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My mouse seems to be automatically right-clicking every few seconds, and sometimes constantly. My cursor will abruptly become an hourglass for a moment every once in a while, as well. It happens in spurts, as in it hasn't happened for about 10 minutes, but the preceding 20 before that it was happening constantly.

I suspect that my machine is infected with malware of some sort, so I've tried installing Microsoft Security Essentials, but it presents the following error upon installation failure: screenshot

My questions are:

  • How can I solve the MSE installation issue and run a scan?
  • Are there any indications that malware isn't actually my issue?
  • Is MSE my best way to go about solving my issue, assuming that malware actually is the problem?

Many thanks!

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  • I edited the picture in for you, have you tried restarting and installing again?
    – Baarn
    Commented Sep 2, 2012 at 7:46
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    If you Google mse 0x80070643 you get plenty of results, some forum posts with solutions. Perhaps try these?
    – ta.speot.is
    Commented Sep 2, 2012 at 8:18
  • Yes, I did try that, but it produces the same result. I'm now trying out the safety scanner, which is in the process of downloading.
    – Jim
    Commented Sep 3, 2012 at 3:40

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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If you suspect your pc is infected, try the Micrososft Safety Scanner: http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/

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  • Is it normal for it to take over 3 hours?
    – Jim
    Commented Sep 3, 2012 at 7:57
  • The download or scanning the harddrive? Scanning the harddrive can take a long time.
    – ZippyV
    Commented Sep 3, 2012 at 8:01
  • Yeah, the scanning. It's almost at 5 hours now. I didn't expect it to take nearly that long. But the computer's almost unusable while it's doing it though... it slows down the machine a great deal. It's a 60GB SSD from 2006, filled to the brim with data.
    – Jim
    Commented Sep 3, 2012 at 8:39
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If you suspect your system has already been compromised, my suggestion is disconnect it from the Internet. If you have a second machine to download files from, I'd recommend using it.

Now, to install Microsoft Security Essentials. It sounds like you have the installer. You may want to get a new copy from the website if you're paranoid about it being compromised. Manually download the latest definition file as well. Yes, MSE can do this automatically, but if you're offline, it can't.

When installing, right-click the installer, and "Run as Administrator". If that doesn't work, try installing from Safe Mode. Install the updated definitions the same way.

If you still have no luck, try an alternative like Avira or AVG. Maybe they'll have better luck.

If all else fails, you may need to bite the bullet and reinstall Windows. Some viruses and spyware can be pretty nasty, and your computer won't be the same until it's redone. If you do end up reinstalling, make sure to install MSE before anything else.

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