Hi David - You've apparently gotten infected with the QHosts trojan. Read
here for information:
http://www.sarc.com/avcenter/venc/data/trojan.qhosts.html
http://us.mcafee.com/virusInfo/default.asp?id=description&virus_k=100719
http://www3.ca.com/virusinfo/virus.aspx?ID=37191
Try the following:
1. Be sure that you install hotfix 828750 which fixes the exploit that this
virus uses:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/critical/828750/default.asp
2. Update and run a complete Anti-Virus software check of your system. Most
of the major AV companies have updated their latest signatures to detect
this virus (for Network Associates (McAfee), be sure to get the EXTRADAT.exe
update from the above page as well as your regular update).
3a. If running your AV doesn't clean it up, go to this page, read the
directions CAREFULLY (particularly about the Restore option) and download
and run the removal tool:
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/trojan.qhosts.removal.tool.html
3b. An alternative that by report works much better than the Symantec tool
is the Brown University Removal Tool, here:
http://software.brown.edu/dist/w-cleanqhosts.html THIS WOULD BE MY PRIMARY
RECOMMENDATION
If that still doesn't clean it up (and a number of people are reporting that
it did not with the Symantec tool), then follow the Manual Removal
instructions at the link in 3a. The following is courtesy of Mike Burgess:
"Does a HOSTS file still exist in Windows\Help?
Trojan Qhosts hijacks the HOSTS file, however unlike normal redirectors,
this one hides the HOSTS file in the "Windows\Help" folder. It then
creates entries that redirects all major search engines to a website.
Note: this website has now been removed, thus the DNS errors.
[more info]
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm (bottom of page)
Run the beta version of HijackThis
(
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/beta/hijackthis.zip)
_______________________________________
Mike Burgess
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/
Blocking Spyware, Adware, Parasites, Hijackers, Trojans, with a HOSTS file
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm [updated 9-30-03]
Please post replies to this Newsgroup, email address is invalid"
Just to follow up on this - there may be multiple different HOSTS files on
your machine with the trojan's settings some of which cannot not be removed
by the Removal Tools, and you'll need to do a search to find and just delete
them all, or clean them per the manual directions at the Symantec site. A
very useful tool for this purpose is HostFileReader, available here courtesy
of Option^Explicit:
http://members.shaw.ca/techcd/VB_Projects/HostsFileReader.zip This will
locate all of the HOSTS files on your designated partition and allow you to
remove them individually. Recommended, especially for the qHosts worm
problem.
4. You probably will then need to restore your HOSTS file if you plan to use
it for DNS speedup and/or ad blocking. Download the Hosts File Reader as
above. Then:
To create a new Default version of HOSTS, run the program, click the "Reset
Default" button. Note that this is NOT a recreation of your original HOSTS
file, but a brand new "initialized" one correctly named HOSTS in the
appropriate folder for your OS (Windows XP\2000 Location: -
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC or Windows 98\ME Location: - C:\WINDOWS).
If you've been using your HOSTS file for ad blocking (see
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm Blocking Unwanted Ads with a Hosts
File) and/or DNS speedup, then you'll need to reset the new default you've
created for that purpose. (Using this HOSTS file for Ad blockikng is
recommended, BTW, since it also blocks a lot of "malware" as well as
offensive advertising.)
--
Please respond in the same thread.
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP
In
