doesn't do my neck any good. Mousing with my left hand is a little shaky and inaccurate but it's relatively easy.
800mg Motrin tablets help with the pain but they've started upsetting my stomach so I've had to cut back on those. I'm avoiding the Lortabs unless I REALLY need them.
The big bummer is that MS had a free XBox Gold weekend this weekend and I wasn't able to participate. :(
that's enough typing for now.
Monday, April 16, 2012
The Elbow
The elbow is a joint roughly in the middle of your arm. The elbow-joint comprises three different articular surfaces that are enveloped by a common synovial membrane. The design of the elbow is critical to ones ability to articulate the arm and some movements of the wrist.
I broke mine early Saturday morning.
There was a tornadic storm approaching and I went into my home office to disconnect my backup drives and take them into the shelter with me. On my way back, I plowed right into a baby gate we put up to limit the nocturnal movements of our dog. My most prominent thought, but certainly not my only thought, on the way down was, "save the drives!"
The drives took an impact, but were thankfully undamaged, and so did I. I distinctly remember face-planting because I felt it and I saw it - there were some sparkles, like lightning, in my vision at the time of impact. Amazingly, the only remnant of that particular blow are some scratches on the right lens of my glasses.
After the falling part was complete, I lay there for a few moments. My wife came out of the bedroom, saw me, and asked if I was alright. My answer came as a groaning, "no."
My left leg lay across the gate where I had hit it. I could feel the burning sensation of the three-inch abrasion on my shin. My kneecap also throbbed slightly with the pain of impact. I lifted my head and removed my bent and scratched glasses. I lifted my left leg and tried to push the gate away with my right leg. It wouldn't budge.
I somehow managed to sit up and was clutching a sore right arm in my left. I extended it tentatively. It felt very stiff but moved without too much additional pain. I wiggled my fingers. Okay there. I flexed my wrist. A little better than the elbow extension but stiff as well. When I tried rotating my wrist was when the sharp, intense pain hit. I exclaimed to my wife, "I think I broke my arm."
The volume of rain and approach of tornado-producing storms prohibited us from going directly to the hospital. We spent at least an hour in the shelter/closet listening to the track of the storm on the radio and watching the radar images on my iPhone. When the rotating portions of the storm had weakened or taken a different track, we got in the car and headed out.
4 x-rays, 2 consults with the doctor, a pain pill and an arm splint later, my knee was just bruised but I had cracked one of the bones in my elbow. It's been an interesting, semi-difficult and loooong 48 hours. It feels like it should be Wednesday or so, not Monday.
More later after my appointment with the orthopedist.
I broke mine early Saturday morning.
There was a tornadic storm approaching and I went into my home office to disconnect my backup drives and take them into the shelter with me. On my way back, I plowed right into a baby gate we put up to limit the nocturnal movements of our dog. My most prominent thought, but certainly not my only thought, on the way down was, "save the drives!"
The drives took an impact, but were thankfully undamaged, and so did I. I distinctly remember face-planting because I felt it and I saw it - there were some sparkles, like lightning, in my vision at the time of impact. Amazingly, the only remnant of that particular blow are some scratches on the right lens of my glasses.
After the falling part was complete, I lay there for a few moments. My wife came out of the bedroom, saw me, and asked if I was alright. My answer came as a groaning, "no."
My left leg lay across the gate where I had hit it. I could feel the burning sensation of the three-inch abrasion on my shin. My kneecap also throbbed slightly with the pain of impact. I lifted my head and removed my bent and scratched glasses. I lifted my left leg and tried to push the gate away with my right leg. It wouldn't budge.
I somehow managed to sit up and was clutching a sore right arm in my left. I extended it tentatively. It felt very stiff but moved without too much additional pain. I wiggled my fingers. Okay there. I flexed my wrist. A little better than the elbow extension but stiff as well. When I tried rotating my wrist was when the sharp, intense pain hit. I exclaimed to my wife, "I think I broke my arm."
The volume of rain and approach of tornado-producing storms prohibited us from going directly to the hospital. We spent at least an hour in the shelter/closet listening to the track of the storm on the radio and watching the radar images on my iPhone. When the rotating portions of the storm had weakened or taken a different track, we got in the car and headed out.
4 x-rays, 2 consults with the doctor, a pain pill and an arm splint later, my knee was just bruised but I had cracked one of the bones in my elbow. It's been an interesting, semi-difficult and loooong 48 hours. It feels like it should be Wednesday or so, not Monday.
