Hello, This is Gjeret, head Guru from Sensible Gurus.
I am working on a Client's computer right now, it got infected with "Internet Security 2010" The Norton 360 installed by the customer didn't catch the infection. Boo!
I've been working on getting this guy cleaned up for… oh about 7 hours now, and we are getting closer to being done! This is a Flat Rate project so the customer is getting one hell of a deal! Part of the reason why it is taking so long is this machine is "Windows Media Center 2005", branded HP no less.
Media Center isn't XP Home as it has more features, and it isn't XP Professions (Preferred XP version for Business because it contains SO many more tools) because the features it has are "Media" related that you cannot get on Pro, well, not from Microsoft at least. The issues is, you cannot upgrade Media Center to XP Professional to get all the cool business tools, like joining a Domain, using Group Policy, Centralized logins, etc. The only way to get Windows Pro on this box it to buy a BOX copy! And that is Mucho expensive. Volume License will not cut it as VL for desktops need Box or OEM Currently on the machine. We could upgrade to Vista or Windows 7, but I would recommend a new computer instead of the price of an upgrade.
Back to the issue, Computer would not allow us to log in, we would try and it would log in/log off right away. Safe mode or Safe mode with command prompt included.
We yanked the HD out of the machine, ran Malwarebyes on it (great tool at www.malwarebytes.org) Picked up 7 icky critters, threw the HD back in. Still no go.
Got our trusty restore media. And Restore media for Media Center is TRICKY, Media center is OEM Only, and some OEM disks will wipe, and lay down new tracks. Not a fun thing to do.
Fired up the install, ran a chkdsk in safe mode, then fired up the installer. Chose repair installation.
First Snag, ASMS is not found, tried the MS KB http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=311755 but no go. Finally got the files it needed onto the hard drive by pulling it again and placing the files needed in an i386 folder on the root. Then re-running the install.
Next Snag, Windows Activation. Whee, this is a fun one. Windows Activation now needs IE7 or 8 to run, Media Center needs to be activated before it will start, a Repair Install will re-lay IE6 down.
The solution? Download the network version of IE8 at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=341c2ad5-8c3d-4347-8c03-08cdecd8852b&displaylang=en save it to CD, boot into Safe Mode, and install. Again, Safe Mode with NETWORKING will not allow you to log in!
Once IE8 is installed, we can boot, activate, and we are almost good to go! Well, we still need to install SP3 for Windows, run another malwarebytes scan on it, and most importantly, install the Sensible Gurus Managed Service Agent. If they had the agent to begin with, they would have been up and running in no time with the automated tools our agent can do! Like Remote Registry editing, file system modification, etc.
A few more hours then bed!
-Gj-
Head Guru, Sensible Gurus
www.sensiblegurus.com
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