How to remove Vpatch.exe on XP?

[jolphil]

Hi all,My wifes computer just come up with a problem(again)..It runsvery very slow..I just went into the task mgr. and found Vpatch.exe eating up all the CPU cycles..99%..I am not sure what this is or how she got it as I run avast AV,Threatfire,and spyware Dr...Never the less it's there so now the question is how to get rid of it..I googled and there are various downloads to scan for it but from websitesI never heard of and don't really trust..Sad the internet has come to this butthats life..I have been running Spyware Dr as we speak but it looks like it will take days to finishand theres no assurance it will find it...I will run Avast next but in the meantime,can anyone shed some insight as to what to do?Thank you, and any help is appreciated..jolphilPS: this is on windows XP home

Edited October 30, 2008 by jolphil

[Guest LilBambi]

Those auto patching programs are a real pain! One of my sisters had to take one of those auto patch help programs off her computer for the same reason.

Windows errors related to vpatch.exe?vpatch.exe is a Protection System from Internet Security Systems, Inc. belonging to Proventia Virtual Patch Protection System

vpatch.exe - vpatch process information

[jolphil]

Those auto patching programs are a real pain! One of my sisters had to take one of those auto patch help programs off her computer for the same reason.vpatch.exe - vpatch process information

Hi,Yes I saw that information and can't decide if it is malware or a legit program..Heres an update..So far I used the task manager to end the process eventhough it objected..All of a sudden Theatfire disapeared from the system tray..The system speeded up back to normal..Could this be a part of threatfire? So I did a file search for vpatch.exe and it turned upnothing..I ran Avast and it said all's clean..Spyware Dr. same clean bill of health..Started threatfire and looked in the task mgr. and cannot find vpatch.exe..So farI am running threatfire scan but don't expect it to find anything.. The computer is at normal speed..So far a big mystery, so I will turn over the computer to my wife and let her havea go at it..If anything turns up again i will add to this post..Thanks for your quick reply Fran,jolphil

[Guest LilBambi]

No worries. Hope the info comes in handy.A misbehaving program of course doesn't have to be malware, just poorly written.That was the case with my sister's stint with those auto-patching programs.

[jolphil]

when running anti-malware scansrun atfcleaner - http://www.atribune.org/ - against all browsers, ie, ff, opera if you have them installed(that reduces the qty of files to be scanned by half or more - most users never delete temp files...)and start in safe modeas the pc boots, start smacking the f8 key till your fingers bleed, then choose "safe mode"(this loads precious few drivers, again making your anti-malware scanning a zillion times faster.ok, a zillion times may be an exaggeration, perhaps a billion times faster...)

Haha I love your post..OK getting serious,I am still in No_mans_land"Heres where I am since my last post..I shut down threatfire and for a while it worked ok and no moreVpatch exe..After a bit I noticed again more CPU cycles and task mgr showed pcsvs.exe(may be mis spelled_ but it is the PC Dr. anti-spyware . scanner exe running).Again about 95% and also Inoticed it stopped scanning for long periods of up to an hour..It finally finished and It found some cookies which I let it Fix..During this time I had shutdown threatfire from starting in msconfig..I scanned again in PCspyware and again it stopped at a different point but I let it go again for overan hour and it found no spyware or cookies.. Ok I decided that was not normal so I un-installed it andthen Re-installed it and again let it update..The scan was slow and stopped again..That was the last strawso I un-installed it again and put in Superantispyware free edition..It scanned fast and found about 600 cookies they thought should be removed..Ok i let it quarantine them..So as it stands for the moment, threatfire is not running and the computer seems normal speed..This is crazy as all these programs run fine for a while then for some reason brick the system..I had a virus prog. Bitdefender for a year and it worked perfectly then all of a sudden it stopped the interneteven though I was connected..I think it is like Fran suggested poorly written updates that break theirrespective programs..I will have to let time tell me if I still have this problem..PS I will look at the atribune.org site but I do routinely wipe the browser cache and the temp files..Thanks again for your replies.jolphil

[zlim]

I'm extremely impressed with malwarebytes. (I too run superantispyware and spywareblaster).I had to clean up a computer on Sunday. I'm not sure what she had but I suspect it was something like AV XP 2008/2009 that gives you the warning that your computer is infected. Fortunately, she could not get on the internet so clicking anywhere did nothing. I installed malwarebytes from a USB drive. it took 20 minutes to do a full scan and found 25 items. It cleaned all but 3 or 4 and said it would get rid of those on the reboot. It was true to its word.It is free but we were so impressed that she purchased a copy and I installed this on my husband's computer and bought it for him so he would have auto-updating and scheduled scans, if I choose that.It's worth a look and I don't think you will have the slow scans that you are seeing.

[jolphil]

I'm extremely impressed with malwarebytes. (I too run superantispyware and spywareblaster).I had to clean up a computer on Sunday. I'm not sure what she had but I suspect it was something like AV XP 2008/2009 that gives you the warning that your computer is infected. Fortunately, she could not get on the internet so clicking anywhere did nothing. I installed malwarebytes from a USB drive. it took 20 minutes to do a full scan and found 25 items. It cleaned all but 3 or 4 and said it would get rid of those on the reboot. It was true to its word.It is free but we were so impressed that she purchased a copy and I installed this on my husband's computer and bought it for him so he would have auto-updating and scheduled scans, if I choose that.It's worth a look and I don't think you will have the slow scans that you are seeing.

Hi,Thank you for the information..I will look into malewarebites..Sounds good..Heres an update from my last post..As you will recall I stopped threatfire from starting and just used Pc tools spyware Dr.When i went to scan it stopped at various points and took over an hour to complete..This happened several times..It also loaded the CPU with 99% load..I decided to ditch it and un-install it in favor of super-antispyware..It scanned in 15 minutes and found a bunch of cookies..Ok the computer was back to normal speed and my wife was happy again..(horray!!)I still had to verify to myself that threatfire was indeed a threat..I went back to msconfig and checked it to start..After reboot it was in the system tray so I started the windows task mgr. again and scanned with it..It worked fine..After the scan threatfire decided it needed to update so I let it then did another scan and the dreaded vpatch.exe started eating my CPU again at 95-99% and slowed the system down to a craw..No more of this so it was un-installed for good..Honestly I can't understand why so many of these programs fall victim to there own upgrades?..So the computer is again back to normal..Funny thing though I have threatfire in several other computers and no sign of vpatch.exe..That makes no sense to me at all..Maybe it will rear it's ugly head later ..If so it's to the trash can..Thanks again for your posts,they are most welcomed..jolphlEdit: Malewarebytes? I never xcould type Edited November 1, 2008 by jolphil