More later after my appointment with the orthopedist.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
It's Always Something Stupid
I have never broken a bone in my life (knock wood). I've never really significantly strained anything but I have known people who have. If you see someone in a cast and ask them what happened, you will get one of three answers. 1) It's some sort of post-surgical immobilization. 2) It's a sports-related injury. 3) It's really stupid. You will sometimes hear a combination of 2 and 3 but what you will almost never ever hear is something heroic.
The story usually goes something like this: "I fell off a 3-inch step and fractured my ankle." or "I thought it would be a good idea to take a flying kick at a trashcan... that happened to be bolted down."
So, the dog and I play this little game. (now, don't get ahead of me) He's a total wuss. I can act like I'm chasing him and he'll run into the bedroom and squeeze himself under the bed. He 'bounces' while he does it so he's not really afraid of me.
Anyway, I was playing this game with him last night and was chasing him into the bedroom. I turned the corner to go into the bedroom and I must have kicked my left leg out for balance or something. My two smaller toes connected with the door jam of the laundry room... hard.
It didn't hurt a whole lot at first but that changed quickly. I spent most of the day hobbling around and, just to make the wife stop saying, "are you sure you don't want to go to the doctor?" I went to the doctor and confirmed that my toe is not broken. It's bruised pretty damn well but it's not broken. The only positive thing is I got some 750mg Aleve pills out of it.
The story usually goes something like this: "I fell off a 3-inch step and fractured my ankle." or "I thought it would be a good idea to take a flying kick at a trashcan... that happened to be bolted down."
So, the dog and I play this little game. (now, don't get ahead of me) He's a total wuss. I can act like I'm chasing him and he'll run into the bedroom and squeeze himself under the bed. He 'bounces' while he does it so he's not really afraid of me.
Anyway, I was playing this game with him last night and was chasing him into the bedroom. I turned the corner to go into the bedroom and I must have kicked my left leg out for balance or something. My two smaller toes connected with the door jam of the laundry room... hard.
It didn't hurt a whole lot at first but that changed quickly. I spent most of the day hobbling around and, just to make the wife stop saying, "are you sure you don't want to go to the doctor?" I went to the doctor and confirmed that my toe is not broken. It's bruised pretty damn well but it's not broken. The only positive thing is I got some 750mg Aleve pills out of it.
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Taking A Shot
Last night, I attended a bachelor party for a friend who shall remain nameless because, really, he is innocent until proven guilty. But this isn't about him anyway.
I was not planning on getting trashed (I actually ended up as D.D.) but I did plan to toast the groom at least once. When I arrived at his house, the "bartender" poured him a Screaming Nazi (equal parts Rumple Minze and Jagermeister) and, since I hate licorice flavors, made for me a Fire & Ice ("equal" parts Rumple Minze and Hot Damn cinnamon schnapps). I said congratulations and cheers to the groom and we knocked back our shots.
The libation poured in well enough but quickly became the alcoholic equivalent of napalm in my mouth. It wasn't the alcohol, it was the cinnamon flavor. I quickly swallowed in order to get it down but could only manage half of it before my esophagus clamped down to staunch the flow of liquid that had just peeled about three layers of skin off the back of my throat.
At this point I was unable to determine if I had swallowed or aspirated what I had managed to push down but knew I had to take some action. Instinct took over and my mouth said "SPIT IT OUT!!!! IT BURNS! IT BURNS!" but the brain overruled Instinct, having noticed that the sink was on the other side of the counter and was refusing to look like a pansy in front of friends who would most definitely give me shit about it for the rest of my life, and said, "Nope. We have to swallow."
Well, now, I was in a quandary. Instinct is saying to the brain, "Are you NUTS!?" To which the brain replied, "Not at all, you know I'm right." Without hesitation my tongue interjected screaming, "JUST SWALLOW THE DAMNED THING AND MAKE THE FIRE GO AWAY!!!!" and told my eyes, in no uncertain terms, that it was at this point they should start crying. A command, I am glad to say, I was successfully able to resist by completing the ingestion of Satan's Hellfire. A feat that was no less difficult than... well... I can't think of anything that compares. Let's just say it was a highly forced reaction that had to shove Instinct to the ground and beat him to a bloody pulp before it could be accomplished.
