Computer filetype question

[greenops011]

Don't know if anyone will even be able to answer this, but I got a really wierd file type, and I can't find any info about it. I'm almost thinking it may be malware related, because several programs (Application Host, Explorer.exe, ArcGIS.exe) will periodically become unresponsive, and one file that I see in the windows error report is ntdll.dll

I will post a screenshot to show you the files, the file extension is .BKPCPT

http://i.imgur.com/VmhMred.jpg' alt='IMGUR>'>

Any ideas?

And please, no flame for still using windows XP. this is on my panasonic toughbook, and as much as I'd like to upgrade, I don't want to risk messing up the touchscreen drivers

[Nick]

because several programs (Application Host, Explorer.exe, ArcGIS.exe) will periodically become unresponsive

 

Has this been happening since 2008? Looks like a majority of the files were created (or, at least last modified) then.

[greenops011]

because several programs (Application Host, Explorer.exe, ArcGIS.exe) will periodically become unresponsive

 

Has this been happening since 2008? Looks like a majority of the files were created (or, at least last modified) then.

 

I've only had the computer since march. so I would say not

[SCPD]

I only heard if this issue where if explorer.exe has the .bkpcpt extension, then the Internet Explorer is hijacked by a malware. Then again I could be wrong.

Try running some antimalware programs to see if some of these files are detected by the antimalware system.

[Nick]

if explorer.exe has the .bkpcpt extension, then the Internet Explorer is hijacked by a malware

 

Windows Explorer = explorer.exe

Internet Explorer = iexplore.exe (IIRC... been a while.........)

So, while not impossible, probably unlikely... lol

[greenops011]

I only heard if this issue where if explorer.exe has the .bkpcpt extension, then the Internet Explorer is hijacked by a malware. Then again I could be wrong.

Try running some antimalware programs to see if some of these files are detected by the antimalware system.

 

I've ran 3 different scans. One with Panda Cloud Antivirus. One with ESET NOD32, and then one using my Bitdefender Live Rescue disk (able to scan outside the windows environment for any malware using rootkits)

On all 3 it came up with negative results, so unless the malware is using some zero-day that NONE of the vendors know about (highly unlikely as this is an older operating system), I have to conclude the files are not malicious

[SCPD]

Slight off topic tho, have you try a Fixmestick? Its a USB that scans for malware under 3 antivirus software.

https://www.fixmestick.com/ca/

[Nick]

Slight off topic tho, have you try a Fixmestick? Its a USB that scans for malware under 3 antivirus software.

https://www.fixmestick.com/ca/

 

"I've scanned with three different Antivirus programs and they all came up with nothing."

"Well maybe try to scan with this Antivirus stick."

Great advice...

A quick Google search came up with almost nothing. Only ever saw two or three forum posts, one on MalwareBytes saying it's a false positive at one point (which was resolved) and one in Spanish... where OP was running a MalwareBytes scan and the same thing happened. I doubt it's malicious and am not paying some Canadian $10 a month to send me a USB stick that does the same thing as what I already did... somewhere else even mentioned that it's simply a backup file.

Fwiw you really need to just throw in the towel on XP (and Vista, and in a few years, 7) and get something that's had reliable Windows support since 2014. I'm happy to agree XP was great.... in 2005. I doubt anyone who has a good reputation for knowing technology well would disagree with me on that.

Amazon's best-seller can even run vanilla IV on low-medium graphics. Add some more RAM and it would even be comparable to the Dell this guy was using:

[greenops011]

Fwiw you really need to just throw in the towel on XP (and Vista, and in a few years, 7) and get something that's had reliable Windows support since 2014. I'm happy to agree XP was great.... in 2005. I doubt anyone who has a good reputation for knowing technology well would disagree with me on that.

 

Yeah about throwing in the towel, I only have this to say:

JK

And honestly, just because XP doesnt get any updates (unless you know the registry trick), doesnt mean its not still great. Let me give you a few reasons why

 

2. ATM's and Bank machines still use Windows XP Embedded
   
4. Because its no longer supported, there are no more updates. Less chance those updates will bug your computer (it happens, trust me on that one)
   
6. Because its older, its not as attractive for hackers to take out. Believe it or not, many individuals in cyber crime aren't just in it for the numbers, They are also in it for the skill it takes to pull off a hack. For them windows XP is tooo easy. They'd rather go after something like windows 8 or 10. (Thats right, come at me bitch, lol)
   

[Nick]

Yes places like banks hospitals schools and the government still use outdated equipment. One reason being the sheer cost for multi-million dollar corporations to upgrade equipment. End users face anywhere from $100-1000 depending on how you want to do it (100 being buying a new OS, and 1000 being buying an upper middle class computer) instead of hundreds of thousands of dollars that businesses are trying to keep as profits instead of expenses to please their shareholders. Technologically speaking definitely not a good move in the long run, but businesses love their profits. IT definitely is not their priority. Admittedly some places have to rely on legacy software that doesn't work on current devices but that really only highlights the need to pay someone to write software for a current OS... Especially if you are dealing with PII like at the hospital or at banks. If that info gets in the wrong hands they're fucked. And since there's a LOT of valuable info still potentially accessible from XP based systems people will still develop malware to get at that info which obviously doesn't differentiate between banks and hospitals versus end users who are too arrogant to protect their data properly.

