Explorer.exe dies and autocheck hash doesn't match

Hi,
I am posting from my computer on behalf of my wife, whose compute
seems to be having major issues. She is running Windows Vista Hom
Premium Edition, and it seems to have developed some interestin
symptoms over the past 8 hours. Here is a timeline of recent events.

explorer.exe died twice, she relaunched it manually. However after i
occured again she restarted.

Upon restart Objectdock had lost ALL configuration, it was totally dea
and didn't even launch on startup, neither did AltDesk.

She attempted to rebuild her configuation, but disc by drag and drop
and anytime she tried to drag an icon into ObjectDock explorer.exe woul
die.

After experiencing this mess for about 10 or 15 minutes, she decided t
do a system restore.

The symptoms have now receded (somewhat) but anytime she or I try t
use windows explorer for more 30 seconds it dies again.

We have run sfc/SCANNOW and it reported a problem with autochk.ex
(which it cannot fix). The problem it reported is differing hash checks
This is particular worries me as I am concerned it might be a trojan o
virus, or just windows being stupid.

She is currently running an Avast scan. Do you guys have an
suggestions? We have access to her Vista install disk, so that isn't
problem if we need it, and neither of us are exactly slouches when i
comes to using a command prompt, so whatever suggestions you might b
able to offer we will do our best to implement it.

Thanks

 

1.Disk Cleanup
https://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/1264bc24-72a8-48aa-84e3-a355327139d91033.mspx
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10878_11-6161767.html
CCleaner - Free
Cleans temporary internet files, cookies, history, recent urls, application
MRUs, etc. ...
http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/
If Windows Defender is utilized go to Applications, under Utilities
uncheck "Windows Defender" (so it won't delete the history of WD)

2.Malwarebytes© Corporation - Anti-Malware
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam/program/mbam-setup.exe
--or--
David H. Lipman's MULTI_AV Tool
http://www.pctipp.ch/ds/28400/28470/Multi_AV.exe
http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp
English:
http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2008/01/09/scan-your-computer-with-multiple-anti-virus-for-free/
Additional Instructions:
http://pcdid.com/Multi_AV.htm

3.Download and execute HiJack This! (HJT)
http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/tools/security_tools/hijackthis/download
Please, do not post HJT logs to this newsgroup.
Fora where you can get expert advice for HiJack This! (HJT) logs.

NOTE: Registration is required in any of the below fora before posting
a HJT log and read the 'stickies' (instructions/guidelines) for
the respective HJT forum.

http://www.theeldergeek.com/forum/index.php?s=2e9ea4e19d3289dd877ab75a8220bff6&showforum=29
http://forums.whatthetech.com/HijackThis_Logs_and_Infections_Removal_f27.html
http://www.5starsupport.com/ipboard/index.php?showforum=18
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/forum22.html
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/viewforum.php?f=5
http://www.thespykiller.co.uk/index.php?board=3.0
http://castlecops.com/forum67.html

Good luck

 

Either malware has installed itself and is running on the machine
undetected, or your wife has installed some software that is not Vista
compliant; it's causing problems.

 

Thanks guys,

I am now busy this afternoon running every cleaner and its grandmother,
apparently. Hopefully if my last stop is the HJT guys they will know
what to do.