Danger warning! to the public and note to Databaseben

G

Guest

,General Warning Message: Do NOT install the following program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

Hello, Databaseben! I talked to you way back in July when you were very
helpful with all my computer problems. In your last post to me, you
recommended some free programs that could help "clean up" my computer. I've
put a copy of part of what you wrote below:

"http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

The program above will optimize your registry..."

I installed this program, and used it without problem for several months.
But I had an alarming finding about this program when I ran Ad-Aware SE on
10/18/06. Unless I have read it wrong, it appears that a hacker got hold of
it and corrupted it badly. I saved the quarantine area of Ad-Aware. I will
copy what it said about the above software program, which showed the
program's name and logo in the findings before I quarantined it. I
immediately removed it from my computer:

ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 2006-10-18 21-17-51.bckp)
Referencefile : SE1R128 18.10.2006
======================================================

WIN32.TROJAN.DOWNLOADER
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
obj[0]=Regkey : S-1-5-19\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[1]=Regkey : S-1-5-20\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[2]=Regkey :
S-1-5-21-861567501-2139871995-725345543-1004\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet explorer\toolbar
obj[3]=Regkey : software\microsoft\internet explorer\toolbar

Of course, I don't understand all the above. I don't know if you can
contact the program's authors and tell them about this development. If not,
I wanted to warn others NOT to install this software... But I wanted you in
particular to know, so you won't recommend it to anyone else.

Quite a world when you try to be helpful and evil people only want to hurt
others! Kudos to Ad-Aware SE to catching this! (I'm sure my Spy Sweeper
would have caught it too but I hadn't done my scan with it yet.)

Databaseben, I did want you to know that your other software suggestions
have been very helpful and I thank you!
 
G

glee

This program has been used for years on countless computers, and has been downloaded
alone and also in the package with its sister app, ERUNT. The fact that you ran it
successfully for months and only got a warning about a trojan last week, indicates
that you simply have a trojan on your system, and it may have replaced that app,
using its name. It does not in any way implicate the download you got months ago
from majorgeeks.

In your paste of the trojan information, I don't see any mention of NTREGOPT. Are
you saying the file itself, ntregopt.exe, is in quarantine? The info you posted
only mentions a trojan downloader, and points to registry entries for an IE toolbar.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
,General Warning Message: Do NOT install the following program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

Hello, Databaseben! I talked to you way back in July when you were very
helpful with all my computer problems. In your last post to me, you
recommended some free programs that could help "clean up" my computer. I've
put a copy of part of what you wrote below:

"http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

The program above will optimize your registry..."

I installed this program, and used it without problem for several months.
But I had an alarming finding about this program when I ran Ad-Aware SE on
10/18/06. Unless I have read it wrong, it appears that a hacker got hold of
it and corrupted it badly. I saved the quarantine area of Ad-Aware. I will
copy what it said about the above software program, which showed the
program's name and logo in the findings before I quarantined it. I
immediately removed it from my computer:

ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 2006-10-18 21-17-51.bckp)
Referencefile : SE1R128 18.10.2006
======================================================

WIN32.TROJAN.DOWNLOADER
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
obj[0]=Regkey : S-1-5-19\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[1]=Regkey : S-1-5-20\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[2]=Regkey :
S-1-5-21-861567501-2139871995-725345543-1004\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[3]=Regkey : software\microsoft\internet explorer\toolbar

Of course, I don't understand all the above. I don't know if you can
contact the program's authors and tell them about this development. If not,
I wanted to warn others NOT to install this software... But I wanted you in
particular to know, so you won't recommend it to anyone else.

Quite a world when you try to be helpful and evil people only want to hurt
others! Kudos to Ad-Aware SE to catching this! (I'm sure my Spy Sweeper
would have caught it too but I hadn't done my scan with it yet.)

Databaseben, I did want you to know that your other software suggestions
have been very helpful and I thank you!
 
G

Guest

Glee, I found from talking to another person later that the NTREGOPT program
was not the cause of the Trojan Horse, although possibly it could have used
it to "sneak" the Trojan Horse onto my computer.

So now it appears I have a Trojan Horse on my system! I have used security
software from 3 major companies (LavaSoft, Symantec/Norton, and Webroot),
have installed all the security downloads from Microsoft, have my firewall
up, have not added any toolbars, do not go to the so-called "dark side" of
the web, have 2 email scanners (Symantec/Norton and McAfee from my local
ISP), do not use links for "free checkups" of my computer and similar
dangerous links, do not use Instant Messaging, and I still got a Trojan Horse!

I am a computer novice and have done everything I know how to do to keep my
computer safe. I have "crashed" in the past, and I'm beginning to feel that
I want to abandon the Internet. For me, it has changed from a source of fun
and information to a dangerous maze with a hazard around every corner.

Can you give me any information on how to find and remove this Internet
Devil? I'd really appreciate any help you can give me.

glee said:
This program has been used for years on countless computers, and has been downloaded
alone and also in the package with its sister app, ERUNT. The fact that you ran it
successfully for months and only got a warning about a trojan last week, indicates
that you simply have a trojan on your system, and it may have replaced that app,
using its name. It does not in any way implicate the download you got months ago
from majorgeeks.

In your paste of the trojan information, I don't see any mention of NTREGOPT. Are
you saying the file itself, ntregopt.exe, is in quarantine? The info you posted
only mentions a trojan downloader, and points to registry entries for an IE toolbar.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
,General Warning Message: Do NOT install the following program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

Hello, Databaseben! I talked to you way back in July when you were very
helpful with all my computer problems. In your last post to me, you
recommended some free programs that could help "clean up" my computer. I've
put a copy of part of what you wrote below:

"http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

The program above will optimize your registry..."

I installed this program, and used it without problem for several months.
But I had an alarming finding about this program when I ran Ad-Aware SE on
10/18/06. Unless I have read it wrong, it appears that a hacker got hold of
it and corrupted it badly. I saved the quarantine area of Ad-Aware. I will
copy what it said about the above software program, which showed the
program's name and logo in the findings before I quarantined it. I
immediately removed it from my computer:

ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 2006-10-18 21-17-51.bckp)
Referencefile : SE1R128 18.10.2006
======================================================

WIN32.TROJAN.DOWNLOADER
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
obj[0]=Regkey : S-1-5-19\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[1]=Regkey : S-1-5-20\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[2]=Regkey :
S-1-5-21-861567501-2139871995-725345543-1004\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[3]=Regkey : software\microsoft\internet explorer\toolbar

Of course, I don't understand all the above. I don't know if you can
contact the program's authors and tell them about this development. If not,
I wanted to warn others NOT to install this software... But I wanted you in
particular to know, so you won't recommend it to anyone else.

Quite a world when you try to be helpful and evil people only want to hurt
others! Kudos to Ad-Aware SE to catching this! (I'm sure my Spy Sweeper
would have caught it too but I hadn't done my scan with it yet.)

Databaseben, I did want you to know that your other software suggestions
have been very helpful and I thank you!
 
J

Joe

MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
Glee, I found from talking to another person later that the NTREGOPT program
was not the cause of the Trojan Horse, although possibly it could have used
it to "sneak" the Trojan Horse onto my computer.

So now it appears I have a Trojan Horse on my system! I have used security
software from 3 major companies (LavaSoft, Symantec/Norton, and Webroot),
have installed all the security downloads from Microsoft, have my firewall
up, have not added any toolbars, do not go to the so-called "dark side"of
the web, have 2 email scanners (Symantec/Norton and McAfee from my local
ISP), do not use links for "free checkups" of my computer and similar
dangerous links, do not use Instant Messaging, and I still got a TrojanHorse!

I am a computer novice and have done everything I know how to do to keep my
computer safe. I have "crashed" in the past, and I'm beginning to feelthat
I want to abandon the Internet. For me, it has changed from a source of fun
and information to a dangerous maze with a hazard around every corner.

Can you give me any information on how to find and remove this Internet
Devil? I'd really appreciate any help you can give me.

glee said:
This program has been used for years on countless computers, and has been downloaded
alone and also in the package with its sister app, ERUNT. The fact that you ran it
successfully for months and only got a warning about a trojan last week, indicates
that you simply have a trojan on your system, and it may have replacedthat app,
using its name. It does not in any way implicate the download you gotmonths ago
from majorgeeks.

In your paste of the trojan information, I don't see any mention of NTREGOPT. Are
you saying the file itself, ntregopt.exe, is in quarantine? The info you posted
only mentions a trojan downloader, and points to registry entries for an IE toolbar.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
,General Warning Message: Do NOT install the following program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

Hello, Databaseben! I talked to you way back in July when you were very
helpful with all my computer problems. In your last post to me, you
recommended some free programs that could help "clean up" my computer. I've
put a copy of part of what you wrote below:

"http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

The program above will optimize your registry..."

I installed this program, and used it without problem for several months.
But I had an alarming finding about this program when I ran Ad-Aware SE on
10/18/06. Unless I have read it wrong, it appears that a hacker got hold of
it and corrupted it badly. I saved the quarantine area of Ad-Aware. I will
copy what it said about the above software program, which showed the
program's name and logo in the findings before I quarantined it. I
immediately removed it from my computer:

ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 2006-10-18 21-17-51.bckp)
Referencefile : SE1R128 18.10.2006
======================================================

WIN32.TROJAN.DOWNLOADER
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
obj[0]=Regkey : S-1-5-19\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[1]=Regkey : S-1-5-20\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[2]=Regkey :
S-1-5-21-861567501-2139871995-725345543-1004\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[3]=Regkey : software\microsoft\internet explorer\toolbar

Of course, I don't understand all the above. I don't know if you can
contact the program's authors and tell them about this development. If not,
I wanted to warn others NOT to install this software... But I wantedyou in
particular to know, so you won't recommend it to anyone else.

Quite a world when you try to be helpful and evil people only want tohurt
others! Kudos to Ad-Aware SE to catching this! (I'm sure my Spy Sweeper
would have caught it too but I hadn't done my scan with it yet.)

Databaseben, I did want you to know that your other software suggestions
have been very helpful and I thank you!

Avast! Free Home has an option to do a boot scan. This helps because
the trojan hasn't started yet and can't disable the a/v software.
You'll be offered the option upon install, and you can schedule a boot
scan from the top/left button on the Control Panel.
 
G

glee

I haven't found Webroot Spysweeper's background monitoring to be very useful, nor
the background monitoring of any other anti-spyware utilities. I do prefer AVG
Anti-Spyware (formerly Ewido) for on-demand scanning for spyware and trojan
downloaders:
http://www.ewido.net/en/

They've also got an online scan:
http://www.ewido.net/en/onlinescan/

I am not a fan of either Norton or McAfee anti-virus, though either should be
effective against viruses, but somewhat less so against trojans and trojan
downloaders. I can't imaging having both installed at the same time (in fact, I
don't think they will co-habit), so I am guessing the McAfee scan you refer to is
just an online email scan that your ISP uses prior to your receiving the email.

Turn off the email scanning in your resident anti-virus (Norton, I presume).....even
Symantec support states it is redundant and unnecessary, and can cause problems.

You mentioned that the trojan downloader was quarantined (by Ad-Aware, IIRC), so do
you still detect any trojans or downloader when you rescan? If so, where are they
being found....what location on your hard drive? If they are being found in System
Restore or in the Ad-Aware quarantine folder, then you only have to clear the
quarantine area through the Ad-Aware interface, and or reset System Restore to
delete old restore points.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
Glee, I found from talking to another person later that the NTREGOPT program
was not the cause of the Trojan Horse, although possibly it could have used
it to "sneak" the Trojan Horse onto my computer.

So now it appears I have a Trojan Horse on my system! I have used security
software from 3 major companies (LavaSoft, Symantec/Norton, and Webroot),
have installed all the security downloads from Microsoft, have my firewall
up, have not added any toolbars, do not go to the so-called "dark side" of
the web, have 2 email scanners (Symantec/Norton and McAfee from my local
ISP), do not use links for "free checkups" of my computer and similar
dangerous links, do not use Instant Messaging, and I still got a Trojan Horse!

I am a computer novice and have done everything I know how to do to keep my
computer safe. I have "crashed" in the past, and I'm beginning to feel that
I want to abandon the Internet. For me, it has changed from a source of fun
and information to a dangerous maze with a hazard around every corner.

Can you give me any information on how to find and remove this Internet
Devil? I'd really appreciate any help you can give me.

glee said:
This program has been used for years on countless computers, and has been
downloaded
alone and also in the package with its sister app, ERUNT. The fact that you ran
it
successfully for months and only got a warning about a trojan last week,
indicates
that you simply have a trojan on your system, and it may have replaced that app,
using its name. It does not in any way implicate the download you got months ago
from majorgeeks.

In your paste of the trojan information, I don't see any mention of NTREGOPT.
Are
you saying the file itself, ntregopt.exe, is in quarantine? The info you posted
only mentions a trojan downloader, and points to registry entries for an IE
toolbar.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message news:[email protected]...
,General Warning Message: Do NOT install the following program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

Hello, Databaseben! I talked to you way back in July when you were very
helpful with all my computer problems. In your last post to me, you
recommended some free programs that could help "clean up" my computer. I've
put a copy of part of what you wrote below:

"http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

The program above will optimize your registry..."

I installed this program, and used it without problem for several months.
But I had an alarming finding about this program when I ran Ad-Aware SE on
10/18/06. Unless I have read it wrong, it appears that a hacker got hold of
it and corrupted it badly. I saved the quarantine area of Ad-Aware. I will
copy what it said about the above software program, which showed the
program's name and logo in the findings before I quarantined it. I
immediately removed it from my computer:

ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 2006-10-18 21-17-51.bckp)
Referencefile : SE1R128 18.10.2006
======================================================

WIN32.TROJAN.DOWNLOADER
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
obj[0]=Regkey : S-1-5-19\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[1]=Regkey : S-1-5-20\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[2]=Regkey :
S-1-5-21-861567501-2139871995-725345543-1004\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[3]=Regkey : software\microsoft\internet explorer\toolbar

Of course, I don't understand all the above. I don't know if you can
contact the program's authors and tell them about this development. If not,
I wanted to warn others NOT to install this software... But I wanted you in
particular to know, so you won't recommend it to anyone else.

Quite a world when you try to be helpful and evil people only want to hurt
others! Kudos to Ad-Aware SE to catching this! (I'm sure my Spy Sweeper
would have caught it too but I hadn't done my scan with it yet.)

Databaseben, I did want you to know that your other software suggestions
have been very helpful and I thank you!
 
G

Guest

Glee, you were correct about the Norton and McAffee virus scans. My local
ISP does an email scan using McAffee before it reaches my mailbox. The
Norton is on my own system. You say that Norton says its own email scanning
is redundant, unnecessary and can cause problems? You'd think they'd remove
it from their software line.....

I did run another Ad-Aware SE full scan last night, and it did not find any
more traces of a Trojan Horse.