Awareness was starting to return to the rest of my body. My eyes opened, my hand realized it was still holding the shot glass and put it down on the counter, my throat burned, and my lungs quickly and urgently notified the rest of my body that they were no longer exchanging that wonderful life-giving element that is oxygen. Brain kicked in saying, "OH SHIT! OH SHIT!" in a panicked state, followed quickly by, "BREEEEEAAAAATHE!!"
It was then that Brain realized that it had just kicked the ever-living crap out of Instinct, thus rendering the lungs unable to perform their basic function. Brain rushed over, performed some quick CPR on Instinct and injected him with 10 cc's of Sodium Whamalamitol, bringing Instinct rapidly back to consciousness. "We have to breathe," said Brain. "I think I know how to do that," responded Instinct. "Then do it, man, DO IT!" But although Instinct was conscious, he was not quite aware yet and had to ask, "In or out?"
Brain jumped into action. He rushed over to the lungs. "In or out guys? Come on, stay with me!" The lungs were beginning to weaken and weren't lucid enough themselves to tell. Sensing the urgency, Brain yelled back to Instinct, "PICK ONE! JUST MAKE IT HAPPEN!"
It was at this point, approximately 3.2 seconds after swallowing the last of the shot, that I drew my first, ragged breath. I seriously had to make it happen. The lungs had perked up but were still having difficulty and had to ask Instinct, "What now?" A question to which Instinct had to place a bit of thought into answering, having recently received a concussion. "Out. Yeah, out. that's it."
The lungs complied but it was almost as difficult to push the air out as it was to draw it in. It took a few more breaths before things were starting to return to any semblance of normal. Once I was finally able to draw an unrestricted breath, the first words out of my mouth were, "Never again."
I was not planning on getting trashed (I actually ended up as D.D.) but I did plan to toast the groom at least once. When I arrived at his house, the "bartender" poured him a Screaming Nazi (equal parts Rumple Minze and Jagermeister) and, since I hate licorice flavors, made for me a Fire & Ice ("equal" parts Rumple Minze and Hot Damn cinnamon schnapps). I said congratulations and cheers to the groom and we knocked back our shots.
The libation poured in well enough but quickly became the alcoholic equivalent of napalm in my mouth. It wasn't the alcohol, it was the cinnamon flavor. I quickly swallowed in order to get it down but could only manage half of it before my esophagus clamped down to staunch the flow of liquid that had just peeled about three layers of skin off the back of my throat.
At this point I was unable to determine if I had swallowed or aspirated what I had managed to push down but knew I had to take some action. Instinct took over and my mouth said "SPIT IT OUT!!!! IT BURNS! IT BURNS!" but the brain overruled Instinct, having noticed that the sink was on the other side of the counter and was refusing to look like a pansy in front of friends who would most definitely give me shit about it for the rest of my life, and said, "Nope. We have to swallow."
Well, now, I was in a quandary. Instinct is saying to the brain, "Are you NUTS!?" To which the brain replied, "Not at all, you know I'm right." Without hesitation my tongue interjected screaming, "JUST SWALLOW THE DAMNED THING AND MAKE THE FIRE GO AWAY!!!!" and told my eyes, in no uncertain terms, that it was at this point they should start crying. A command, I am glad to say, I was successfully able to resist by completing the ingestion of Satan's Hellfire. A feat that was no less difficult than... well... I can't think of anything that compares. Let's just say it was a highly forced reaction that had to shove Instinct to the ground and beat him to a bloody pulp before it could be accomplished.
Awareness was starting to return to the rest of my body. My eyes opened, my hand realized it was still holding the shot glass and put it down on the counter, my throat burned, and my lungs quickly and urgently notified the rest of my body that they were no longer exchanging that wonderful life-giving element that is oxygen. Brain kicked in saying, "OH SHIT! OH SHIT!" in a panicked state, followed quickly by, "BREEEEEAAAAATHE!!"
It was then that Brain realized that it had just kicked the ever-living crap out of Instinct, thus rendering the lungs unable to perform their basic function. Brain rushed over, performed some quick CPR on Instinct and injected him with 10 cc's of Sodium Whamalamitol, bringing Instinct rapidly back to consciousness. "We have to breathe," said Brain. "I think I know how to do that," responded Instinct. "Then do it, man, DO IT!" But although Instinct was conscious, he was not quite aware yet and had to ask, "In or out?"