Reference the reg edit workaround, there's no guarantee for that working in the first place and even if it does MS could patch that on their end with some check to verify that it is a business requesting the info from MS databases.

Unless you have a serious, legitimate, ***reasonable*** reason to continue with XP (touch screens are available on tough books running updated operating systems if you want to blow $1500 so you can run over your laptop instead of taking care of it) then I've said everything I can about this and am not going further. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wired.com/2017/05/still-use-windows-xp-prepare-worst/amp

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2487692,00.asp

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.technologyreview.com/s/531651/windows-xp-is-still-a-favorite-among-hackers/amp/

[SCPD]

Yes places like banks hospitals schools and the government still use outdated equipment. One reason being the sheer cost for multi-million dollar corporations to upgrade equipment. End users face anywhere from $100-1000 depending on how you want to do it (100 being buying a new OS, and 1000 being buying an upper middle class computer) instead of hundreds of thousands of dollars that businesses are trying to keep as profits instead of expenses to please their shareholders. Technologically speaking definitely not a good move in the long run, but businesses love their profits.

 

Or maybe bc Windows 8 and 10 just sucks. I mean comon free windows 10 upgrade and yet I didnt even go for it.

It is greenops decision but my recommendation would be windows 7 since literally half the OS user is still windows 7, which still outranks windows 10 users. Then again its his decision so im not gonna push him.

Also tfw the marketshare of windows 8.1 is equal to windows xp. Even linux outranked window 8 :P

https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0

[Nick]

snip

 

Or maybe bc Windows 8 and 10 just sucks. I mean comon free windows 10 upgrade and yet I didnt even go for it.

It is greenops decision but my recommendation would be windows 7 since literally half the OS user is still windows 7, which still outranks windows 10 users. Then again its his decision so im not gonna push him.

Also tfw the marketshare of windows 8.1 is equal to windows xp. Even linux outranked window 8 :P

https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0

 

Windows 8 was garbage. Windows 8.1 was... okay... but nobody really appreciated the Metro thing they were going for. Windows 10 will have support past 2020, and I plan to be alive past 2020... so... fair investment. I have 5 different computers running 10 and have never had any problems, so don't really know why people are bitching about that. One I bought running 10 (my primary laptop), the rest were upgraded.

Also, the Windows 10 upgrade was *not* free for enterprise systems. Windows 7 would probably have better support for specific drivers for machines from 2003 than Windows 10. The HP 6730b I picked up for $20 was released in 2008, and even that has no issues (aside from it being slow since the parts are almost a decade old).

[SCPD]

One thing I hated Windows 10 is there's so much useless apps.... I mean Xbox Live, Sports, News, Windows Store, weather??? Jeez I can do that with Google Chrome. I really feel like Windows 10 is designed to look more like a mobile OS than a PC OS.

Another thing I hated about Windows 10 is you need an online Microsoft account to login... Ye I prefer my local account on my Windows 7 with this neat fingerprint scanner thanks for asking.

Safe mode on Windows 10 sucks too. It doesn't protect certain malware better than Windows 7 safe mode.

And I could literally go on with a list of why I hate Windows 10, including not being able to play old games through the gameranger client. Thus I refuse anything 8 and up.

[Blast3r]

And I could literally go on with a list of why I hate Windows 10, including not being able to play old games through the gameranger client. Thus I refuse anything 8 and up.

 

Gameranger's fault, the client is outdated as fuck, not Windows.

[Henryjex]

Looking for a new desktop computer.  PC or Mac. 

Anything "new" in the horizon thats coming up?  Like Windows 11 or something that is worth waiting for?

Im in no rush to get one. 

Whats the latest news on whats coming?

New Questions on post #13

[ArcherHep]

I have a ASUS k53e laptop.

And I tried to load Madden 08 up, I already installed the game.

But it says no Direct3d Device found.

Is this an issue with directx?

[Nick]

I have a ASUS k53e laptop.

And I tried to load Madden 08 up, I already installed the game.

But it says no Direct3d Device found.

Is this an issue with directx?

 

This is unrelated so I'm gonna go ahead and lock this topic. OP can request an unlock (also we probably can't help you with this)