Nerdherd101
New Member
So I've got a bit of a problem I believe may have something to do with a nasty malware/spyware program or virus. My windows security center won't start. When I open the security center it's off, and when I try to turn it on I get the message "the security center service can't be started". I know there have been other threads on this, and I've taken the steps they recommend to fix it, involving running "services" in the start>search/run, and setting security center to automatic. Unfortunately my problems extend beyond that. Once I set it to automatic, and "start" it, I can go to the security center and see that everything is running except the malware/spyware protection (ie. windows defender or my McAfee). McAfee says it's running, but the security center doesn't seem to notice, and Windows Defender is inoperable. If I try to "turn on" either one, the security center is disabled. If I go back into services and check I see that it has once again been set to "disabled". If I repeat the process and open the security center and do nothing, after a few moments it's disabled again. Something is actively shutting down my security center over and over again. I cannot get Windows Defender to run, if I try, nothing happens or if I do it quickly after setting the SC to automatic I see a box pop up for a split second before disappearing, and nothing happens until the SC is inevitably disabled again.
This started when I attempted to go to a page from a google image search, and was forwarded to page saying I needed a Firefox update to run some flash player features of the page. The page looked legit, with the Firefox logo and typical color patterns/fonts/images they use for their website, and after a few moments a download prompt box automatically pops up with the option to run or save a .exe file. I saved it and tried to run it, but nothing happened. A bit later I noticed my computer running slow and task manager>processes showed a few programs called something like "Zxr" running and taking up alot of the cpu memory. I stopped the programs and located (local/temp folder) and deleted the files, which allowed my computer to run at normal speed. I ran a McAfee virus scan which picked up 1 virus and dealt with it. Yet my problem still persists.
Please advise
This started when I attempted to go to a page from a google image search, and was forwarded to page saying I needed a Firefox update to run some flash player features of the page. The page looked legit, with the Firefox logo and typical color patterns/fonts/images they use for their website, and after a few moments a download prompt box automatically pops up with the option to run or save a .exe file. I saved it and tried to run it, but nothing happened. A bit later I noticed my computer running slow and task manager>processes showed a few programs called something like "Zxr" running and taking up alot of the cpu memory. I stopped the programs and located (local/temp folder) and deleted the files, which allowed my computer to run at normal speed. I ran a McAfee virus scan which picked up 1 virus and dealt with it. Yet my problem still persists.
Please advise