I will check out the AVG software you gave me the links for. Did you see
the post by "Joe"? He mentioned a software called "Free Home" with the
option to do a boot scan? Do you know anything about this?

I'm sorry to sound so confused, but I am a computer novice. I have several
people who are kind enough to want to try to help me, but I'm starting to get
"information overload".

But I guess the main point to this post is: in answer to your question,
when I did a full rescan on Ad-Aware SE last night, there was NO indication
of Trojan Horse traces again. The Trojan trace info in my original post is
still quarantined in my Ad-Aware.

Thank you.


glee said:
I haven't found Webroot Spysweeper's background monitoring to be very useful, nor
the background monitoring of any other anti-spyware utilities. I do prefer AVG
Anti-Spyware (formerly Ewido) for on-demand scanning for spyware and trojan
downloaders:
http://www.ewido.net/en/

They've also got an online scan:
http://www.ewido.net/en/onlinescan/

I am not a fan of either Norton or McAfee anti-virus, though either should be
effective against viruses, but somewhat less so against trojans and trojan
downloaders. I can't imaging having both installed at the same time (in fact, I
don't think they will co-habit), so I am guessing the McAfee scan you refer to is
just an online email scan that your ISP uses prior to your receiving the email.

Turn off the email scanning in your resident anti-virus (Norton, I presume).....even
Symantec support states it is redundant and unnecessary, and can cause problems.

You mentioned that the trojan downloader was quarantined (by Ad-Aware, IIRC), so do
you still detect any trojans or downloader when you rescan? If so, where are they
being found....what location on your hard drive? If they are being found in System
Restore or in the Ad-Aware quarantine folder, then you only have to clear the
quarantine area through the Ad-Aware interface, and or reset System Restore to
delete old restore points.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
Glee, I found from talking to another person later that the NTREGOPT program
was not the cause of the Trojan Horse, although possibly it could have used
it to "sneak" the Trojan Horse onto my computer.

So now it appears I have a Trojan Horse on my system! I have used security
software from 3 major companies (LavaSoft, Symantec/Norton, and Webroot),
have installed all the security downloads from Microsoft, have my firewall
up, have not added any toolbars, do not go to the so-called "dark side" of
the web, have 2 email scanners (Symantec/Norton and McAfee from my local
ISP), do not use links for "free checkups" of my computer and similar
dangerous links, do not use Instant Messaging, and I still got a Trojan Horse!

I am a computer novice and have done everything I know how to do to keep my
computer safe. I have "crashed" in the past, and I'm beginning to feel that
I want to abandon the Internet. For me, it has changed from a source of fun
and information to a dangerous maze with a hazard around every corner.

Can you give me any information on how to find and remove this Internet
Devil? I'd really appreciate any help you can give me.

glee said:
This program has been used for years on countless computers, and has been
downloaded
alone and also in the package with its sister app, ERUNT. The fact that you ran
it
successfully for months and only got a warning about a trojan last week,
indicates
that you simply have a trojan on your system, and it may have replaced that app,
using its name. It does not in any way implicate the download you got months ago
from majorgeeks.

In your paste of the trojan information, I don't see any mention of NTREGOPT.
Are
you saying the file itself, ntregopt.exe, is in quarantine? The info you posted
only mentions a trojan downloader, and points to registry entries for an IE
toolbar.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message ,General Warning Message: Do NOT install the following program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

Hello, Databaseben! I talked to you way back in July when you were very
helpful with all my computer problems. In your last post to me, you
recommended some free programs that could help "clean up" my computer. I've
put a copy of part of what you wrote below:

"http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

The program above will optimize your registry..."

I installed this program, and used it without problem for several months.
But I had an alarming finding about this program when I ran Ad-Aware SE on
10/18/06. Unless I have read it wrong, it appears that a hacker got hold of
it and corrupted it badly. I saved the quarantine area of Ad-Aware. I will
copy what it said about the above software program, which showed the
program's name and logo in the findings before I quarantined it. I
immediately removed it from my computer:

ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 2006-10-18 21-17-51.bckp)
Referencefile : SE1R128 18.10.2006
======================================================

WIN32.TROJAN.DOWNLOADER
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
obj[0]=Regkey : S-1-5-19\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[1]=Regkey : S-1-5-20\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[2]=Regkey :
S-1-5-21-861567501-2139871995-725345543-1004\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[3]=Regkey : software\microsoft\internet explorer\toolbar

Of course, I don't understand all the above. I don't know if you can
contact the program's authors and tell them about this development. If not,
I wanted to warn others NOT to install this software... But I wanted you in
particular to know, so you won't recommend it to anyone else.

Quite a world when you try to be helpful and evil people only want to hurt
others! Kudos to Ad-Aware SE to catching this! (I'm sure my Spy Sweeper
would have caught it too but I hadn't done my scan with it yet.)

Databaseben, I did want you to know that your other software suggestions
have been very helpful and I thank you!
 
G

glee

Replies inline, interspersed below.....

MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
Glee, you were correct about the Norton and McAffee virus scans. My local
ISP does an email scan using McAffee before it reaches my mailbox. The
Norton is on my own system. You say that Norton says its own email scanning
is redundant, unnecessary and can cause problems? You'd think they'd remove
it from their software line.....

You'd think! By their own admission, it is redundant. As long as you have your
resident virus scanner running in the background, the email scanner affords no
useful additional protection. yet, most A-V apps include it. Why? Because users
*think* it makes them safer, and you give them what helps in their feeling of
security. If one supplier adds email scanning, they all must, lest they look like
they are not trying to protect you as well as the competition.

I did run another Ad-Aware SE full scan last night, and it did not find any
more traces of a Trojan Horse.

That is good, and much as I suspected. From your original description, it was never
a trojan horse in the first place, but a trojan downloader, which can download its
friends, the trojan horses and other mal-ware. You may have only had it in your
browser temporary cache. I can't tell because it is now in quarantine and you
cannot give me the exact description from when it was detected. You say it was
found in or connected to the Ntregopt file. With this trojan downloader in
quarantine, can you still find the original Ntregopt.exe file on your computer in
the folder it has been living in all these months?

I will check out the AVG software you gave me the links for. Did you see
the post by "Joe"? He mentioned a software called "Free Home" with the
option to do a boot scan? Do you know anything about this?

The AVG Anti-Spyware app will find most trojans and spyware, and much that is missed
by Ad-Aware and other apps. Do not confuse it with it's sister app, AVG Anti-Virus,
which is an A-V program that you don't need, since you already have Norton.

Joe mentioned Avast Free Home A-V....it is another anti-virus program, and you don't
need it. Your current A-V can be configured to do a boot scan when you start the
computer, if it isn't doing it already. It won't help find a trojan, most likely,
as they aren't loading prior to Windows.

I'm sorry to sound so confused, but I am a computer novice. I have several
people who are kind enough to want to try to help me, but I'm starting to get
"information overload".

Quite understandable, and overload is very easy to hit, even for experienced
professionals. I would not have even entered the thread except the info I saw you
getting seemed to be too far off the mark. There appears thus far to be no need or
reason to wipe anything out, restore anything, or go back months, for this little
thing.

But I guess the main point to this post is: in answer to your question,
when I did a full rescan on Ad-Aware SE last night, there was NO indication
of Trojan Horse traces again. The Trojan trace info in my original post is
still quarantined in my Ad-Aware.

OK. Either install and run Ewido/AVG Anti-Spyware as described in my earlier link,
or just run their online scanner, which I also linked. Have it quarantine or delete
what it finds (quarantine is usually "safer" in terms of avoiding mistakes).

In you reply to DatabaseBen, you mentioned seeing a toolbar/BHO from Proxyconn, Inc
which you disabled. That is a legitimate BHO which is the Proxyconn Web
Accelerator, used by some ISPs to speed up their dial-up access:
http://www.proxyconn.com/

You might check with your ISP as they may have included it. Regardless, you can for
now disable it....at worst having it disabled will only slow down your web pages
loading.

Go back to where you disabled the BHOs and toolbars, in Internet Explorer> Tools
menu> Manage Add-Ons. In the drop-down list, select "Add-ons that have been used by
Internet Explorer" rather than just "Add-ons that are currently loaded". If it's
not too much work, post back with a list of what is shown there. I don't need all
the info listed, just the Names and the first word of the Publishers list.

I can give you some links to reading on how to adjust your settings in IE to help
prevent some of these issues, but for now I think you have more than enough to chew
on, so I can hold those till later. Or I can simply bow out of the thread if you
would rather work with someone else. :) I'm easy.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/

glee said:
I haven't found Webroot Spysweeper's background monitoring to be very useful, nor
the background monitoring of any other anti-spyware utilities. I do prefer AVG
Anti-Spyware (formerly Ewido) for on-demand scanning for spyware and trojan
downloaders:
http://www.ewido.net/en/

They've also got an online scan:
http://www.ewido.net/en/onlinescan/

I am not a fan of either Norton or McAfee anti-virus, though either should be
effective against viruses, but somewhat less so against trojans and trojan
downloaders. I can't imaging having both installed at the same time (in fact, I
don't think they will co-habit), so I am guessing the McAfee scan you refer to is
just an online email scan that your ISP uses prior to your receiving the email.

Turn off the email scanning in your resident anti-virus (Norton, I
presume).....even
Symantec support states it is redundant and unnecessary, and can cause problems.

You mentioned that the trojan downloader was quarantined (by Ad-Aware, IIRC), so
do
you still detect any trojans or downloader when you rescan? If so, where are
they
being found....what location on your hard drive? If they are being found in
System
Restore or in the Ad-Aware quarantine folder, then you only have to clear the
quarantine area through the Ad-Aware interface, and or reset System Restore to
delete old restore points.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message news:[email protected]...
Glee, I found from talking to another person later that the NTREGOPT program
was not the cause of the Trojan Horse, although possibly it could have used
it to "sneak" the Trojan Horse onto my computer.

So now it appears I have a Trojan Horse on my system! I have used security
software from 3 major companies (LavaSoft, Symantec/Norton, and Webroot),
have installed all the security downloads from Microsoft, have my firewall
up, have not added any toolbars, do not go to the so-called "dark side" of
the web, have 2 email scanners (Symantec/Norton and McAfee from my local
ISP), do not use links for "free checkups" of my computer and similar
dangerous links, do not use Instant Messaging, and I still got a Trojan Horse!

I am a computer novice and have done everything I know how to do to keep my
computer safe. I have "crashed" in the past, and I'm beginning to feel that
I want to abandon the Internet. For me, it has changed from a source of fun
and information to a dangerous maze with a hazard around every corner.

Can you give me any information on how to find and remove this Internet
Devil? I'd really appreciate any help you can give me.

:

This program has been used for years on countless computers, and has been
downloaded
alone and also in the package with its sister app, ERUNT. The fact that you
ran
it
successfully for months and only got a warning about a trojan last week,
indicates
that you simply have a trojan on your system, and it may have replaced that
app,
using its name. It does not in any way implicate the download you got months
ago
from majorgeeks.

In your paste of the trojan information, I don't see any mention of NTREGOPT.
Are
you saying the file itself, ntregopt.exe, is in quarantine? The info you
posted
only mentions a trojan downloader, and points to registry entries for an IE
toolbar.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message ,General Warning Message: Do NOT install the following program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

Hello, Databaseben! I talked to you way back in July when you were very
helpful with all my computer problems. In your last post to me, you
recommended some free programs that could help "clean up" my computer. I've
put a copy of part of what you wrote below:

"http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

The program above will optimize your registry..."

I installed this program, and used it without problem for several months.
But I had an alarming finding about this program when I ran Ad-Aware SE on
10/18/06. Unless I have read it wrong, it appears that a hacker got hold of
it and corrupted it badly. I saved the quarantine area of Ad-Aware. I will
copy what it said about the above software program, which showed the
program's name and logo in the findings before I quarantined it. I
immediately removed it from my computer:

ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 2006-10-18 21-17-51.bckp)
Referencefile : SE1R128 18.10.2006
======================================================

WIN32.TROJAN.DOWNLOADER
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
obj[0]=Regkey : S-1-5-19\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[1]=Regkey : S-1-5-20\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[2]=Regkey :
S-1-5-21-861567501-2139871995-725345543-1004\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[3]=Regkey : software\microsoft\internet explorer\toolbar

Of course, I don't understand all the above. I don't know if you can
contact the program's authors and tell them about this development. If not,
I wanted to warn others NOT to install this software... But I wanted you in
particular to know, so you won't recommend it to anyone else.

Quite a world when you try to be helpful and evil people only want to hurt
others! Kudos to Ad-Aware SE to catching this! (I'm sure my Spy Sweeper
would have caught it too but I hadn't done my scan with it yet.)

Databaseben, I did want you to know that your other software suggestions
have been very helpful and I thank you!
 
G

Guest

AAARRRRRHHHHHH! Glen, I wrote you a long answer to your last post, including
a very long list of Add-ons used by Internet Explorer and pressed "Post".
Pardon my language, but damn Microsoft made me log in again and when I came
back, my whole message was gone!!! I've got things to do and I'm just not up
to typing that all again. I'll try to give it a shot again tomorrow.

Sue

glee said:
Replies inline, interspersed below.....

MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
Glee, you were correct about the Norton and McAffee virus scans. My local
ISP does an email scan using McAffee before it reaches my mailbox. The
Norton is on my own system. You say that Norton says its own email scanning
is redundant, unnecessary and can cause problems? You'd think they'd remove
it from their software line.....

You'd think! By their own admission, it is redundant. As long as you have your
resident virus scanner running in the background, the email scanner affords no
useful additional protection. yet, most A-V apps include it. Why? Because users
*think* it makes them safer, and you give them what helps in their feeling of
security. If one supplier adds email scanning, they all must, lest they look like
they are not trying to protect you as well as the competition.

I did run another Ad-Aware SE full scan last night, and it did not find any
more traces of a Trojan Horse.

That is good, and much as I suspected. From your original description, it was never
a trojan horse in the first place, but a trojan downloader, which can download its
friends, the trojan horses and other mal-ware. You may have only had it in your
browser temporary cache. I can't tell because it is now in quarantine and you
cannot give me the exact description from when it was detected. You say it was
found in or connected to the Ntregopt file. With this trojan downloader in
quarantine, can you still find the original Ntregopt.exe file on your computer in
the folder it has been living in all these months?

I will check out the AVG software you gave me the links for. Did you see
the post by "Joe"? He mentioned a software called "Free Home" with the
option to do a boot scan? Do you know anything about this?

The AVG Anti-Spyware app will find most trojans and spyware, and much that is missed
by Ad-Aware and other apps. Do not confuse it with it's sister app, AVG Anti-Virus,
which is an A-V program that you don't need, since you already have Norton.

Joe mentioned Avast Free Home A-V....it is another anti-virus program, and you don't
need it. Your current A-V can be configured to do a boot scan when you start the
computer, if it isn't doing it already. It won't help find a trojan, most likely,
as they aren't loading prior to Windows.

