Computer Virus? Expanding Contracting Taskbar.

[Tom Nguyen]

Hello, I am in desperate need of help. Last week, I was browsing the
internet with Mozilla when a bunch of the same windows popped up. Well,
I tried to close one of the windows and I wasn't able to. I went into
the taskbar to right click and close all the windows, but my right
click button was disabled! I tried to shut the computer down, but the
Start button was disabled. When I did click on the Start button, I was
taken to a screen where I could log off, but I could not shut down my
computer. I clicked the arrow on the bottom right of the taskbar which
is used to show you the programs running in the background and it
started expanding and contracting over and over again. My computer was
going crazy! I am using Windows XP by the way. I unplugged my computer
because I did not want all of my website design files deleted. I turned
the computer back on and Windows started again. I clicked on the arrow
on the tasbar on the bottom right and it happened all over again! More
windows started opening up automatically. Again, I unplugged the cord.
I went to buy myself a new hard drive and an external enclosure. I
installed the new hard drive with Windows XP and scanned the old one
with McAfee Virus Scan and no viruses were found, so I transferred all
of my php, html, jpgs, and psd files over to the new hard drive. I
didn't transfer any exe files. Everything was fine up until now when
the same things started again. It stops after a few minutes, but it
still happened. This time when it happened, I unplugged my ethernet
cable to see if someone was hacking into my computer. I have the
Windows Firewall up. Can someone help me with this problem please?

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Tom Nguyen" <[email protected]>

| Hello, I am in desperate need of help. Last week, I was browsing the
| internet with Mozilla when a bunch of the same windows popped up. Well,
| I tried to close one of the windows and I wasn't able to. I went into
| the taskbar to right click and close all the windows, but my right
| click button was disabled! I tried to shut the computer down, but the
| Start button was disabled. When I did click on the Start button, I was
| taken to a screen where I could log off, but I could not shut down my
| computer. I clicked the arrow on the bottom right of the taskbar which
| is used to show you the programs running in the background and it
| started expanding and contracting over and over again. My computer was
| going crazy! I am using Windows XP by the way. I unplugged my computer
| because I did not want all of my website design files deleted. I turned
| the computer back on and Windows started again. I clicked on the arrow
| on the tasbar on the bottom right and it happened all over again! More
| windows started opening up automatically. Again, I unplugged the cord.
| I went to buy myself a new hard drive and an external enclosure. I
| installed the new hard drive with Windows XP and scanned the old one
| with McAfee Virus Scan and no viruses were found, so I transferred all
| of my php, html, jpgs, and psd files over to the new hard drive. I
| didn't transfer any exe files. Everything was fine up until now when
| the same things started again. It stops after a few minutes, but it
| still happened. This time when it happened, I unplugged my ethernet
| cable to see if someone was hacking into my computer. I have the
| Windows Firewall up. Can someone help me with this problem please?



If you are using any version of Sun Java that is prior to JRE Version 5.0,
then you are strongly urged to remove any/all versions that are prior to JRE/JSE
Version 5.0. There are vulnerabilities in them and they are actively being exploited.
It is possible that is how you got infected with malware.

Therefore, it is highly suggested that if there are any prior versions of Sun Java
to Version 5 on the PC that they be removed and Sun Java JRE/JSE Version 5.0 Update 7
be installed ASAP.

Simple check, look under...
C:\Program Files\Java

The only folder under that folder should be the latest version...

C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_07


http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp



For non-viral malware...

Please download, install and update the following software...

* Ad-aware SE v1.06
http://www.lavasoft.de/
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
http://www.lavasoft.de/ms/index.htm

* SpyBot Search and Destroy v1.4
http://security.kolla.de/
http://www.safer-networking.org/microsoft.en.html

* SuperAntiSpyware
http://www.superantispyware.com/superantispywarefreevspro.html

After the software is updated, I suggest scanning the system in Safe Mode.

I also suggest downloading, installing and updating BHODemon for any Browser Helper Objects
that may be on the PC.

* BHODemon

http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloadget.php?id=3550&file=11&evp=245a87539eea8ed6904332b4b8b8442d

For viral malware...

* Download MULTI_AV.EXE from the URL --
http://www.ik-cs.com/programs/virtools/Multi_AV.exe

To use this utility, perform the following...
Execute; Multi_AV.exe { Note: You must use the default folder C:\AV-CLS }
Choose; Unzip
Choose; Close

Execute; C:\AV-CLS\StartMenu.BAT
{ or Double-click on 'Start Menu' in C:\AV-CLS }

NOTE: You may have to disable your software FireWall or allow WGET.EXE to go through your
FireWall to allow it to download the needed AV vendor related files.

C:\AV-CLS\StartMenu.BAT -- { or Double-click on 'Start Menu' in C:\AV-CLS}
This will bring up the initial menu of choices and should be executed in Normal Mode.
This way all the components can be downloaded from each AV vendor's web site.
The choices are; Sophos, Trend, McAfee, Kaspersky, Exit this menu and Reboot the PC.

You can choose to go to each menu item and just download the needed files or you can
download the files and perform a scan in Normal Mode. Once you have downloaded the files
needed for each scanner you want to use, you should reboot the PC into Safe Mode [F8 key
during boot] and re-run the menu again and choose which scanner you want to run in Safe
Mode. It is suggested to run the scanners in both Safe Mode and Normal Mode.

When the menu is displayed hitting 'H' or 'h' will bring up a more comprehensive PDF help
file. http://www.ik-cs.com/multi-av.htm

Additional Instructions:
http://pcdid.com/Multi_AV.htm


* * * Please report back your results * * *

 

[Guest]

yeh, sounds like a pop blocker could have helped you fight off them pop
ups.... i don't think you have a virus. it the spyware, tracking cookies and
adware you need to disinfect....

go into safe mode and into internet options and delete all files (offline
too), and delete the cookies. make sure the home page is set to something
like www.msn.com not sure if you can access the internet from safe mode
but if you can do the following below without the rebooting to normal. if
not, then....

then reboot to normal mode and use the internet explorer and download
msdefender from microsoft.com and antispywar from www.spywareterminator.com
and ccleaner from www.filehippo.com