Security systems, and a computer mystery too

[killergamer]

Ok, so first off if any one here does security systems, like setting up security systems, DVR's and properly networking them so you can VPN from any computer your at in a CCTV network. I am interested in learning as much as possible to help the person who runs a company called Wisconsin Rangers here in Wisconsin. Any ways if any one has intresting websites or a good book worth reading please tell me, any bit of information helps me.

Second, I'm trying to help the owner of the company with his computer but no matter what I try I just can't get it to work. Here's the problems with it:
1. His sound doesnt work, but I think that has to do with the rest of the problems
2. His computer has some thing running in the back ground in a SVChost process that is drawing all his Processing power and memory possible, its always showing at 100%. I have spent hours trying to figure out what process it is but to no avail.
3. Every time I try to go update his computer thinking it needs to update, a whole 19 updates. It won't it fails and the error code I find doesn't help me at all. I Google it an nothing appears to help.
4. I noticed this after he put some new memory in, I asked if he made sure he had the exact right type of memory needed. He said he took his last ram to a local computer shop and they got him the right type. He has 4gb of ram but it will only use 3.5gb so .5gbs arent being used.

Ok at this point I'm super fed up with trying to get his computer working, so as of right now I want to just make a copy of all of his files onto my external hard drive and restore his computer back to defualt settings and go from there adding what he wants back onto his new clean computer. He has like 100 OEM disks because he owns a ton of computers, so I don't know which one will be good with his current computer..Would it just be easier to burn my own default disk? Is there a way to create one with XP?

+rep for any help and a huge thank you!

[AmEv]

3.5 gigs only being used? That's a 32-bit operating system.

[Fuganater]

I use a cheaper system because its mainly for keeping an eye on my daughter around the house when I'm in the office.

It has 3 cameras and a monitor. You can hook the monitor up to your PC via a USB cable and can record when things move or from a set time to a set time.

This is my kit: http://www.uniden.com/video-surveill...nvt/udw20553g/

You can buy more cameras for it too which I like.

[PowerChucker]

try to kill that svchost process see what happens.
also, i would reboot in safe mode and run spybot search and destroy, and malewarebytes, i bet there is s virus, or spyware on there. putting it in safe mode will keep all but the most critical processes from starting up, then allowing you to run scans..
as for the sound.. what does device manager say? is the driver installed?
and yes 32 bit OS will not see 4gb of ram..
check the BIOS to make sure the ram he installed is being recognized properly too...

[TLHarrell]

Run ProcessExplorer and see what's running inside of that SVChost process and where it's installed.

[killergamer]

Ok, so tonight I was able to get the Sound back, and got all the updates to work, I did forget to go into safe mode and run a ton of anti viruses..

[TLHarrell]

Grab that scroll bar and check the file paths for the registered services. If any of them point to C:\Documents~\ Username \Temp, then you have an obvious problem. If not, go through and nuke them one at a time and see which one is causing the CPU usage. From there, I'd look into trying to uninstall/reinstall that particular component.

[killergamer]

I went through all the services by the SVChost, and nuked them till I was left with just what you see. So if I find that one of those services running is running out of C:\Documents\Username\Temp then I should go to the source and delete it? All of those services when I tried to kill them came up telling me I couldn't shut them down. I appreciate all this help!

[AmEv]

Get MBAM. That should finish it off.


Unless it fights MBAM...
(yes, that happened once >:( )

[TLHarrell]

If a process is running from a temp file, then it is most definitely malware. No legitimate software installs itself into /username/temp ever. If there is something running from there, boot into safe mode, run regedit and do a search for the .exe name which you can get from Process Explorer. There will probably be several entries. Delete them. Then go delete the .exe files from your /temp/ folder. Reboot.

WARNING! Messing around in your system registry can cause all kinds of problems. Do not attempt unless you know what you're doing. I am not responsible if you nerf anything.

Last time I had a malware drive-by install on my system, my regedit hack to remove it caused me to lose a lot of file associations. My system wouldn't even figure out how to run a .exe file. There are scripts available for fixing that though. Was scary for a little while as I didn't want to reinstall WinXP and all my customizations again.