I'm sorry to sound so confused, but I am a computer novice. I have several
people who are kind enough to want to try to help me, but I'm starting to get
"information overload".

Quite understandable, and overload is very easy to hit, even for experienced
professionals. I would not have even entered the thread except the info I saw you
getting seemed to be too far off the mark. There appears thus far to be no need or
reason to wipe anything out, restore anything, or go back months, for this little
thing.

But I guess the main point to this post is: in answer to your question,
when I did a full rescan on Ad-Aware SE last night, there was NO indication
of Trojan Horse traces again. The Trojan trace info in my original post is
still quarantined in my Ad-Aware.

OK. Either install and run Ewido/AVG Anti-Spyware as described in my earlier link,
or just run their online scanner, which I also linked. Have it quarantine or delete
what it finds (quarantine is usually "safer" in terms of avoiding mistakes).

In you reply to DatabaseBen, you mentioned seeing a toolbar/BHO from Proxyconn, Inc
which you disabled. That is a legitimate BHO which is the Proxyconn Web
Accelerator, used by some ISPs to speed up their dial-up access:
http://www.proxyconn.com/

You might check with your ISP as they may have included it. Regardless, you can for
now disable it....at worst having it disabled will only slow down your web pages
loading.

Go back to where you disabled the BHOs and toolbars, in Internet Explorer> Tools
menu> Manage Add-Ons. In the drop-down list, select "Add-ons that have been used by
Internet Explorer" rather than just "Add-ons that are currently loaded". If it's
not too much work, post back with a list of what is shown there. I don't need all
the info listed, just the Names and the first word of the Publishers list.

I can give you some links to reading on how to adjust your settings in IE to help
prevent some of these issues, but for now I think you have more than enough to chew
on, so I can hold those till later. Or I can simply bow out of the thread if you
would rather work with someone else. :) I'm easy.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/

glee said:
I haven't found Webroot Spysweeper's background monitoring to be very useful, nor
the background monitoring of any other anti-spyware utilities. I do prefer AVG
Anti-Spyware (formerly Ewido) for on-demand scanning for spyware and trojan
downloaders:
http://www.ewido.net/en/

They've also got an online scan:
http://www.ewido.net/en/onlinescan/

I am not a fan of either Norton or McAfee anti-virus, though either should be
effective against viruses, but somewhat less so against trojans and trojan
downloaders. I can't imaging having both installed at the same time (in fact, I
don't think they will co-habit), so I am guessing the McAfee scan you refer to is
just an online email scan that your ISP uses prior to your receiving the email.

Turn off the email scanning in your resident anti-virus (Norton, I
presume).....even
Symantec support states it is redundant and unnecessary, and can cause problems.

You mentioned that the trojan downloader was quarantined (by Ad-Aware, IIRC), so
do
you still detect any trojans or downloader when you rescan? If so, where are
they
being found....what location on your hard drive? If they are being found in
System
Restore or in the Ad-Aware quarantine folder, then you only have to clear the
quarantine area through the Ad-Aware interface, and or reset System Restore to
delete old restore points.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message Glee, I found from talking to another person later that the NTREGOPT program
was not the cause of the Trojan Horse, although possibly it could have used
it to "sneak" the Trojan Horse onto my computer.

So now it appears I have a Trojan Horse on my system! I have used security
software from 3 major companies (LavaSoft, Symantec/Norton, and Webroot),
have installed all the security downloads from Microsoft, have my firewall
up, have not added any toolbars, do not go to the so-called "dark side" of
the web, have 2 email scanners (Symantec/Norton and McAfee from my local
ISP), do not use links for "free checkups" of my computer and similar
dangerous links, do not use Instant Messaging, and I still got a Trojan Horse!

I am a computer novice and have done everything I know how to do to keep my
computer safe. I have "crashed" in the past, and I'm beginning to feel that
I want to abandon the Internet. For me, it has changed from a source of fun
and information to a dangerous maze with a hazard around every corner.

Can you give me any information on how to find and remove this Internet
Devil? I'd really appreciate any help you can give me.

:

This program has been used for years on countless computers, and has been
downloaded
alone and also in the package with its sister app, ERUNT. The fact that you
ran
it
successfully for months and only got a warning about a trojan last week,
indicates
that you simply have a trojan on your system, and it may have replaced that
app,
using its name. It does not in any way implicate the download you got months
ago
from majorgeeks.

In your paste of the trojan information, I don't see any mention of NTREGOPT.
Are
you saying the file itself, ntregopt.exe, is in quarantine? The info you
posted
only mentions a trojan downloader, and points to registry entries for an IE
toolbar.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message ,General Warning Message: Do NOT install the following program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

Hello, Databaseben! I talked to you way back in July when you were very
helpful with all my computer problems. In your last post to me, you
recommended some free programs that could help "clean up" my computer. I've
put a copy of part of what you wrote below:

"http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

The program above will optimize your registry..."

I installed this program, and used it without problem for several months.
But I had an alarming finding about this program when I ran Ad-Aware SE on
10/18/06. Unless I have read it wrong, it appears that a hacker got hold of
it and corrupted it badly. I saved the quarantine area of Ad-Aware. I will
copy what it said about the above software program, which showed the
program's name and logo in the findings before I quarantined it. I
immediately removed it from my computer:

ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 2006-10-18 21-17-51.bckp)
Referencefile : SE1R128 18.10.2006
======================================================

WIN32.TROJAN.DOWNLOADER
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
obj[0]=Regkey : S-1-5-19\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[1]=Regkey : S-1-5-20\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[2]=Regkey :
S-1-5-21-861567501-2139871995-725345543-1004\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[3]=Regkey : software\microsoft\internet explorer\toolbar

Of course, I don't understand all the above. I don't know if you can
contact the program's authors and tell them about this development. If not,
I wanted to warn others NOT to install this software... But I wanted you in
particular to know, so you won't recommend it to anyone else.

Quite a world when you try to be helpful and evil people only want to hurt
others! Kudos to Ad-Aware SE to catching this! (I'm sure my Spy Sweeper
would have caught it too but I hadn't done my scan with it yet.)

Databaseben, I did want you to know that your other software suggestions
have been very helpful and I thank you!
 
G

Guest

Hi again, Glen. Here are the "Add-ons that have been used by Internet
Explorer" that you requested and were lost last night when Microsoft picked
the worst possible moment to make me log in:

AUDIO__MID Moniker Class - Microsoft
AUDIO__WAV Moniker Class - Microsoft
DHTML Edit Control Safe for Scripting for IE5 - Microsoft
HHCtrl Object - Microsoft
HTML Document - Microsoft
iTunesDetector Class - (Not Verified)
LSControl Class - Symantec
LSSupCtl Class - Symantec
Microsoft Scriptlet Component - Microsoft
MsnMessengerSetupDownloadControl Class - Microsoft MSN
MUWebControl Class - Microsoft
Office Update Installation Engine - (Not Verified) Microsoft
QuickTime Object - (Not Verified) Apple
RealPlayer G2 Control - (Not Verified) - RealNetwork
SearchAssistantOC - Microsoft
Shell Name Space - Microsoft
Shockwave Flash Object - Macromedia
Symantec Script Runner Class - Symantec
Symantec SmartIssue - Symantec
SymLTQueries Class - Symantec
SymSubQueries Class - Symantec
Tabular Data Control - Microsoft
Update Class - Microsoft Windows XP Pub.
Web Browser Applet Control - (Not Verified) Microsoft
Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool - Microsoft
Windows Media Player - Microsoft
Windows Media Player - Microsoft (NOTE: Listed twice - not a typo)
WUWebControl Class - Microsoft
XML Document - Microsoft
YInstStarter Class - Yahoo!
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search
Windows Messenger - (No Publisher Given)
Yahoo Messenger - Yahoo!
Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - Adobe
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search (NOTE: Listed twice - not a typo)
CNavExtBho Class - Symantec
eBay Toolbar Helper - eBay
MSN Search Toolbar Helper - Microsoft MSN
PrxcnBHO Class - (Not Verified) Proxyconn
Yahoo! Toolbar Helper - Yahoo!
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search (NOTE: Listed 3rd time - not a typo)
eBay Toolbar - eBay
MSN Search Toolbar - Microsoft MSN
Norton AntiVirus - Symantec
Yahoo! Toolbar - Yahoo!

Whew! There they are! All this is certainly improving my typing and
proofreading skills! Ha! Good luck in going through them. Maybe you'll
find something interesting!

Thanks and good night!

Sue

MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
AAARRRRRHHHHHH! Glen, I wrote you a long answer to your last post, including
a very long list of Add-ons used by Internet Explorer and pressed "Post".
Pardon my language, but damn Microsoft made me log in again and when I came
back, my whole message was gone!!! I've got things to do and I'm just not up
to typing that all again. I'll try to give it a shot again tomorrow.

Sue

glee said:
Replies inline, interspersed below.....

MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
Glee, you were correct about the Norton and McAffee virus scans. My local
ISP does an email scan using McAffee before it reaches my mailbox. The
Norton is on my own system. You say that Norton says its own email scanning
is redundant, unnecessary and can cause problems? You'd think they'd remove
it from their software line.....

You'd think! By their own admission, it is redundant. As long as you have your
resident virus scanner running in the background, the email scanner affords no
useful additional protection. yet, most A-V apps include it. Why? Because users
*think* it makes them safer, and you give them what helps in their feeling of
security. If one supplier adds email scanning, they all must, lest they look like
they are not trying to protect you as well as the competition.

I did run another Ad-Aware SE full scan last night, and it did not find any
more traces of a Trojan Horse.

That is good, and much as I suspected. From your original description, it was never
a trojan horse in the first place, but a trojan downloader, which can download its
friends, the trojan horses and other mal-ware. You may have only had it in your
browser temporary cache. I can't tell because it is now in quarantine and you
cannot give me the exact description from when it was detected. You say it was
found in or connected to the Ntregopt file. With this trojan downloader in
quarantine, can you still find the original Ntregopt.exe file on your computer in
the folder it has been living in all these months?

I will check out the AVG software you gave me the links for. Did you see
the post by "Joe"? He mentioned a software called "Free Home" with the
option to do a boot scan? Do you know anything about this?

The AVG Anti-Spyware app will find most trojans and spyware, and much that is missed
by Ad-Aware and other apps. Do not confuse it with it's sister app, AVG Anti-Virus,
which is an A-V program that you don't need, since you already have Norton.

Joe mentioned Avast Free Home A-V....it is another anti-virus program, and you don't
need it. Your current A-V can be configured to do a boot scan when you start the
computer, if it isn't doing it already. It won't help find a trojan, most likely,
as they aren't loading prior to Windows.

I'm sorry to sound so confused, but I am a computer novice. I have several
people who are kind enough to want to try to help me, but I'm starting to get
"information overload".

Quite understandable, and overload is very easy to hit, even for experienced
professionals. I would not have even entered the thread except the info I saw you
getting seemed to be too far off the mark. There appears thus far to be no need or
reason to wipe anything out, restore anything, or go back months, for this little
thing.

But I guess the main point to this post is: in answer to your question,
when I did a full rescan on Ad-Aware SE last night, there was NO indication
of Trojan Horse traces again. The Trojan trace info in my original post is
still quarantined in my Ad-Aware.

OK. Either install and run Ewido/AVG Anti-Spyware as described in my earlier link,
or just run their online scanner, which I also linked. Have it quarantine or delete
what it finds (quarantine is usually "safer" in terms of avoiding mistakes).

In you reply to DatabaseBen, you mentioned seeing a toolbar/BHO from Proxyconn, Inc
which you disabled. That is a legitimate BHO which is the Proxyconn Web
Accelerator, used by some ISPs to speed up their dial-up access:
http://www.proxyconn.com/

You might check with your ISP as they may have included it. Regardless, you can for
now disable it....at worst having it disabled will only slow down your web pages
loading.

Go back to where you disabled the BHOs and toolbars, in Internet Explorer> Tools
menu> Manage Add-Ons. In the drop-down list, select "Add-ons that have been used by
Internet Explorer" rather than just "Add-ons that are currently loaded". If it's
not too much work, post back with a list of what is shown there. I don't need all
the info listed, just the Names and the first word of the Publishers list.

I can give you some links to reading on how to adjust your settings in IE to help
prevent some of these issues, but for now I think you have more than enough to chew
on, so I can hold those till later. Or I can simply bow out of the thread if you
would rather work with someone else. :) I'm easy.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/

:

I haven't found Webroot Spysweeper's background monitoring to be very useful, nor
the background monitoring of any other anti-spyware utilities. I do prefer AVG
Anti-Spyware (formerly Ewido) for on-demand scanning for spyware and trojan
downloaders:
http://www.ewido.net/en/

They've also got an online scan:
http://www.ewido.net/en/onlinescan/

I am not a fan of either Norton or McAfee anti-virus, though either should be
effective against viruses, but somewhat less so against trojans and trojan
downloaders. I can't imaging having both installed at the same time (in fact, I
don't think they will co-habit), so I am guessing the McAfee scan you refer to is
just an online email scan that your ISP uses prior to your receiving the email.

Turn off the email scanning in your resident anti-virus (Norton, I
presume).....even
Symantec support states it is redundant and unnecessary, and can cause problems.

You mentioned that the trojan downloader was quarantined (by Ad-Aware, IIRC), so
do
you still detect any trojans or downloader when you rescan? If so, where are
they
being found....what location on your hard drive? If they are being found in
System
Restore or in the Ad-Aware quarantine folder, then you only have to clear the
quarantine area through the Ad-Aware interface, and or reset System Restore to
delete old restore points.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message Glee, I found from talking to another person later that the NTREGOPT program
was not the cause of the Trojan Horse, although possibly it could have used
it to "sneak" the Trojan Horse onto my computer.

So now it appears I have a Trojan Horse on my system! I have used security
software from 3 major companies (LavaSoft, Symantec/Norton, and Webroot),
have installed all the security downloads from Microsoft, have my firewall
up, have not added any toolbars, do not go to the so-called "dark side" of
the web, have 2 email scanners (Symantec/Norton and McAfee from my local
ISP), do not use links for "free checkups" of my computer and similar
dangerous links, do not use Instant Messaging, and I still got a Trojan Horse!

I am a computer novice and have done everything I know how to do to keep my
computer safe. I have "crashed" in the past, and I'm beginning to feel that
I want to abandon the Internet. For me, it has changed from a source of fun
and information to a dangerous maze with a hazard around every corner.

Can you give me any information on how to find and remove this Internet
Devil? I'd really appreciate any help you can give me.

:

This program has been used for years on countless computers, and has been
downloaded
alone and also in the package with its sister app, ERUNT. The fact that you
ran
it
successfully for months and only got a warning about a trojan last week,
indicates
that you simply have a trojan on your system, and it may have replaced that
app,
using its name. It does not in any way implicate the download you got months
ago
from majorgeeks.