Brain jumped into action. He rushed over to the lungs. "In or out guys? Come on, stay with me!" The lungs were beginning to weaken and weren't lucid enough themselves to tell. Sensing the urgency, Brain yelled back to Instinct, "PICK ONE! JUST MAKE IT HAPPEN!"
It was at this point, approximately 3.2 seconds after swallowing the last of the shot, that I drew my first, ragged breath. I seriously had to make it happen. The lungs had perked up but were still having difficulty and had to ask Instinct, "What now?" A question to which Instinct had to place a bit of thought into answering, having recently received a concussion. "Out. Yeah, out. that's it."
The lungs complied but it was almost as difficult to push the air out as it was to draw it in. It took a few more breaths before things were starting to return to any semblance of normal. Once I was finally able to draw an unrestricted breath, the first words out of my mouth were, "Never again."
Sunday, May 24, 2009
The "Accidental" iPod Owner
I've been bored the past few days and started looking at iPods on eBay for some reason. I'm not a fan of iPods. Like all Apple products, they're too restricted. But as I've noted previously, all the cool accessories are for the iPod. Plus, I have this really cool clock radio the wife bought me that just happens to have an iPod dock so...
All the inexpensive iPods are defective in some way or just aren't close enough to ending to have been bid to an unreasonable level. I did a little bit of research and figure that many of the problems (i.e. the sad face) are easily fixable. I even looked up how easy it is to upgrade/replace the hard drive - doesn't look too bad.
I've been bidding on the defective and the working iPods here and there but they all tend to go over what I'm willing to spend (which isn't much). My itchy bidding finger found one that was about to end (3 mins or so) and only had a $9.98 bid on it with free shipping. It was listed as defective but didn't list the specific defect. On a lark, I entered a bid of $10.55 and it locked in at $10.50. D'oh! Surprisingly, nobody sniped me. D'oh!
I am now the proud winning bidder of a 20GB 4th generation white iPod with a defect of unknown origin.
How do I get myself into these things?
All the inexpensive iPods are defective in some way or just aren't close enough to ending to have been bid to an unreasonable level. I did a little bit of research and figure that many of the problems (i.e. the sad face) are easily fixable. I even looked up how easy it is to upgrade/replace the hard drive - doesn't look too bad.
I've been bidding on the defective and the working iPods here and there but they all tend to go over what I'm willing to spend (which isn't much). My itchy bidding finger found one that was about to end (3 mins or so) and only had a $9.98 bid on it with free shipping. It was listed as defective but didn't list the specific defect. On a lark, I entered a bid of $10.55 and it locked in at $10.50. D'oh! Surprisingly, nobody sniped me. D'oh!
I am now the proud winning bidder of a 20GB 4th generation white iPod with a defect of unknown origin.
How do I get myself into these things?
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Anyone Have a Spare P4 CPU?
So I FINALLY got a case to put my spare computer in and guess what... it doesn't work. It worked fine when I took it apart to build the new one but when I put it back together - nada. It wouldn't even POST (that's the self test it does just before it makes that little beep to tell you it's okay and it will be booting now).
Having a wealth of available spare parts at work that I could use to test, I brought it in with me this morning. First thing I did was pop open a surplus P4 machine and swap the chip. Sure enough she fired right up. Unfortunately, even though the PC was in the surplus pile, I can't take the chip out of it. Something about proper and legal disposition of state property.
My suspicion is that I somehow zapped the CPU while removing the dust from the board just prior to reassembly. C'est la vie. It was a spare anyway.
So if anyone has a spare Pentium 4 CPU, let me know.
------------------------------
Update: I put my Celeron back on the board and decided to fire it up one more time just to be sure... seems to be working now. Still, I wouldn't mind upgrading to a true P4 so if you just happen to have one you're not using...
Having a wealth of available spare parts at work that I could use to test, I brought it in with me this morning. First thing I did was pop open a surplus P4 machine and swap the chip. Sure enough she fired right up. Unfortunately, even though the PC was in the surplus pile, I can't take the chip out of it. Something about proper and legal disposition of state property.
My suspicion is that I somehow zapped the CPU while removing the dust from the board just prior to reassembly. C'est la vie. It was a spare anyway.
So if anyone has a spare Pentium 4 CPU, let me know.
------------------------------
Update: I put my Celeron back on the board and decided to fire it up one more time just to be sure... seems to be working now. Still, I wouldn't mind upgrading to a true P4 so if you just happen to have one you're not using...
