Command prompt has been opening & closing randomly :/

[Tech_Dreamer]

OS: MS Windows XP sp3, doesn't seems like it's executing any commands, just opens up cmd.exe & quickly closes it like a flash (1/8th of a second maybe) , Malware bytes scan is clean, should i be worried? Any form  of help would be appreciated , Please do let me know if it's a mini virus or a harmless rootkit or some light weight trojan  (_Damn You NSA )

[Swisscheesy]

It does sound like a virus/rootkit (not enough info to say which), but I would hardly call any malicious software that is opening the command prompt "harmless." It could well be harmless, but I don't like to take chances. Did you install any new programs right before this started happening? By the way, for systems that cannot for whatever reason run Windows 7 or newer I personally recommend Linux.

[wangyuji431]

Since malware bytes isn't reacting, it probably isn't a virus. More likely is that it is an automatic update or installation, as these are the primary cause of quick cmd flashes.

[RossMadness]

OS: MS Windows XP sp3, doesn't seems like it's executing any commands, just opens up cmd.exe & quickly closes it like a flash (1/8th of a second maybe) , Malware bytes scan is clean, should i be worried? Any form  of help would be appreciated , Please do let me know if it's a mini virus or a harmless rootkit or some light weight trojan  (_Damn You NSA )

 

When you ran MBAM, did you set it to scan for rootkits? This can be enabled in the "Settings" tab. Also, do you have an antivirus you can scan with? MBAM isn't an antivirus.

[Tech_Dreamer]

When you ran MBAM, did you set it to scan for rootkits? This can be enabled in the "Settings" tab. Also, do you have an antivirus you can scan with? MBAM isn't an antivirus.

yup it was enabled, anything you can reccommend which is deemed as a good AV in your opinion? preferably free or has a trial atleast, by which the location can be taken i can wipe it manually, currently i'm gonna try to down AVG or something , do reply with your reccomendations..

[RossMadness]

So my personal antivirus of choice is a PAID antivirus, but considering that the average (full) scan time is five minutes long and uses less than 5% of the CPU most of the time and I can remotely run scans on the other computers it's installed on (my family members that do not live near me) I say it's a good investment. And yes, it has a free trial. It's called Webroot. 

http://www.webroot.com/us/en/home/products/trials

 

The reviews are consistently amazing with most independent labs giving it 99% accuracy ratings. Good stuff.

For free, AVG isn't bad and neither is Microsoft Security Essentials. (If you're running Windows 8/8.1 then MSE is installed as "Windows Defender" automatically.) Some people swear by Avast, but I've had some bad experiences with it, personally.