In your paste of the trojan information, I don't see any mention of NTREGOPT.
Are
you saying the file itself, ntregopt.exe, is in quarantine? The info you
posted
only mentions a trojan downloader, and points to registry entries for an IE
toolbar.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message ,General Warning Message: Do NOT install the following program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

Hello, Databaseben! I talked to you way back in July when you were very
helpful with all my computer problems. In your last post to me, you
recommended some free programs that could help "clean up" my computer. I've
put a copy of part of what you wrote below:

"http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

The program above will optimize your registry..."

I installed this program, and used it without problem for several months.
But I had an alarming finding about this program when I ran Ad-Aware SE on
10/18/06. Unless I have read it wrong, it appears that a hacker got hold of
it and corrupted it badly. I saved the quarantine area of Ad-Aware. I will
copy what it said about the above software program, which showed the
program's name and logo in the findings before I quarantined it. I
immediately removed it from my computer:

ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 2006-10-18 21-17-51.bckp)
Referencefile : SE1R128 18.10.2006
======================================================

WIN32.TROJAN.DOWNLOADER
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
obj[0]=Regkey : S-1-5-19\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[1]=Regkey : S-1-5-20\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[2]=Regkey :
S-1-5-21-861567501-2139871995-725345543-1004\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[3]=Regkey : software\microsoft\internet explorer\toolbar

Of course, I don't understand all the above. I don't know if you can
contact the program's authors and tell them about this development. If not,
I wanted to warn others NOT to install this software... But I wanted you in
particular to know, so you won't recommend it to anyone else.

Quite a world when you try to be helpful and evil people only want to hurt
others! Kudos to Ad-Aware SE to catching this! (I'm sure my Spy Sweeper
would have caught it too but I hadn't done my scan with it yet.)

Databaseben, I did want you to know that your other software suggestions
have been very helpful and I thank you!
 
G

Guest

Hi again, Glen. Here are the "Add-ons that have been used by Internet
Explorer" that you requested and were lost last night when Microsoft picked
the worst possible moment to make me log in:

AUDIO__MID Moniker Class - Microsoft
AUDIO__WAV Moniker Class - Microsoft
DHTML Edit Control Safe for Scripting for IE5 - Microsoft
HHCtrl Object - Microsoft
HTML Document - Microsoft
iTunesDetector Class - (Not Verified)
LSControl Class - Symantec
LSSupCtl Class - Symantec
Microsoft Scriptlet Component - Microsoft
MsnMessengerSetupDownloadControl Class - Microsoft MSN
MUWebControl Class - Microsoft
Office Update Installation Engine - (Not Verified) Microsoft
QuickTime Object - (Not Verified) Apple
RealPlayer G2 Control - (Not Verified) - RealNetwork
SearchAssistantOC - Microsoft
Shell Name Space - Microsoft
Shockwave Flash Object - Macromedia
Symantec Script Runner Class - Symantec
Symantec SmartIssue - Symantec
SymLTQueries Class - Symantec
SymSubQueries Class - Symantec
Tabular Data Control - Microsoft
Update Class - Microsoft Windows XP Pub.
Web Browser Applet Control - (Not Verified) Microsoft
Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool - Microsoft
Windows Media Player - Microsoft
Windows Media Player - Microsoft (NOTE: Listed twice - not a typo)
WUWebControl Class - Microsoft
XML Document - Microsoft
YInstStarter Class - Yahoo!
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search
Windows Messenger - (No Publisher Given)
Yahoo Messenger - Yahoo!
Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - Adobe
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search (NOTE: Listed twice - not a typo)
CNavExtBho Class - Symantec
eBay Toolbar Helper - eBay
MSN Search Toolbar Helper - Microsoft MSN
PrxcnBHO Class - (Not Verified) Proxyconn
Yahoo! Toolbar Helper - Yahoo!
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search (NOTE: Listed 3rd time - not a typo)
eBay Toolbar - eBay
MSN Search Toolbar - Microsoft MSN
Norton AntiVirus - Symantec
Yahoo! Toolbar - Yahoo!

Whew! There they are! All this is certainly improving my typing and
proofreading skills! Ha! Good luck in going through them. Maybe you'll
find something interesting!

Thanks and good night!

Sue

MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
AAARRRRRHHHHHH! Glen, I wrote you a long answer to your last post, including
a very long list of Add-ons used by Internet Explorer and pressed "Post".
Pardon my language, but damn Microsoft made me log in again and when I came
back, my whole message was gone!!! I've got things to do and I'm just not up
to typing that all again. I'll try to give it a shot again tomorrow.

Sue

glee said:
Replies inline, interspersed below.....

MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
Glee, you were correct about the Norton and McAffee virus scans. My local
ISP does an email scan using McAffee before it reaches my mailbox. The
Norton is on my own system. You say that Norton says its own email scanning
is redundant, unnecessary and can cause problems? You'd think they'd remove
it from their software line.....

You'd think! By their own admission, it is redundant. As long as you have your
resident virus scanner running in the background, the email scanner affords no
useful additional protection. yet, most A-V apps include it. Why? Because users
*think* it makes them safer, and you give them what helps in their feeling of
security. If one supplier adds email scanning, they all must, lest they look like
they are not trying to protect you as well as the competition.

I did run another Ad-Aware SE full scan last night, and it did not find any
more traces of a Trojan Horse.

That is good, and much as I suspected. From your original description, it was never
a trojan horse in the first place, but a trojan downloader, which can download its
friends, the trojan horses and other mal-ware. You may have only had it in your
browser temporary cache. I can't tell because it is now in quarantine and you
cannot give me the exact description from when it was detected. You say it was
found in or connected to the Ntregopt file. With this trojan downloader in
quarantine, can you still find the original Ntregopt.exe file on your computer in
the folder it has been living in all these months?

I will check out the AVG software you gave me the links for. Did you see
the post by "Joe"? He mentioned a software called "Free Home" with the
option to do a boot scan? Do you know anything about this?

The AVG Anti-Spyware app will find most trojans and spyware, and much that is missed
by Ad-Aware and other apps. Do not confuse it with it's sister app, AVG Anti-Virus,
which is an A-V program that you don't need, since you already have Norton.

Joe mentioned Avast Free Home A-V....it is another anti-virus program, and you don't
need it. Your current A-V can be configured to do a boot scan when you start the
computer, if it isn't doing it already. It won't help find a trojan, most likely,
as they aren't loading prior to Windows.

I'm sorry to sound so confused, but I am a computer novice. I have several
people who are kind enough to want to try to help me, but I'm starting to get
"information overload".

Quite understandable, and overload is very easy to hit, even for experienced
professionals. I would not have even entered the thread except the info I saw you
getting seemed to be too far off the mark. There appears thus far to be no need or
reason to wipe anything out, restore anything, or go back months, for this little
thing.

But I guess the main point to this post is: in answer to your question,
when I did a full rescan on Ad-Aware SE last night, there was NO indication
of Trojan Horse traces again. The Trojan trace info in my original post is
still quarantined in my Ad-Aware.

OK. Either install and run Ewido/AVG Anti-Spyware as described in my earlier link,
or just run their online scanner, which I also linked. Have it quarantine or delete
what it finds (quarantine is usually "safer" in terms of avoiding mistakes).

In you reply to DatabaseBen, you mentioned seeing a toolbar/BHO from Proxyconn, Inc
which you disabled. That is a legitimate BHO which is the Proxyconn Web
Accelerator, used by some ISPs to speed up their dial-up access:
http://www.proxyconn.com/

You might check with your ISP as they may have included it. Regardless, you can for
now disable it....at worst having it disabled will only slow down your web pages
loading.

Go back to where you disabled the BHOs and toolbars, in Internet Explorer> Tools
menu> Manage Add-Ons. In the drop-down list, select "Add-ons that have been used by
Internet Explorer" rather than just "Add-ons that are currently loaded". If it's
not too much work, post back with a list of what is shown there. I don't need all
the info listed, just the Names and the first word of the Publishers list.

I can give you some links to reading on how to adjust your settings in IE to help
prevent some of these issues, but for now I think you have more than enough to chew
on, so I can hold those till later. Or I can simply bow out of the thread if you
would rather work with someone else. :) I'm easy.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/

:

I haven't found Webroot Spysweeper's background monitoring to be very useful, nor
the background monitoring of any other anti-spyware utilities. I do prefer AVG
Anti-Spyware (formerly Ewido) for on-demand scanning for spyware and trojan
downloaders:
http://www.ewido.net/en/

They've also got an online scan:
http://www.ewido.net/en/onlinescan/

I am not a fan of either Norton or McAfee anti-virus, though either should be
effective against viruses, but somewhat less so against trojans and trojan
downloaders. I can't imaging having both installed at the same time (in fact, I
don't think they will co-habit), so I am guessing the McAfee scan you refer to is
just an online email scan that your ISP uses prior to your receiving the email.

Turn off the email scanning in your resident anti-virus (Norton, I
presume).....even
Symantec support states it is redundant and unnecessary, and can cause problems.

You mentioned that the trojan downloader was quarantined (by Ad-Aware, IIRC), so
do
you still detect any trojans or downloader when you rescan? If so, where are
they
being found....what location on your hard drive? If they are being found in
System
Restore or in the Ad-Aware quarantine folder, then you only have to clear the
quarantine area through the Ad-Aware interface, and or reset System Restore to
delete old restore points.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message Glee, I found from talking to another person later that the NTREGOPT program
was not the cause of the Trojan Horse, although possibly it could have used
it to "sneak" the Trojan Horse onto my computer.

So now it appears I have a Trojan Horse on my system! I have used security
software from 3 major companies (LavaSoft, Symantec/Norton, and Webroot),
have installed all the security downloads from Microsoft, have my firewall
up, have not added any toolbars, do not go to the so-called "dark side" of
the web, have 2 email scanners (Symantec/Norton and McAfee from my local
ISP), do not use links for "free checkups" of my computer and similar
dangerous links, do not use Instant Messaging, and I still got a Trojan Horse!

I am a computer novice and have done everything I know how to do to keep my
computer safe. I have "crashed" in the past, and I'm beginning to feel that
I want to abandon the Internet. For me, it has changed from a source of fun
and information to a dangerous maze with a hazard around every corner.

Can you give me any information on how to find and remove this Internet
Devil? I'd really appreciate any help you can give me.

:

This program has been used for years on countless computers, and has been
downloaded
alone and also in the package with its sister app, ERUNT. The fact that you
ran
it
successfully for months and only got a warning about a trojan last week,
indicates
that you simply have a trojan on your system, and it may have replaced that
app,
using its name. It does not in any way implicate the download you got months
ago
from majorgeeks.

In your paste of the trojan information, I don't see any mention of NTREGOPT.
Are
you saying the file itself, ntregopt.exe, is in quarantine? The info you
posted
only mentions a trojan downloader, and points to registry entries for an IE
toolbar.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message ,General Warning Message: Do NOT install the following program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

Hello, Databaseben! I talked to you way back in July when you were very
helpful with all my computer problems. In your last post to me, you
recommended some free programs that could help "clean up" my computer. I've
put a copy of part of what you wrote below:

"http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

The program above will optimize your registry..."

I installed this program, and used it without problem for several months.
But I had an alarming finding about this program when I ran Ad-Aware SE on
10/18/06. Unless I have read it wrong, it appears that a hacker got hold of
it and corrupted it badly. I saved the quarantine area of Ad-Aware. I will
copy what it said about the above software program, which showed the
program's name and logo in the findings before I quarantined it. I
immediately removed it from my computer:

ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 2006-10-18 21-17-51.bckp)
Referencefile : SE1R128 18.10.2006
======================================================

WIN32.TROJAN.DOWNLOADER
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
obj[0]=Regkey : S-1-5-19\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[1]=Regkey : S-1-5-20\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[2]=Regkey :
S-1-5-21-861567501-2139871995-725345543-1004\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[3]=Regkey : software\microsoft\internet explorer\toolbar

Of course, I don't understand all the above. I don't know if you can
contact the program's authors and tell them about this development. If not,
I wanted to warn others NOT to install this software... But I wanted you in
particular to know, so you won't recommend it to anyone else.

Quite a world when you try to be helpful and evil people only want to hurt
others! Kudos to Ad-Aware SE to catching this! (I'm sure my Spy Sweeper
would have caught it too but I hadn't done my scan with it yet.)

Databaseben, I did want you to know that your other software suggestions
have been very helpful and I thank you!
 
G

Guest

Oops! Sorry for the duplicate post! I must be getting tired. Glen, first
you didn't get them at all - now you get two sets....

Sue

MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
Hi again, Glen. Here are the "Add-ons that have been used by Internet
Explorer" that you requested and were lost last night when Microsoft picked
the worst possible moment to make me log in:

AUDIO__MID Moniker Class - Microsoft
AUDIO__WAV Moniker Class - Microsoft
DHTML Edit Control Safe for Scripting for IE5 - Microsoft
HHCtrl Object - Microsoft
HTML Document - Microsoft
iTunesDetector Class - (Not Verified)
LSControl Class - Symantec
LSSupCtl Class - Symantec
Microsoft Scriptlet Component - Microsoft
MsnMessengerSetupDownloadControl Class - Microsoft MSN
MUWebControl Class - Microsoft
Office Update Installation Engine - (Not Verified) Microsoft
QuickTime Object - (Not Verified) Apple
RealPlayer G2 Control - (Not Verified) - RealNetwork
SearchAssistantOC - Microsoft
Shell Name Space - Microsoft
Shockwave Flash Object - Macromedia
Symantec Script Runner Class - Symantec
Symantec SmartIssue - Symantec
SymLTQueries Class - Symantec
SymSubQueries Class - Symantec
Tabular Data Control - Microsoft
Update Class - Microsoft Windows XP Pub.
Web Browser Applet Control - (Not Verified) Microsoft
Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool - Microsoft
Windows Media Player - Microsoft
Windows Media Player - Microsoft (NOTE: Listed twice - not a typo)
WUWebControl Class - Microsoft
XML Document - Microsoft
YInstStarter Class - Yahoo!
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search
Windows Messenger - (No Publisher Given)
Yahoo Messenger - Yahoo!
Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - Adobe
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search (NOTE: Listed twice - not a typo)
CNavExtBho Class - Symantec
eBay Toolbar Helper - eBay
MSN Search Toolbar Helper - Microsoft MSN
PrxcnBHO Class - (Not Verified) Proxyconn
Yahoo! Toolbar Helper - Yahoo!
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search (NOTE: Listed 3rd time - not a typo)
eBay Toolbar - eBay
MSN Search Toolbar - Microsoft MSN
Norton AntiVirus - Symantec
Yahoo! Toolbar - Yahoo!

Whew! There they are! All this is certainly improving my typing and
proofreading skills! Ha! Good luck in going through them. Maybe you'll
find something interesting!

