I think I picked up some kind of malware from one of the download links on this web site. Just checking if anyone has had this experience.
I reformatted my hard drive and reinstalled Windows XP SP3, got all the updates and MS Security Essentials. There was no other software installed on the computer.
Went to download Eraser but I accidentally clicked the big green DOWNLOAD button which installed some kind of 7zip Program instead. I realized my mistake and then clicked the correct link to get Eraser.
When I was done erasing the unused space on my drive I tried to uninstall 7Zip - it was odd because it didn't have the usual Change/Remove button in the Add/Remove Program control panel - instead it had some text where those buttons should be. I clicked the text and looked like 7zip was uninstalled.
Then I tried to uninstall Eraser and it wouldn't work - said something about the uninstall service being unavailable.
Other wierdnesses. IE 8 would immediately shutdown after starting. MSCONFIG wouldn't work. Administrative Tools in the Control Panel wouldn't start (although other control panel applets would). Tried to install Malwarebytes (from a flash drive) to check for malware but it wouldn't install.
Finally, I booted into safe mode and used system restore to get to the last restore before installing Eraser and everything is working normally now.
On another machine (also a clean install of XP), I downloaded and ran and uninstalled Eraser with no problem. I suspect the 7Zip download put something nasty on my computer although I have no direct evidence.
I reformatted my hard drive and reinstalled Windows XP SP3, got all the updates and MS Security Essentials. There was no other software installed on the computer.
Went to download Eraser but I accidentally clicked the big green DOWNLOAD button which installed some kind of 7zip Program instead. I realized my mistake and then clicked the correct link to get Eraser.
When I was done erasing the unused space on my drive I tried to uninstall 7Zip - it was odd because it didn't have the usual Change/Remove button in the Add/Remove Program control panel - instead it had some text where those buttons should be. I clicked the text and looked like 7zip was uninstalled.
Then I tried to uninstall Eraser and it wouldn't work - said something about the uninstall service being unavailable.
Other wierdnesses. IE 8 would immediately shutdown after starting. MSCONFIG wouldn't work. Administrative Tools in the Control Panel wouldn't start (although other control panel applets would). Tried to install Malwarebytes (from a flash drive) to check for malware but it wouldn't install.
Finally, I booted into safe mode and used system restore to get to the last restore before installing Eraser and everything is working normally now.
On another machine (also a clean install of XP), I downloaded and ran and uninstalled Eraser with no problem. I suspect the 7Zip download put something nasty on my computer although I have no direct evidence.