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Thrash No More / I'm A Dufus (Again)
I told you about how my hard drive started constantly thrashing a while back. While I was preparing to downgrade to Windows XP, I thought it was some piece of software I had loaded. As it turns out, it wasn't. Since shortly after loading Windows XP, the thrashing started up again. I was bothered by the thrashing but didn't know exactly what to do about it. I generally ignored it, hard as that was to do, while I searched for my antivirus software.
Eventually, the excessive mechanical movement began to take its toll. A couple of times in the span of a week, my system rebooted because of a disk error, then threw me a BSOD indicating a disk problem. I used the manufacturer's diagnostic tools and found that the drive was, in fact, failing.
I did a little bit of research on the web and learned how to get task manager to show me read and write access tied to processes (go to View-> Select Columns and you can add columns for I/O Read and I/O Write). Once I did that, I discovered that what was constantly accessing my disk was a process called lsass. This is a legitimate system process called the Local Security Authentication Service. Back in the day, it was associated with the Sasser worm but the vulnerability for that particular nasty was addressed in Windows XP Service Pack 2. I loaded from a CD with SP2 already applied.
Nonetheless, that's where I started my search. I tried a couple of sasser removal tools and, of course, didn't find anything. I continued my search and came across a site called Geeks to Go which includes security forums that help people with particularly sticky virus, spyware and malware troubles... like me.
I was looking through the messages and they prefer you to take some self-help steps prior to asking them for help. As they say, they're just going to ask you to do all that first anyway.
When I found the site, it was a bit late so I left it for later. When I finally had time this saturday, I started going through some of the steps. I went through a couple of the one-off removal tools and decided that was just too much trouble. I skipped right down to the antivirus part and went to download the free version of AVG. I was unable to find the free version so I popped out to Staples and bought an antivirus/antispyware package from CA. I normally prefer Norton/Symantec but didn't want to pay the price.
I brought it home, installed it, and ran the antivirus scan. No viruses found. I then ran the antispyware scan. The quick scan found a handful of tracking cookies but nothing more harmful than that. When I ran a full scan, I found a bunch more but, again, nothing too serious. The thrashing continued so I went back to the list and started my way down. I, again, skipped the individual guides for removing common infections.
Step one, or three if you count the commercial AV and AS scans, was the ATF cleaner. I cleared out all of my temporary files, cookies, history, etc. This didn't fix anything but it can make some of the scans go faster. Same thing with step four, creating a current system restore point then removing all but the last one. Again, not a fix but makes the scans more efficient.
On to step five, another antispyware scan. It may sound redundant but I've read plenty of articles where product A finds a few things that product B misses and product C finds stuff they both missed. Again, lots of tracking cookies but nothing serious. The advice for this particular product was to scan in safe mode so I took the opportunity to run another virus scan while I was at it. Again, no viruses found.
Step six, spyware scan three, more tracking cookies, still thrashing.
Step seven, an online antivirus scan (requires Internet Explorer). This would include antivirus scan three from antivirus product two and antispyware scan four. In short order, the spyware detected count started rising. Not surprising, probably more tracking cookies. I find tracking cookies somewhat innocuous but I would check the report when it was done and see if there was anything I needed to worry about.
When I came back to check on it later, the virus detected count had risen to 1. Fortunately, the virus disinfected count was also at 1. Unfortunately, the hard drive was still thrashing. As it says in the self-help posting, the line between spyware and trojan horses is sometimes blurred so I wondered if this was the case. I would have to check the report and see exactly what it thought it found and corrected.
As I watched the scan run, amid fiddling with my music collection, I saw the virus detection count rise to three, then four, then five and saw the disinfection count rise as it cleaned everything up. As with a regular, organic headache, I don't know exactly when it stopped but I suddenly noticed it was much quieter. The thrashing had stopped. The count was at 5 and 4 or maybe it was 6 and 4 but I was so excited that I wanted to tell all of you about it right away. This is where the dufus part comes in.
The only open browser at the time was IE. In my excitement, rather than opening Firefox, I clicked on the "new tab" tab and another tab obediently opened. As it was accessing my home page (a blank page), it froze. Within seconds I received that "Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close..." window. [GASP!] No. No, not that. I winced and reluctantly clicked the "don't send" button hoping beyond hope that the separate window that was actually running the scan would stay open... it didn't.