Thanks and good night!

Sue

MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
AAARRRRRHHHHHH! Glen, I wrote you a long answer to your last post, including
a very long list of Add-ons used by Internet Explorer and pressed "Post".
Pardon my language, but damn Microsoft made me log in again and when I came
back, my whole message was gone!!! I've got things to do and I'm just not up
to typing that all again. I'll try to give it a shot again tomorrow.

Sue

glee said:
Replies inline, interspersed below.....

in message Glee, you were correct about the Norton and McAffee virus scans. My local
ISP does an email scan using McAffee before it reaches my mailbox. The
Norton is on my own system. You say that Norton says its own email scanning
is redundant, unnecessary and can cause problems? You'd think they'd remove
it from their software line.....

You'd think! By their own admission, it is redundant. As long as you have your
resident virus scanner running in the background, the email scanner affords no
useful additional protection. yet, most A-V apps include it. Why? Because users
*think* it makes them safer, and you give them what helps in their feeling of
security. If one supplier adds email scanning, they all must, lest they look like
they are not trying to protect you as well as the competition.


I did run another Ad-Aware SE full scan last night, and it did not find any
more traces of a Trojan Horse.

That is good, and much as I suspected. From your original description, it was never
a trojan horse in the first place, but a trojan downloader, which can download its
friends, the trojan horses and other mal-ware. You may have only had it in your
browser temporary cache. I can't tell because it is now in quarantine and you
cannot give me the exact description from when it was detected. You say it was
found in or connected to the Ntregopt file. With this trojan downloader in
quarantine, can you still find the original Ntregopt.exe file on your computer in
the folder it has been living in all these months?


I will check out the AVG software you gave me the links for. Did you see
the post by "Joe"? He mentioned a software called "Free Home" with the
option to do a boot scan? Do you know anything about this?

The AVG Anti-Spyware app will find most trojans and spyware, and much that is missed
by Ad-Aware and other apps. Do not confuse it with it's sister app, AVG Anti-Virus,
which is an A-V program that you don't need, since you already have Norton.

Joe mentioned Avast Free Home A-V....it is another anti-virus program, and you don't
need it. Your current A-V can be configured to do a boot scan when you start the
computer, if it isn't doing it already. It won't help find a trojan, most likely,
as they aren't loading prior to Windows.


I'm sorry to sound so confused, but I am a computer novice. I have several
people who are kind enough to want to try to help me, but I'm starting to get
"information overload".

Quite understandable, and overload is very easy to hit, even for experienced
professionals. I would not have even entered the thread except the info I saw you
getting seemed to be too far off the mark. There appears thus far to be no need or
reason to wipe anything out, restore anything, or go back months, for this little
thing.


But I guess the main point to this post is: in answer to your question,
when I did a full rescan on Ad-Aware SE last night, there was NO indication
of Trojan Horse traces again. The Trojan trace info in my original post is
still quarantined in my Ad-Aware.

OK. Either install and run Ewido/AVG Anti-Spyware as described in my earlier link,
or just run their online scanner, which I also linked. Have it quarantine or delete
what it finds (quarantine is usually "safer" in terms of avoiding mistakes).

In you reply to DatabaseBen, you mentioned seeing a toolbar/BHO from Proxyconn, Inc
which you disabled. That is a legitimate BHO which is the Proxyconn Web
Accelerator, used by some ISPs to speed up their dial-up access:
http://www.proxyconn.com/

You might check with your ISP as they may have included it. Regardless, you can for
now disable it....at worst having it disabled will only slow down your web pages
loading.

Go back to where you disabled the BHOs and toolbars, in Internet Explorer> Tools
menu> Manage Add-Ons. In the drop-down list, select "Add-ons that have been used by
Internet Explorer" rather than just "Add-ons that are currently loaded". If it's
not too much work, post back with a list of what is shown there. I don't need all
the info listed, just the Names and the first word of the Publishers list.

I can give you some links to reading on how to adjust your settings in IE to help
prevent some of these issues, but for now I think you have more than enough to chew
on, so I can hold those till later. Or I can simply bow out of the thread if you
would rather work with someone else. :) I'm easy.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/




:

I haven't found Webroot Spysweeper's background monitoring to be very useful, nor
the background monitoring of any other anti-spyware utilities. I do prefer AVG
Anti-Spyware (formerly Ewido) for on-demand scanning for spyware and trojan
downloaders:
http://www.ewido.net/en/

They've also got an online scan:
http://www.ewido.net/en/onlinescan/

I am not a fan of either Norton or McAfee anti-virus, though either should be
effective against viruses, but somewhat less so against trojans and trojan
downloaders. I can't imaging having both installed at the same time (in fact, I
don't think they will co-habit), so I am guessing the McAfee scan you refer to is
just an online email scan that your ISP uses prior to your receiving the email.

Turn off the email scanning in your resident anti-virus (Norton, I
presume).....even
Symantec support states it is redundant and unnecessary, and can cause problems.

You mentioned that the trojan downloader was quarantined (by Ad-Aware, IIRC), so
do
you still detect any trojans or downloader when you rescan? If so, where are
they
being found....what location on your hard drive? If they are being found in
System
Restore or in the Ad-Aware quarantine folder, then you only have to clear the
quarantine area through the Ad-Aware interface, and or reset System Restore to
delete old restore points.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message Glee, I found from talking to another person later that the NTREGOPT program
was not the cause of the Trojan Horse, although possibly it could have used
it to "sneak" the Trojan Horse onto my computer.

So now it appears I have a Trojan Horse on my system! I have used security
software from 3 major companies (LavaSoft, Symantec/Norton, and Webroot),
have installed all the security downloads from Microsoft, have my firewall
up, have not added any toolbars, do not go to the so-called "dark side" of
the web, have 2 email scanners (Symantec/Norton and McAfee from my local
ISP), do not use links for "free checkups" of my computer and similar
dangerous links, do not use Instant Messaging, and I still got a Trojan Horse!

I am a computer novice and have done everything I know how to do to keep my
computer safe. I have "crashed" in the past, and I'm beginning to feel that
I want to abandon the Internet. For me, it has changed from a source of fun
and information to a dangerous maze with a hazard around every corner.

Can you give me any information on how to find and remove this Internet
Devil? I'd really appreciate any help you can give me.

:

This program has been used for years on countless computers, and has been
downloaded
alone and also in the package with its sister app, ERUNT. The fact that you
ran
it
successfully for months and only got a warning about a trojan last week,
indicates
that you simply have a trojan on your system, and it may have replaced that
app,
using its name. It does not in any way implicate the download you got months
ago
from majorgeeks.

In your paste of the trojan information, I don't see any mention of NTREGOPT.
Are
you saying the file itself, ntregopt.exe, is in quarantine? The info you
posted
only mentions a trojan downloader, and points to registry entries for an IE
toolbar.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message ,General Warning Message: Do NOT install the following program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

Hello, Databaseben! I talked to you way back in July when you were very
helpful with all my computer problems. In your last post to me, you
recommended some free programs that could help "clean up" my computer. I've
put a copy of part of what you wrote below:

"http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

The program above will optimize your registry..."

I installed this program, and used it without problem for several months.
But I had an alarming finding about this program when I ran Ad-Aware SE on
10/18/06. Unless I have read it wrong, it appears that a hacker got hold of
it and corrupted it badly. I saved the quarantine area of Ad-Aware. I will
copy what it said about the above software program, which showed the
program's name and logo in the findings before I quarantined it. I
immediately removed it from my computer:

ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 2006-10-18 21-17-51.bckp)
Referencefile : SE1R128 18.10.2006
======================================================

WIN32.TROJAN.DOWNLOADER
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
obj[0]=Regkey : S-1-5-19\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[1]=Regkey : S-1-5-20\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[2]=Regkey :
S-1-5-21-861567501-2139871995-725345543-1004\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[3]=Regkey : software\microsoft\internet explorer\toolbar

Of course, I don't understand all the above. I don't know if you can
contact the program's authors and tell them about this development. If not,
I wanted to warn others NOT to install this software... But I wanted you in
particular to know, so you won't recommend it to anyone else.

Quite a world when you try to be helpful and evil people only want to hurt
others! Kudos to Ad-Aware SE to catching this! (I'm sure my Spy Sweeper
would have caught it too but I hadn't done my scan with it yet.)

Databaseben, I did want you to know that your other software suggestions
have been very helpful and I thank you!
 
G

Guest

Oops! Sorry for the duplicate post. I must be getting tired.

Sue

MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
Hi again, Glen. Here are the "Add-ons that have been used by Internet
Explorer" that you requested and were lost last night when Microsoft picked
the worst possible moment to make me log in:

AUDIO__MID Moniker Class - Microsoft
AUDIO__WAV Moniker Class - Microsoft
DHTML Edit Control Safe for Scripting for IE5 - Microsoft
HHCtrl Object - Microsoft
HTML Document - Microsoft
iTunesDetector Class - (Not Verified)
LSControl Class - Symantec
LSSupCtl Class - Symantec
Microsoft Scriptlet Component - Microsoft
MsnMessengerSetupDownloadControl Class - Microsoft MSN
MUWebControl Class - Microsoft
Office Update Installation Engine - (Not Verified) Microsoft
QuickTime Object - (Not Verified) Apple
RealPlayer G2 Control - (Not Verified) - RealNetwork
SearchAssistantOC - Microsoft
Shell Name Space - Microsoft
Shockwave Flash Object - Macromedia
Symantec Script Runner Class - Symantec
Symantec SmartIssue - Symantec
SymLTQueries Class - Symantec
SymSubQueries Class - Symantec
Tabular Data Control - Microsoft
Update Class - Microsoft Windows XP Pub.
Web Browser Applet Control - (Not Verified) Microsoft
Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool - Microsoft
Windows Media Player - Microsoft
Windows Media Player - Microsoft (NOTE: Listed twice - not a typo)
WUWebControl Class - Microsoft
XML Document - Microsoft
YInstStarter Class - Yahoo!
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search
Windows Messenger - (No Publisher Given)
Yahoo Messenger - Yahoo!
Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - Adobe
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search (NOTE: Listed twice - not a typo)
CNavExtBho Class - Symantec
eBay Toolbar Helper - eBay
MSN Search Toolbar Helper - Microsoft MSN
PrxcnBHO Class - (Not Verified) Proxyconn
Yahoo! Toolbar Helper - Yahoo!
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search (NOTE: Listed 3rd time - not a typo)
eBay Toolbar - eBay
MSN Search Toolbar - Microsoft MSN
Norton AntiVirus - Symantec
Yahoo! Toolbar - Yahoo!

Whew! There they are! All this is certainly improving my typing and
proofreading skills! Ha! Good luck in going through them. Maybe you'll
find something interesting!

Thanks and good night!

Sue

MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
AAARRRRRHHHHHH! Glen, I wrote you a long answer to your last post, including
a very long list of Add-ons used by Internet Explorer and pressed "Post".
Pardon my language, but damn Microsoft made me log in again and when I came
back, my whole message was gone!!! I've got things to do and I'm just not up
to typing that all again. I'll try to give it a shot again tomorrow.

Sue

glee said:
Replies inline, interspersed below.....

in message Glee, you were correct about the Norton and McAffee virus scans. My local
ISP does an email scan using McAffee before it reaches my mailbox. The
Norton is on my own system. You say that Norton says its own email scanning
is redundant, unnecessary and can cause problems? You'd think they'd remove
it from their software line.....

You'd think! By their own admission, it is redundant. As long as you have your
resident virus scanner running in the background, the email scanner affords no
useful additional protection. yet, most A-V apps include it. Why? Because users
*think* it makes them safer, and you give them what helps in their feeling of
security. If one supplier adds email scanning, they all must, lest they look like
they are not trying to protect you as well as the competition.


I did run another Ad-Aware SE full scan last night, and it did not find any
more traces of a Trojan Horse.

That is good, and much as I suspected. From your original description, it was never
a trojan horse in the first place, but a trojan downloader, which can download its
friends, the trojan horses and other mal-ware. You may have only had it in your
browser temporary cache. I can't tell because it is now in quarantine and you
cannot give me the exact description from when it was detected. You say it was
found in or connected to the Ntregopt file. With this trojan downloader in
quarantine, can you still find the original Ntregopt.exe file on your computer in
the folder it has been living in all these months?


I will check out the AVG software you gave me the links for. Did you see
the post by "Joe"? He mentioned a software called "Free Home" with the
option to do a boot scan? Do you know anything about this?

The AVG Anti-Spyware app will find most trojans and spyware, and much that is missed
by Ad-Aware and other apps. Do not confuse it with it's sister app, AVG Anti-Virus,
which is an A-V program that you don't need, since you already have Norton.

Joe mentioned Avast Free Home A-V....it is another anti-virus program, and you don't
need it. Your current A-V can be configured to do a boot scan when you start the
computer, if it isn't doing it already. It won't help find a trojan, most likely,
as they aren't loading prior to Windows.


I'm sorry to sound so confused, but I am a computer novice. I have several
people who are kind enough to want to try to help me, but I'm starting to get
"information overload".

Quite understandable, and overload is very easy to hit, even for experienced
professionals. I would not have even entered the thread except the info I saw you
getting seemed to be too far off the mark. There appears thus far to be no need or
reason to wipe anything out, restore anything, or go back months, for this little
thing.


But I guess the main point to this post is: in answer to your question,
when I did a full rescan on Ad-Aware SE last night, there was NO indication
of Trojan Horse traces again. The Trojan trace info in my original post is
still quarantined in my Ad-Aware.

OK. Either install and run Ewido/AVG Anti-Spyware as described in my earlier link,
or just run their online scanner, which I also linked. Have it quarantine or delete
what it finds (quarantine is usually "safer" in terms of avoiding mistakes).

In you reply to DatabaseBen, you mentioned seeing a toolbar/BHO from Proxyconn, Inc
which you disabled. That is a legitimate BHO which is the Proxyconn Web
Accelerator, used by some ISPs to speed up their dial-up access:
http://www.proxyconn.com/

You might check with your ISP as they may have included it. Regardless, you can for
now disable it....at worst having it disabled will only slow down your web pages
loading.

Go back to where you disabled the BHOs and toolbars, in Internet Explorer> Tools
menu> Manage Add-Ons. In the drop-down list, select "Add-ons that have been used by
Internet Explorer" rather than just "Add-ons that are currently loaded". If it's
not too much work, post back with a list of what is shown there. I don't need all
the info listed, just the Names and the first word of the Publishers list.

