a problem which if anyone can come up with a theor

all this started around the 15th decemeber 2001;

suddenly messenger crashes and BSOD's me. i restart, get bsod, cant get into windows except through safe mode. i backup my documents (which has my downloads, schoolw work etc...) to cd. format. reinstall win me. installs everything again (some from cd). problem happens again. i format, reinstall (again some from cd. happens again. now i get suspicious of virus so i do a virus check, using pc-cillin, mcafee and various others, nothing is found. i format the mbr, redo partition tables. everything i can think of. reinstall it happens again. now i get the idea something im installing is causing this so i experiment.
one by one restarting after each install i test out the exes from the backup cd, first i think its just icq, but then i format and try something else. after trying out numerous files (and doing numerous formas) i work it out to be all exes on teh backup cd

so no i dont use the backup cd for exe files and download fresh ones. the problem goes away. go on holiday, come back, everythingi s ok. few days later it happens again. i haven't backed up to cd so i do everything again and download fresh stuff. it goes away, then comes back again soon. i go back in my mind to what may be causing this. i can only remember 1 event which has happened each time, accepting a file from 1 of my friends on msn. i talk to him and he says he hasn't had any problems (and he is on windows me as well!!). i ask other people with have in common on our contact lists, they haven't had problems either. its only affecting me. i test out gettin even non-exe files from him, eg txts, jpgs. it still happens. since then i haven't accepted *any* files from him. im now in windows xp, yesterday while i was watching tv 1 of my friends was talkin to him on msn and got some files and opened them (a couple of exes, jpgs). all last night and for the last 6 hours my msn has been crashing more than a blind driver.

ive run virus and trojan scanners
ive formatted, cleared mbr and redone partition tables
i used all new downloads on my last format (27th feb - different reason)

the sypmtoms are different because of the different OS (i was on ME, now on XP) i guess

one thing is - why does this a) only happens when i open files from this 1 person b) why does it only happen to me c)why does it happen with *any* file type

the medium for transport of the files each and everytime has been msn using the same email address (he wishes to remain anonymous unless some1 can relate this to the email address ), im keeping my hotmail id anonymous as well for the same reason.

if anyone can come up with *any* theory on this i will be happy, its been annoying me now for 3 months and im gettin tired of formatting.

wow, that's terrible, I never used /\/\S/\/ & never will
Now about your problem. exe files are usually large in size, some applications do not support *.exe/bat/com files transmitions, so ... Maybe msn was trying to prevent from users to send *.exe files someway.
Also numerous viruses spreaded today as *.exe files disguised for sth else, try to send files in *.zip format, as exe/bat/com files are potentially dangerous for recipients and also the whole message delivering system.

Cheers
Chef

[MIK3]

Awe comeone now, no need to be racist twards MSN now, it has done fine for me ever since i got it.  Sounds like a big virus to me.  Try downloading iRiS AnitVirus if that is the case.

but poor thetechfreak mentioned all possible antiviral software he used (no offence, but what on earth is that iRiSh antivirus ??). cmon, this is not a virus. this only happens, when he receives exe files via MSN messenger and that's sth already.


Hope you'll figure this one out, thetechfreak m8

Cheer
Chef

[MIK3]

Sorry bout that..... better  "leave it to the pro's"  (keefe, smoked1), chef.

[vee_ess]

when you back up .exe files, you dont get all the rand. stuff with it like a folder called 2345jkl2345jk2345j2k345kk325kj433k instead of jkljk453jk3543j3j3j4k5l3353ftg435. or keys in the registry. save your setups, and never the .exe's, i have one cd with a few hundred setups and it always worx, but when i backed up folders i had errors too. he maybe having a cmpatibility issue with age of you messengers or something, or he may have a transfer issue that only comes up with certain configs and you just got the rotten egg.

Just a thought, but appears to be files that you are reloading back on each time, could be virus/trojan riding a double extended file, do a search/find for *.exe, look down the list of files and see if one or more are double extended.Then do the same for *.mp3, then *.jpg etc.  Mp3's come to mind, but not them necessarily.
Also you might try a very deep trojan scanner program like ANTS, it found a trojan for me that all others had missed for 2 yrs. I deliberately moved the trojan to a new folder and it found it again.
Just some thoughts.

Well you did mention having one virus Win ME  ;D .  I know that win me could really screw up networks and cause a lot of interference.  Honestly I would suggest going back to Win 98.  There are still bugs in XP and could be causin' trouble.  Win ME has been called buggy at best and much much worse by most people I know that have came acrossed it.  I guess one logical question would be did he just transfer these .exe and files or is he a programer that created these files.  If he did it on an ME box it could be tainted goods.

[vee_ess]

Well i doubt what your saying savage just cuz xp and me are so different, and there is no chance that the same problem would just happen to happen in both of the very different operating systems. Jinx may very well be right just because trojan horses are so hard to detect.

Hmm.
Im at work so I cant do a major analysis..but is there any chance that it is a physical problem with the HDD?