I'm re-running the scan now - and using Firefox to type up this entry - but since the offending infections were cleaned, I may never know exactly what was causing my woes. If it happens again, though, I'm definitely going straight to the Panda Online Scan. This time I'll leave it be and wait to see what the report says. I could just kick myself - dufus dufus dufus.
Eventually, the excessive mechanical movement began to take its toll. A couple of times in the span of a week, my system rebooted because of a disk error, then threw me a BSOD indicating a disk problem. I used the manufacturer's diagnostic tools and found that the drive was, in fact, failing.
I did a little bit of research on the web and learned how to get task manager to show me read and write access tied to processes (go to View-> Select Columns and you can add columns for I/O Read and I/O Write). Once I did that, I discovered that what was constantly accessing my disk was a process called lsass. This is a legitimate system process called the Local Security Authentication Service. Back in the day, it was associated with the Sasser worm but the vulnerability for that particular nasty was addressed in Windows XP Service Pack 2. I loaded from a CD with SP2 already applied.
Nonetheless, that's where I started my search. I tried a couple of sasser removal tools and, of course, didn't find anything. I continued my search and came across a site called Geeks to Go which includes security forums that help people with particularly sticky virus, spyware and malware troubles... like me.
I was looking through the messages and they prefer you to take some self-help steps prior to asking them for help. As they say, they're just going to ask you to do all that first anyway.
When I found the site, it was a bit late so I left it for later. When I finally had time this saturday, I started going through some of the steps. I went through a couple of the one-off removal tools and decided that was just too much trouble. I skipped right down to the antivirus part and went to download the free version of AVG. I was unable to find the free version so I popped out to Staples and bought an antivirus/antispyware package from CA. I normally prefer Norton/Symantec but didn't want to pay the price.
I brought it home, installed it, and ran the antivirus scan. No viruses found. I then ran the antispyware scan. The quick scan found a handful of tracking cookies but nothing more harmful than that. When I ran a full scan, I found a bunch more but, again, nothing too serious. The thrashing continued so I went back to the list and started my way down. I, again, skipped the individual guides for removing common infections.
Step one, or three if you count the commercial AV and AS scans, was the ATF cleaner. I cleared out all of my temporary files, cookies, history, etc. This didn't fix anything but it can make some of the scans go faster. Same thing with step four, creating a current system restore point then removing all but the last one. Again, not a fix but makes the scans more efficient.
On to step five, another antispyware scan. It may sound redundant but I've read plenty of articles where product A finds a few things that product B misses and product C finds stuff they both missed. Again, lots of tracking cookies but nothing serious. The advice for this particular product was to scan in safe mode so I took the opportunity to run another virus scan while I was at it. Again, no viruses found.
Step six, spyware scan three, more tracking cookies, still thrashing.
Step seven, an online antivirus scan (requires Internet Explorer). This would include antivirus scan three from antivirus product two and antispyware scan four. In short order, the spyware detected count started rising. Not surprising, probably more tracking cookies. I find tracking cookies somewhat innocuous but I would check the report when it was done and see if there was anything I needed to worry about.
When I came back to check on it later, the virus detected count had risen to 1. Fortunately, the virus disinfected count was also at 1. Unfortunately, the hard drive was still thrashing. As it says in the self-help posting, the line between spyware and trojan horses is sometimes blurred so I wondered if this was the case. I would have to check the report and see exactly what it thought it found and corrected.
As I watched the scan run, amid fiddling with my music collection, I saw the virus detection count rise to three, then four, then five and saw the disinfection count rise as it cleaned everything up. As with a regular, organic headache, I don't know exactly when it stopped but I suddenly noticed it was much quieter. The thrashing had stopped. The count was at 5 and 4 or maybe it was 6 and 4 but I was so excited that I wanted to tell all of you about it right away. This is where the dufus part comes in.
The only open browser at the time was IE. In my excitement, rather than opening Firefox, I clicked on the "new tab" tab and another tab obediently opened. As it was accessing my home page (a blank page), it froze. Within seconds I received that "Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close..." window. [GASP!] No. No, not that. I winced and reluctantly clicked the "don't send" button hoping beyond hope that the separate window that was actually running the scan would stay open... it didn't.
I'm re-running the scan now - and using Firefox to type up this entry - but since the offending infections were cleaned, I may never know exactly what was causing my woes. If it happens again, though, I'm definitely going straight to the Panda Online Scan. This time I'll leave it be and wait to see what the report says. I could just kick myself - dufus dufus dufus.
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