I can give you some links to reading on how to adjust your settings in IE to help
prevent some of these issues, but for now I think you have more than enough to chew
on, so I can hold those till later. Or I can simply bow out of the thread if you
would rather work with someone else. :) I'm easy.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/




:

I haven't found Webroot Spysweeper's background monitoring to be very useful, nor
the background monitoring of any other anti-spyware utilities. I do prefer AVG
Anti-Spyware (formerly Ewido) for on-demand scanning for spyware and trojan
downloaders:
http://www.ewido.net/en/

They've also got an online scan:
http://www.ewido.net/en/onlinescan/

I am not a fan of either Norton or McAfee anti-virus, though either should be
effective against viruses, but somewhat less so against trojans and trojan
downloaders. I can't imaging having both installed at the same time (in fact, I
don't think they will co-habit), so I am guessing the McAfee scan you refer to is
just an online email scan that your ISP uses prior to your receiving the email.

Turn off the email scanning in your resident anti-virus (Norton, I
presume).....even
Symantec support states it is redundant and unnecessary, and can cause problems.

You mentioned that the trojan downloader was quarantined (by Ad-Aware, IIRC), so
do
you still detect any trojans or downloader when you rescan? If so, where are
they
being found....what location on your hard drive? If they are being found in
System
Restore or in the Ad-Aware quarantine folder, then you only have to clear the
quarantine area through the Ad-Aware interface, and or reset System Restore to
delete old restore points.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message Glee, I found from talking to another person later that the NTREGOPT program
was not the cause of the Trojan Horse, although possibly it could have used
it to "sneak" the Trojan Horse onto my computer.

So now it appears I have a Trojan Horse on my system! I have used security
software from 3 major companies (LavaSoft, Symantec/Norton, and Webroot),
have installed all the security downloads from Microsoft, have my firewall
up, have not added any toolbars, do not go to the so-called "dark side" of
the web, have 2 email scanners (Symantec/Norton and McAfee from my local
ISP), do not use links for "free checkups" of my computer and similar
dangerous links, do not use Instant Messaging, and I still got a Trojan Horse!

I am a computer novice and have done everything I know how to do to keep my
computer safe. I have "crashed" in the past, and I'm beginning to feel that
I want to abandon the Internet. For me, it has changed from a source of fun
and information to a dangerous maze with a hazard around every corner.

Can you give me any information on how to find and remove this Internet
Devil? I'd really appreciate any help you can give me.

:

This program has been used for years on countless computers, and has been
downloaded
alone and also in the package with its sister app, ERUNT. The fact that you
ran
it
successfully for months and only got a warning about a trojan last week,
indicates
that you simply have a trojan on your system, and it may have replaced that
app,
using its name. It does not in any way implicate the download you got months
ago
from majorgeeks.

In your paste of the trojan information, I don't see any mention of NTREGOPT.
Are
you saying the file itself, ntregopt.exe, is in quarantine? The info you
posted
only mentions a trojan downloader, and points to registry entries for an IE
toolbar.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message ,General Warning Message: Do NOT install the following program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

Hello, Databaseben! I talked to you way back in July when you were very
helpful with all my computer problems. In your last post to me, you
recommended some free programs that could help "clean up" my computer. I've
put a copy of part of what you wrote below:

"http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

The program above will optimize your registry..."

I installed this program, and used it without problem for several months.
But I had an alarming finding about this program when I ran Ad-Aware SE on
10/18/06. Unless I have read it wrong, it appears that a hacker got hold of
it and corrupted it badly. I saved the quarantine area of Ad-Aware. I will
copy what it said about the above software program, which showed the
program's name and logo in the findings before I quarantined it. I
immediately removed it from my computer:

ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 2006-10-18 21-17-51.bckp)
Referencefile : SE1R128 18.10.2006
======================================================

WIN32.TROJAN.DOWNLOADER
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
obj[0]=Regkey : S-1-5-19\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[1]=Regkey : S-1-5-20\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[2]=Regkey :
S-1-5-21-861567501-2139871995-725345543-1004\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[3]=Regkey : software\microsoft\internet explorer\toolbar

Of course, I don't understand all the above. I don't know if you can
contact the program's authors and tell them about this development. If not,
I wanted to warn others NOT to install this software... But I wanted you in
particular to know, so you won't recommend it to anyone else.

Quite a world when you try to be helpful and evil people only want to hurt
others! Kudos to Ad-Aware SE to catching this! (I'm sure my Spy Sweeper
would have caught it too but I hadn't done my scan with it yet.)

Databaseben, I did want you to know that your other software suggestions
have been very helpful and I thank you!
 
G

Guest

Oops! Sorry for the duplicate post. I must be getting tired. Glen, first
you didn't get any of the information - now you get two sets....

Sue

MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
Hi again, Glen. Here are the "Add-ons that have been used by Internet
Explorer" that you requested and were lost last night when Microsoft picked
the worst possible moment to make me log in:

AUDIO__MID Moniker Class - Microsoft
AUDIO__WAV Moniker Class - Microsoft
DHTML Edit Control Safe for Scripting for IE5 - Microsoft
HHCtrl Object - Microsoft
HTML Document - Microsoft
iTunesDetector Class - (Not Verified)
LSControl Class - Symantec
LSSupCtl Class - Symantec
Microsoft Scriptlet Component - Microsoft
MsnMessengerSetupDownloadControl Class - Microsoft MSN
MUWebControl Class - Microsoft
Office Update Installation Engine - (Not Verified) Microsoft
QuickTime Object - (Not Verified) Apple
RealPlayer G2 Control - (Not Verified) - RealNetwork
SearchAssistantOC - Microsoft
Shell Name Space - Microsoft
Shockwave Flash Object - Macromedia
Symantec Script Runner Class - Symantec
Symantec SmartIssue - Symantec
SymLTQueries Class - Symantec
SymSubQueries Class - Symantec
Tabular Data Control - Microsoft
Update Class - Microsoft Windows XP Pub.
Web Browser Applet Control - (Not Verified) Microsoft
Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool - Microsoft
Windows Media Player - Microsoft
Windows Media Player - Microsoft (NOTE: Listed twice - not a typo)
WUWebControl Class - Microsoft
XML Document - Microsoft
YInstStarter Class - Yahoo!
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search
Windows Messenger - (No Publisher Given)
Yahoo Messenger - Yahoo!
Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - Adobe
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search (NOTE: Listed twice - not a typo)
CNavExtBho Class - Symantec
eBay Toolbar Helper - eBay
MSN Search Toolbar Helper - Microsoft MSN
PrxcnBHO Class - (Not Verified) Proxyconn
Yahoo! Toolbar Helper - Yahoo!
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search (NOTE: Listed 3rd time - not a typo)
eBay Toolbar - eBay
MSN Search Toolbar - Microsoft MSN
Norton AntiVirus - Symantec
Yahoo! Toolbar - Yahoo!

Whew! There they are! All this is certainly improving my typing and
proofreading skills! Ha! Good luck in going through them. Maybe you'll
find something interesting!

Thanks and good night!

Sue

MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
AAARRRRRHHHHHH! Glen, I wrote you a long answer to your last post, including
a very long list of Add-ons used by Internet Explorer and pressed "Post".
Pardon my language, but damn Microsoft made me log in again and when I came
back, my whole message was gone!!! I've got things to do and I'm just not up
to typing that all again. I'll try to give it a shot again tomorrow.

Sue

glee said:
Replies inline, interspersed below.....

in message Glee, you were correct about the Norton and McAffee virus scans. My local
ISP does an email scan using McAffee before it reaches my mailbox. The
Norton is on my own system. You say that Norton says its own email scanning
is redundant, unnecessary and can cause problems? You'd think they'd remove
it from their software line.....

You'd think! By their own admission, it is redundant. As long as you have your
resident virus scanner running in the background, the email scanner affords no
useful additional protection. yet, most A-V apps include it. Why? Because users
*think* it makes them safer, and you give them what helps in their feeling of
security. If one supplier adds email scanning, they all must, lest they look like
they are not trying to protect you as well as the competition.


I did run another Ad-Aware SE full scan last night, and it did not find any
more traces of a Trojan Horse.

That is good, and much as I suspected. From your original description, it was never
a trojan horse in the first place, but a trojan downloader, which can download its
friends, the trojan horses and other mal-ware. You may have only had it in your
browser temporary cache. I can't tell because it is now in quarantine and you
cannot give me the exact description from when it was detected. You say it was
found in or connected to the Ntregopt file. With this trojan downloader in
quarantine, can you still find the original Ntregopt.exe file on your computer in
the folder it has been living in all these months?


I will check out the AVG software you gave me the links for. Did you see
the post by "Joe"? He mentioned a software called "Free Home" with the
option to do a boot scan? Do you know anything about this?

The AVG Anti-Spyware app will find most trojans and spyware, and much that is missed
by Ad-Aware and other apps. Do not confuse it with it's sister app, AVG Anti-Virus,
which is an A-V program that you don't need, since you already have Norton.

Joe mentioned Avast Free Home A-V....it is another anti-virus program, and you don't
need it. Your current A-V can be configured to do a boot scan when you start the
computer, if it isn't doing it already. It won't help find a trojan, most likely,
as they aren't loading prior to Windows.


I'm sorry to sound so confused, but I am a computer novice. I have several
people who are kind enough to want to try to help me, but I'm starting to get
"information overload".

Quite understandable, and overload is very easy to hit, even for experienced
professionals. I would not have even entered the thread except the info I saw you
getting seemed to be too far off the mark. There appears thus far to be no need or
reason to wipe anything out, restore anything, or go back months, for this little
thing.


But I guess the main point to this post is: in answer to your question,
when I did a full rescan on Ad-Aware SE last night, there was NO indication
of Trojan Horse traces again. The Trojan trace info in my original post is
still quarantined in my Ad-Aware.

OK. Either install and run Ewido/AVG Anti-Spyware as described in my earlier link,
or just run their online scanner, which I also linked. Have it quarantine or delete
what it finds (quarantine is usually "safer" in terms of avoiding mistakes).

In you reply to DatabaseBen, you mentioned seeing a toolbar/BHO from Proxyconn, Inc
which you disabled. That is a legitimate BHO which is the Proxyconn Web
Accelerator, used by some ISPs to speed up their dial-up access:
http://www.proxyconn.com/

You might check with your ISP as they may have included it. Regardless, you can for
now disable it....at worst having it disabled will only slow down your web pages
loading.

Go back to where you disabled the BHOs and toolbars, in Internet Explorer> Tools
menu> Manage Add-Ons. In the drop-down list, select "Add-ons that have been used by
Internet Explorer" rather than just "Add-ons that are currently loaded". If it's
not too much work, post back with a list of what is shown there. I don't need all
the info listed, just the Names and the first word of the Publishers list.

I can give you some links to reading on how to adjust your settings in IE to help
prevent some of these issues, but for now I think you have more than enough to chew
on, so I can hold those till later. Or I can simply bow out of the thread if you
would rather work with someone else. :) I'm easy.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/




:

I haven't found Webroot Spysweeper's background monitoring to be very useful, nor
the background monitoring of any other anti-spyware utilities. I do prefer AVG
Anti-Spyware (formerly Ewido) for on-demand scanning for spyware and trojan
downloaders:
http://www.ewido.net/en/

They've also got an online scan:
http://www.ewido.net/en/onlinescan/

I am not a fan of either Norton or McAfee anti-virus, though either should be
effective against viruses, but somewhat less so against trojans and trojan
downloaders. I can't imaging having both installed at the same time (in fact, I
don't think they will co-habit), so I am guessing the McAfee scan you refer to is
just an online email scan that your ISP uses prior to your receiving the email.

Turn off the email scanning in your resident anti-virus (Norton, I
presume).....even
Symantec support states it is redundant and unnecessary, and can cause problems.

You mentioned that the trojan downloader was quarantined (by Ad-Aware, IIRC), so
do
you still detect any trojans or downloader when you rescan? If so, where are
they
being found....what location on your hard drive? If they are being found in
System
Restore or in the Ad-Aware quarantine folder, then you only have to clear the
quarantine area through the Ad-Aware interface, and or reset System Restore to
delete old restore points.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message Glee, I found from talking to another person later that the NTREGOPT program
was not the cause of the Trojan Horse, although possibly it could have used
it to "sneak" the Trojan Horse onto my computer.

So now it appears I have a Trojan Horse on my system! I have used security
software from 3 major companies (LavaSoft, Symantec/Norton, and Webroot),
have installed all the security downloads from Microsoft, have my firewall
up, have not added any toolbars, do not go to the so-called "dark side" of
the web, have 2 email scanners (Symantec/Norton and McAfee from my local
ISP), do not use links for "free checkups" of my computer and similar
dangerous links, do not use Instant Messaging, and I still got a Trojan Horse!

I am a computer novice and have done everything I know how to do to keep my
computer safe. I have "crashed" in the past, and I'm beginning to feel that
I want to abandon the Internet. For me, it has changed from a source of fun
and information to a dangerous maze with a hazard around every corner.

Can you give me any information on how to find and remove this Internet
Devil? I'd really appreciate any help you can give me.

:

This program has been used for years on countless computers, and has been
downloaded
alone and also in the package with its sister app, ERUNT. The fact that you
ran
it
successfully for months and only got a warning about a trojan last week,
indicates
that you simply have a trojan on your system, and it may have replaced that
app,
using its name. It does not in any way implicate the download you got months
ago
from majorgeeks.

In your paste of the trojan information, I don't see any mention of NTREGOPT.
Are
you saying the file itself, ntregopt.exe, is in quarantine? The info you
posted
only mentions a trojan downloader, and points to registry entries for an IE
toolbar.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message ,General Warning Message: Do NOT install the following program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

Hello, Databaseben! I talked to you way back in July when you were very
helpful with all my computer problems. In your last post to me, you
recommended some free programs that could help "clean up" my computer. I've
put a copy of part of what you wrote below:

"http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

The program above will optimize your registry..."

I installed this program, and used it without problem for several months.
But I had an alarming finding about this program when I ran Ad-Aware SE on
10/18/06. Unless I have read it wrong, it appears that a hacker got hold of
it and corrupted it badly. I saved the quarantine area of Ad-Aware. I will
copy what it said about the above software program, which showed the
program's name and logo in the findings before I quarantined it. I
immediately removed it from my computer:

ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 2006-10-18 21-17-51.bckp)
Referencefile : SE1R128 18.10.2006
======================================================

WIN32.TROJAN.DOWNLOADER
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
obj[0]=Regkey : S-1-5-19\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[1]=Regkey : S-1-5-20\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[2]=Regkey :
S-1-5-21-861567501-2139871995-725345543-1004\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[3]=Regkey : software\microsoft\internet explorer\toolbar

Of course, I don't understand all the above. I don't know if you can
contact the program's authors and tell them about this development. If not,
I wanted to warn others NOT to install this software... But I wanted you in
particular to know, so you won't recommend it to anyone else.

Quite a world when you try to be helpful and evil people only want to hurt
others! Kudos to Ad-Aware SE to catching this! (I'm sure my Spy Sweeper
would have caught it too but I hadn't done my scan with it yet.)

Databaseben, I did want you to know that your other software suggestions
have been very helpful and I thank you!
 
G

glee

You have a very questionable toolbar installed.....Advanced Searchbar. It's core
files are listed among those connected with toolbars which can cause undesired ads
and pop-ups:
http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/pest/pest.aspx?id=453078631

"BHOs are not stopped by personal firewalls, because they are seen by the firewall
as your browser itself. Some exploits of this technology search all pages you view
in IE and replace banner advertisements with other ads. Some monitor and report on
your actions. Some change your home page."

I suggest *at the very least* that you look at Start> Control Panel> Add and Remove
Programs, and if Advanced Searchbar is listed, that you select it and click the
Remove button. If it remove successfully, things should improve, but ideally your
system should be checked by someone with experience reading "HijackThis" logs. If
you like, you can send me a log from HijackThis via email, and I will check it for
you privately, as doing so on these groups is not preferred.

Download and unzip HijackThis from one of these locations:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html
http://aumha.net/downloads/hijackthis.zip
Unzip to a folder *other than* your Desktop or the Temp folder (preferably make a
HJT folder on your desktop and unzip it to there), double-click HijackThis.exe, and
hit "Scan".

When the scan is finished, the "Scan" button will change into a "Save Log"
button.
Press that, save the log somewhere you can find it (Desktop, My Documents, or
similar).
Most of what it lists will be harmless or even required, so do NOT fix anything yet.

Copy the log files and paste them into an email to me at (e-mail address removed)

See the "housekeeping" you should complete before you post your log:
http://aumha.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4075

A tutorial for using Hijack This is located here:
http://tomcoyote.com/hjt/

If there are any other problems shown in your log, I will explain what may need to
be done. Hopefully, simply uninstalling the Searchbar via Add and Remove will be
sufficient.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
Hi again, Glen. Here are the "Add-ons that have been used by Internet
Explorer" that you requested and were lost last night when Microsoft picked
the worst possible moment to make me log in:

AUDIO__MID Moniker Class - Microsoft
AUDIO__WAV Moniker Class - Microsoft
DHTML Edit Control Safe for Scripting for IE5 - Microsoft
HHCtrl Object - Microsoft
HTML Document - Microsoft
iTunesDetector Class - (Not Verified)
LSControl Class - Symantec
LSSupCtl Class - Symantec
Microsoft Scriptlet Component - Microsoft
MsnMessengerSetupDownloadControl Class - Microsoft MSN
MUWebControl Class - Microsoft
Office Update Installation Engine - (Not Verified) Microsoft
QuickTime Object - (Not Verified) Apple
RealPlayer G2 Control - (Not Verified) - RealNetwork
SearchAssistantOC - Microsoft
Shell Name Space - Microsoft
Shockwave Flash Object - Macromedia
Symantec Script Runner Class - Symantec
Symantec SmartIssue - Symantec
SymLTQueries Class - Symantec
SymSubQueries Class - Symantec
Tabular Data Control - Microsoft
Update Class - Microsoft Windows XP Pub.
Web Browser Applet Control - (Not Verified) Microsoft
Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool - Microsoft
Windows Media Player - Microsoft
Windows Media Player - Microsoft (NOTE: Listed twice - not a typo)
WUWebControl Class - Microsoft
XML Document - Microsoft
YInstStarter Class - Yahoo!
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search
Windows Messenger - (No Publisher Given)
Yahoo Messenger - Yahoo!
Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - Adobe
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search (NOTE: Listed twice - not a typo)
CNavExtBho Class - Symantec
eBay Toolbar Helper - eBay
MSN Search Toolbar Helper - Microsoft MSN
PrxcnBHO Class - (Not Verified) Proxyconn
Yahoo! Toolbar Helper - Yahoo!
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search (NOTE: Listed 3rd time - not a typo)
eBay Toolbar - eBay
MSN Search Toolbar - Microsoft MSN
Norton AntiVirus - Symantec
Yahoo! Toolbar - Yahoo!

Whew! There they are! All this is certainly improving my typing and
proofreading skills! Ha! Good luck in going through them. Maybe you'll
find something interesting!

Thanks and good night!

Sue

MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
AAARRRRRHHHHHH! Glen, I wrote you a long answer to your last post, including
a very long list of Add-ons used by Internet Explorer and pressed "Post".
Pardon my language, but damn Microsoft made me log in again and when I came
back, my whole message was gone!!! I've got things to do and I'm just not up
to typing that all again. I'll try to give it a shot again tomorrow.

Sue

glee said:
Replies inline, interspersed below.....

"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message Glee, you were correct about the Norton and McAffee virus scans. My local
ISP does an email scan using McAffee before it reaches my mailbox. The
Norton is on my own system. You say that Norton says its own email scanning
is redundant, unnecessary and can cause problems? You'd think they'd remove
it from their software line.....

You'd think! By their own admission, it is redundant. As long as you have
your
resident virus scanner running in the background, the email scanner affords no
useful additional protection. yet, most A-V apps include it. Why? Because
users
*think* it makes them safer, and you give them what helps in their feeling of
security. If one supplier adds email scanning, they all must, lest they look
like
they are not trying to protect you as well as the competition.


I did run another Ad-Aware SE full scan last night, and it did not find any
more traces of a Trojan Horse.

That is good, and much as I suspected. From your original description, it was
never
a trojan horse in the first place, but a trojan downloader, which can download
its
friends, the trojan horses and other mal-ware. You may have only had it in
your
browser temporary cache. I can't tell because it is now in quarantine and you
cannot give me the exact description from when it was detected. You say it was
found in or connected to the Ntregopt file. With this trojan downloader in
quarantine, can you still find the original Ntregopt.exe file on your computer
in
the folder it has been living in all these months?


I will check out the AVG software you gave me the links for. Did you see
the post by "Joe"? He mentioned a software called "Free Home" with the
option to do a boot scan? Do you know anything about this?

The AVG Anti-Spyware app will find most trojans and spyware, and much that is
missed
by Ad-Aware and other apps. Do not confuse it with it's sister app, AVG
Anti-Virus,
which is an A-V program that you don't need, since you already have Norton.

Joe mentioned Avast Free Home A-V....it is another anti-virus program, and you
don't
need it. Your current A-V can be configured to do a boot scan when you start
the
computer, if it isn't doing it already. It won't help find a trojan, most
likely,
as they aren't loading prior to Windows.


I'm sorry to sound so confused, but I am a computer novice. I have several
people who are kind enough to want to try to help me, but I'm starting to get
"information overload".

Quite understandable, and overload is very easy to hit, even for experienced
professionals. I would not have even entered the thread except the info I saw
you
getting seemed to be too far off the mark. There appears thus far to be no
need or
reason to wipe anything out, restore anything, or go back months, for this
little
thing.


But I guess the main point to this post is: in answer to your question,
when I did a full rescan on Ad-Aware SE last night, there was NO indication
of Trojan Horse traces again. The Trojan trace info in my original post is
still quarantined in my Ad-Aware.

OK. Either install and run Ewido/AVG Anti-Spyware as described in my earlier
link,
or just run their online scanner, which I also linked. Have it quarantine or
delete
what it finds (quarantine is usually "safer" in terms of avoiding mistakes).

In you reply to DatabaseBen, you mentioned seeing a toolbar/BHO from Proxyconn,
Inc
which you disabled. That is a legitimate BHO which is the Proxyconn Web
Accelerator, used by some ISPs to speed up their dial-up access:
http://www.proxyconn.com/

You might check with your ISP as they may have included it. Regardless, you
can for
now disable it....at worst having it disabled will only slow down your web
pages
loading.

Go back to where you disabled the BHOs and toolbars, in Internet Explorer>
Tools
menu> Manage Add-Ons. In the drop-down list, select "Add-ons that have been
used by
Internet Explorer" rather than just "Add-ons that are currently loaded". If
it's
not too much work, post back with a list of what is shown there. I don't need
all
the info listed, just the Names and the first word of the Publishers list.

I can give you some links to reading on how to adjust your settings in IE to
help
prevent some of these issues, but for now I think you have more than enough to
chew
on, so I can hold those till later. Or I can simply bow out of the thread if
you
would rather work with someone else. :) I'm easy.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/




:

I haven't found Webroot Spysweeper's background monitoring to be very
useful, nor
the background monitoring of any other anti-spyware utilities. I do prefer
AVG
Anti-Spyware (formerly Ewido) for on-demand scanning for spyware and trojan
downloaders:
http://www.ewido.net/en/

They've also got an online scan:
http://www.ewido.net/en/onlinescan/

I am not a fan of either Norton or McAfee anti-virus, though either should
be
effective against viruses, but somewhat less so against trojans and trojan
downloaders. I can't imaging having both installed at the same time (in
fact, I
don't think they will co-habit), so I am guessing the McAfee scan you refer
to is
just an online email scan that your ISP uses prior to your receiving the
email.

Turn off the email scanning in your resident anti-virus (Norton, I
presume).....even
Symantec support states it is redundant and unnecessary, and can cause
problems.

You mentioned that the trojan downloader was quarantined (by Ad-Aware,
IIRC), so
do
you still detect any trojans or downloader when you rescan? If so, where
are
they
being found....what location on your hard drive? If they are being found in
System
Restore or in the Ad-Aware quarantine folder, then you only have to clear
the
quarantine area through the Ad-Aware interface, and or reset System Restore
to
delete old restore points.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986"
<[email protected]>
wrote
in message Glee, I found from talking to another person later that the NTREGOPT
program
was not the cause of the Trojan Horse, although possibly it could have
used
it to "sneak" the Trojan Horse onto my computer.

So now it appears I have a Trojan Horse on my system! I have used
security
software from 3 major companies (LavaSoft, Symantec/Norton, and Webroot),
have installed all the security downloads from Microsoft, have my firewall
up, have not added any toolbars, do not go to the so-called "dark side" of
the web, have 2 email scanners (Symantec/Norton and McAfee from my local
ISP), do not use links for "free checkups" of my computer and similar
dangerous links, do not use Instant Messaging, and I still got a Trojan
Horse!

I am a computer novice and have done everything I know how to do to keep
my
computer safe. I have "crashed" in the past, and I'm beginning to feel
that
I want to abandon the Internet. For me, it has changed from a source of
fun
and information to a dangerous maze with a hazard around every corner.

Can you give me any information on how to find and remove this Internet
Devil? I'd really appreciate any help you can give me.

:

This program has been used for years on countless computers, and has been
downloaded
alone and also in the package with its sister app, ERUNT. The fact that
you
ran
it
successfully for months and only got a warning about a trojan last week,
indicates
that you simply have a trojan on your system, and it may have replaced
that
app,
using its name. It does not in any way implicate the download you got
months
ago
from majorgeeks.

In your paste of the trojan information, I don't see any mention of
NTREGOPT.
Are
you saying the file itself, ntregopt.exe, is in quarantine? The info you
posted
only mentions a trojan downloader, and points to registry entries for an
IE
toolbar.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986"
<[email protected]>
wrote
in message ,General Warning Message: Do NOT install the following program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

Hello, Databaseben! I talked to you way back in July when you were
very
helpful with all my computer problems. In your last post to me, you
recommended some free programs that could help "clean up" my computer.
I've
put a copy of part of what you wrote below:

"http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

The program above will optimize your registry..."

I installed this program, and used it without problem for several
months.
But I had an alarming finding about this program when I ran Ad-Aware SE
on
10/18/06. Unless I have read it wrong, it appears that a hacker got
hold of
it and corrupted it badly. I saved the quarantine area of Ad-Aware. I
will
copy what it said about the above software program, which showed the
program's name and logo in the findings before I quarantined it. I
immediately removed it from my computer:

ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 2006-10-18 21-17-51.bckp)
Referencefile : SE1R128 18.10.2006
======================================================

WIN32.TROJAN.DOWNLOADER
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
obj[0]=Regkey : S-1-5-19\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[1]=Regkey : S-1-5-20\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[2]=Regkey :
S-1-5-21-861567501-2139871995-725345543-1004\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[3]=Regkey : software\microsoft\internet explorer\toolbar

Of course, I don't understand all the above. I don't know if you can
contact the program's authors and tell them about this development. If
not,
I wanted to warn others NOT to install this software... But I wanted
you in
particular to know, so you won't recommend it to anyone else.

Quite a world when you try to be helpful and evil people only want to
hurt
others! Kudos to Ad-Aware SE to catching this! (I'm sure my Spy
Sweeper
would have caught it too but I hadn't done my scan with it yet.)

Databaseben, I did want you to know that your other software
suggestions
have been very helpful and I thank you!
 
J

Jerry

Glee,

Advanced Searchbar is questionable software? NO WAY!

None of our core files are connected with toolbars that can cause
undesired ads and pop-ups. None! We are absolutely against spyware and
adware. We have the best toolbar available so we don't need to do any
crap like that. Please take a look at the positive ratings & reviews we
have from legitimate sites.

Just for your information:
http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/advancedsearchbar.com
http://www.castlecops.com/tk1913-advancedSearchbar_dll.html
http://www.spywaredata.com/spyware/malware/advancedSearchbar.dll.php
http://www.fileresearchcenter.com/A/ADVANC~2.DLL-5670.html
http://www.spywareterminator.com/item/608/AdvancedSearchbar.html

All of the reviews for Advanced Searchbar:
http://www.advancedsearchbar.com/reviews.html

And we have full page ads in PC World & PC Magazine.

Please do all of us a favor and do some research before assuming a
toolbar, if it's not Google, Yahoo or MSN, is automatically
questionable. We have a tough enough time trying to complete with
billion dollar companies like Google, Yahoo & MSN, so we can do without
the incorrect statements about the Advanced Searchbar.

The Advanced Searchbar is a FREE award winning toolbar that enables you
to search over 100 search engines and is loaded with features that make
searching and browsing the Internet easier than ever. The Advanced
Searchbar has more features than the Google, Yahoo and MSN toolbars
combined. No other toolbar has as many features.

The Advanced Searchbar is COMPLETELY FREE. No cost to you ever. No
limitations. No personal information is required whatsoever and the
Advanced Searchbar has No Adware, No Spyware, & No Malware.

Regards,
Gerald O'Dea
Advanced Search Technologies, Inc.



You have a very questionable toolbar installed.....Advanced Searchbar. It's core
files are listed among those connected with toolbars which can cause undesired ads
and pop-ups:
http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/pest/pest.aspx?id=453078631

"BHOs are not stopped by personal firewalls, because they are seen by thefirewall
as your browser itself. Some exploits of this technology search all pagesyou view
in IE and replace banner advertisements with other ads. Some monitor and report on
your actions. Some change your home page."

I suggest *at the very least* that you look at Start> Control Panel> Add and Remove
Programs, and if Advanced Searchbar is listed, that you select it and click the
Remove button. If it remove successfully, things should improve, but ideally your
system should be checked by someone with experience reading "HijackThis" logs. If
you like, you can send me a log from HijackThis via email, and I will check it for
you privately, as doing so on these groups is not preferred.

Download and unzip HijackThis from one of these locations:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html
http://aumha.net/downloads/hijackthis.zip
Unzip to a folder *other than* your Desktop or the Temp folder (preferably make a
HJT folder on your desktop and unzip it to there), double-click HijackThis.exe, and
hit "Scan".

When the scan is finished, the "Scan" button will change into a "Save Log"
button.
Press that, save the log somewhere you can find it (Desktop, My Documents, or
similar).
Most of what it lists will be harmless or even required, so do NOT fix anything yet.

Copy the log files and paste them into an email to me at (e-mail address removed)

See the "housekeeping" you should complete before you post your log:
http://aumha.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4075

A tutorial for using Hijack This is located here:
http://tomcoyote.com/hjt/

If there are any other problems shown in your log, I will explain what may need to
be done. Hopefully, simply uninstalling the Searchbar via Add and Removewill be
sufficient.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
Hi again, Glen. Here are the "Add-ons that have been used by Internet
Explorer" that you requested and were lost last night when Microsoft picked
the worst possible moment to make me log in:

AUDIO__MID Moniker Class - Microsoft
AUDIO__WAV Moniker Class - Microsoft
DHTML Edit Control Safe for Scripting for IE5 - Microsoft
HHCtrl Object - Microsoft
HTML Document - Microsoft
iTunesDetector Class - (Not Verified)
LSControl Class - Symantec
LSSupCtl Class - Symantec
Microsoft Scriptlet Component - Microsoft
MsnMessengerSetupDownloadControl Class - Microsoft MSN
MUWebControl Class - Microsoft
Office Update Installation Engine - (Not Verified) Microsoft
QuickTime Object - (Not Verified) Apple
RealPlayer G2 Control - (Not Verified) - RealNetwork
SearchAssistantOC - Microsoft
Shell Name Space - Microsoft
Shockwave Flash Object - Macromedia
Symantec Script Runner Class - Symantec
Symantec SmartIssue - Symantec
SymLTQueries Class - Symantec
SymSubQueries Class - Symantec
Tabular Data Control - Microsoft
Update Class - Microsoft Windows XP Pub.
Web Browser Applet Control - (Not Verified) Microsoft
Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool - Microsoft
Windows Media Player - Microsoft
Windows Media Player - Microsoft (NOTE: Listed twice - not a typo)
WUWebControl Class - Microsoft
XML Document - Microsoft
YInstStarter Class - Yahoo!
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search
Windows Messenger - (No Publisher Given)
Yahoo Messenger - Yahoo!
Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - Adobe
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search (NOTE: Listed twice - not a typo)
CNavExtBho Class - Symantec
eBay Toolbar Helper - eBay
MSN Search Toolbar Helper - Microsoft MSN
PrxcnBHO Class - (Not Verified) Proxyconn
Yahoo! Toolbar Helper - Yahoo!
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search (NOTE: Listed 3rd time - not a typo)
eBay Toolbar - eBay
MSN Search Toolbar - Microsoft MSN
Norton AntiVirus - Symantec
Yahoo! Toolbar - Yahoo!

Whew! There they are! All this is certainly improving my typing and
proofreading skills! Ha! Good luck in going through them. Maybe you'll
find something interesting!

Thanks and good night!

Sue

MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
AAARRRRRHHHHHH! Glen, I wrote you a long answer to your last post, including
a very long list of Add-ons used by Internet Explorer and pressed "Post".
Pardon my language, but damn Microsoft made me log in again and when Icame
back, my whole message was gone!!! I've got things to do and I'm justnot up
to typing that all again. I'll try to give it a shot again tomorrow.

Sue

:

Replies inline, interspersed below.....

"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message Glee, you were correct about the Norton and McAffee virus scans. My local
ISP does an email scan using McAffee before it reaches my mailbox.The
Norton is on my own system. You say that Norton says its own email scanning
is redundant, unnecessary and can cause problems? You'd think they'd remove
it from their software line.....

You'd think! By their own admission, it is redundant. As long as you have
your
resident virus scanner running in the background, the email scanner affords no
useful additional protection. yet, most A-V apps include it. Why? Because
users
*think* it makes them safer, and you give them what helps in their feeling of
security. If one supplier adds email scanning, they all must, lest they look
like
they are not trying to protect you as well as the competition.


I did run another Ad-Aware SE full scan last night, and it did notfind any
more traces of a Trojan Horse.

That is good, and much as I suspected. From your original description, it was
never
a trojan horse in the first place, but a trojan downloader, which can download
its
friends, the trojan horses and other mal-ware. You may have only had it in
your
browser temporary cache. I can't tell because it is now in quarantine and you
cannot give me the exact description from when it was detected. Yousay it was
found in or connected to the Ntregopt file. With this trojan downloader in
quarantine, can you still find the original Ntregopt.exe file on your computer
in
the folder it has been living in all these months?


I will check out the AVG software you gave me the links for. Did you see
the post by "Joe"? He mentioned a software called "Free Home" with the
option to do a boot scan? Do you know anything about this?

The AVG Anti-Spyware app will find most trojans and spyware, and much that is
missed
by Ad-Aware and other apps. Do not confuse it with it's sister app,AVG
Anti-Virus,
which is an A-V program that you don't need, since you already have Norton.

Joe mentioned Avast Free Home A-V....it is another anti-virus program, and you
don't
need it. Your current A-V can be configured to do a boot scan when you start
the
computer, if it isn't doing it already. It won't help find a trojan, most
likely,
as they aren't loading prior to Windows.


I'm sorry to sound so confused, but I am a computer novice. I have several
people who are kind enough to want to try to help me, but I'm starting to get
"information overload".

Quite understandable, and overload is very easy to hit, even for experienced
professionals. I would not have even entered the thread except the info I saw
you
getting seemed to be too far off the mark. There appears thus far to be no
need or
reason to wipe anything out, restore anything, or go back months, for this
little
thing.


But I guess the main point to this post is: in answer to your question,
when I did a full rescan on Ad-Aware SE last night, there was NO indication
of Trojan Horse traces again. The Trojan trace info in my original post is
still quarantined in my Ad-Aware.

OK. Either install and run Ewido/AVG Anti-Spyware as described in my earlier
link,
or just run their online scanner, which I also linked. Have it quarantine or
delete
what it finds (quarantine is usually "safer" in terms of avoiding mistakes).

In you reply to DatabaseBen, you mentioned seeing a toolbar/BHO fromProxyconn,
Inc
which you disabled. That is a legitimate BHO which is the ProxyconnWeb
Accelerator, used by some ISPs to speed up their dial-up access:
http://www.proxyconn.com/

You might check with your ISP as they may have included it. Regardless, you
can for
now disable it....at worst having it disabled will only slow down your web
pages
loading.

Go back to where you disabled the BHOs and toolbars, in Internet Explorer>
Tools
menu> Manage Add-Ons. In the drop-down list, select "Add-ons that have been
used by
Internet Explorer" rather than just "Add-ons that are currently loaded". If
it's
not too much work, post back with a list of what is shown there. I don't need
all
the info listed, just the Names and the first word of the Publisherslist.

I can give you some links to reading on how to adjust your settings in IE to
help
prevent some of these issues, but for now I think you have more thanenough to
chew
on, so I can hold those till later. Or I can simply bow out of the thread if
you
would rather work with someone else. :) I'm easy.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/




:

I haven't found Webroot Spysweeper's background monitoring to be very
useful, nor
the background monitoring of any other anti-spyware utilities. Ido prefer
AVG
Anti-Spyware (formerly Ewido) for on-demand scanning for spyware and trojan
downloaders:
http://www.ewido.net/en/

They've also got an online scan:
http://www.ewido.net/en/onlinescan/

I am not a fan of either Norton or McAfee anti-virus, though either should
be
effective against viruses, but somewhat less so against trojans and trojan
downloaders. I can't imaging having both installed at the same time (in
fact, I
don't think they will co-habit), so I am guessing the McAfee scanyou refer
to is
just an online email scan that your ISP uses prior to your receiving the
email.

Turn off the email scanning in your resident anti-virus (Norton, I
presume).....even
Symantec support states it is redundant and unnecessary, and can cause
problems.

You mentioned that the trojan downloader was quarantined (by Ad-Aware,
IIRC), so
do
you still detect any trojans or downloader when you rescan? If so, where
are
they
being found....what location on your hard drive? If they are being found in
System
Restore or in the Ad-Aware quarantine folder, then you only have to clear
the
quarantine area through the Ad-Aware interface, and or reset System Restore
to
delete old restore points.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986"
<[email protected]>
wrote
in message Glee, I found from talking to another person later that the NTREGOPT
program
was not the cause of the Trojan Horse, although possibly it could have
used
it to "sneak" the Trojan Horse onto my computer.

So now it appears I have a Trojan Horse on my system! I have used
security
software from 3 major companies (LavaSoft, Symantec/Norton, andWebroot),
have installed all the security downloads from Microsoft, have my firewall
up, have not added any toolbars, do not go to the so-called "dark side" of
the web, have 2 email scanners (Symantec/Norton and McAfee frommy local
ISP), do not use links for "free checkups" of my computer and similar
dangerous links, do not use Instant Messaging, and I still got a Trojan
Horse!

I am a computer novice and have done everything I know how to do to keep
my
computer safe. I have "crashed" in the past, and I'm beginningto feel
that
I want to abandon the Internet. For me, it has changed from a source of
fun
and information to a dangerous maze with a hazard around every corner.

Can you give me any information on how to find and remove this Internet
Devil? I'd really appreciate any help you can give me.

:

This program has been used for years on countless computers, and has been
downloaded
alone and also in the package with its sister app, ERUNT. Thefact that
you
ran
it
successfully for months and only got a warning about a trojan last week,
indicates
that you simply have a trojan on your system, and it may have replaced
that
app,
using its name. It does not in any way implicate the downloadyou got
months
ago
from majorgeeks.

In your paste of the trojan information, I don't see any mention of
NTREGOPT.
Are
you saying the file itself, ntregopt.exe, is in quarantine? The info you
posted
only mentions a trojan downloader, and points to registry entries for an
IE
toolbar.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986"
<[email protected]>
wrote
in message ,General Warning Message: Do NOT install the following program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

Hello, Databaseben! I talked to you way back in July when you were
very
helpful with all my computer problems. In your last post tome, you
recommended some free programs that could help "clean up" mycomputer.
I've
put a copy of part of what you wrote below:

"http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

The program above will optimize your registry..."

I installed this program, and used it without problem for several
months.
But I had an alarming finding about this program when I ran Ad-Aware SE
on
10/18/06. Unless I have read it wrong, it appears that a hacker got
hold of
it and corrupted it badly. I saved the quarantine area of Ad-Aware. I
will
copy what it said about the above software program, which showed the
program's name and logo in the findings before I quarantinedit. I
immediately removed it from my computer:

ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 2006-10-18 21-17-51.bckp)
Referencefile : SE1R128 18.10.2006
======================================================

WIN32.TROJAN.DOWNLOADER
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
obj[0]=Regkey : S-1-5-19\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[1]=Regkey : S-1-5-20\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[2]=Regkey :
S-1-5-21-861567501-2139871995-725345543-1004\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[3]=Regkey : software\microsoft\internet explorer\toolbar

Of course, I don't understand all the above. I don't know if you can
contact the program's authors and tell them about this development. If
not,
I wanted to warn others NOT to install this software... ButI wanted
you in
particular to know, so you won't recommend it to anyone else.

Quite a world when you try to be helpful and evil people only want to
hurt
others! Kudos to Ad-Aware SE to catching this! (I'm sure my Spy
Sweeper
would have caught it too but I hadn't done my scan with it yet.)

Databaseben, I did want you to know that your other software
suggestions
have been very helpful and I thank you!
 
G

glee

The "Advanced Searchbar" you give links to uses the CLSID
{57F02779-3D88-4958-8AD3-83C12D86ADC7}
and is considered a legitimate toolbar, using a file named advancedsearchbar.dl

The one I refer to (is it yours?) uses CLSIDs
{CDEEC43D-3572-4E95-A2A5-F519D29F00C0}
and/or {43F02779-6D88-4958-8AD3-83C12D86ADC7}
uses a file named toolbar.dll
(see previously cited:
http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/pest/pest.aspx?id=453078631)
and is not listed as legitimate.

That is the very reason I asked the OP to send me a HJT log, so I could see what
CLSIDs and files were actually involved, since both toolbars appear to use the name
Advanced Searchbar. In trying to rid a system of malware, it is better to err on
the side of safety (the toolbar can always be reinstalled rather simply if benign).

If and when I get the HJT log, I will be happy to share it with you and the forum if
necessary. But until such time as I can verify that ifo, the recommendation stands,
since I have no other way of knowing what is on her system.

Please do me a favour and don't assume that I did not spend quite a bit of time
researching this before I made the recommendation. I do NOT assume ANY toolbar is
questionable just because it is not Google, Yahoo, or MSN (The new version of the
Google toolbar phones home constantly, and I would not inflict the Yahoo toolbar on
anyone's system). I base my reply on the research I did and what I discovered.

It looks like you search the newsgroups and forums for any mention of your toolbar
to jump to its defense. Are you getting a lot of bad publicity, or what? Enquiring
minds want to know......
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



Glee,

Advanced Searchbar is questionable software? NO WAY!

None of our core files are connected with toolbars that can cause
undesired ads and pop-ups. None! We are absolutely against spyware and
adware. We have the best toolbar available so we don't need to do any
crap like that. Please take a look at the positive ratings & reviews we
have from legitimate sites.

Just for your information:
http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/advancedsearchbar.com
http://www.castlecops.com/tk1913-advancedSearchbar_dll.html
http://www.spywaredata.com/spyware/malware/advancedSearchbar.dll.php
http://www.fileresearchcenter.com/A/ADVANC~2.DLL-5670.html
http://www.spywareterminator.com/item/608/AdvancedSearchbar.html

All of the reviews for Advanced Searchbar:
http://www.advancedsearchbar.com/reviews.html

And we have full page ads in PC World & PC Magazine.

Please do all of us a favor and do some research before assuming a
toolbar, if it's not Google, Yahoo or MSN, is automatically
questionable. We have a tough enough time trying to complete with
billion dollar companies like Google, Yahoo & MSN, so we can do without
the incorrect statements about the Advanced Searchbar.

The Advanced Searchbar is a FREE award winning toolbar that enables you
to search over 100 search engines and is loaded with features that make
searching and browsing the Internet easier than ever. The Advanced
Searchbar has more features than the Google, Yahoo and MSN toolbars
combined. No other toolbar has as many features.

The Advanced Searchbar is COMPLETELY FREE. No cost to you ever. No
limitations. No personal information is required whatsoever and the
Advanced Searchbar has No Adware, No Spyware, & No Malware.

Regards,
Gerald O'Dea
Advanced Search Technologies, Inc.



You have a very questionable toolbar installed.....Advanced Searchbar. It's core
files are listed among those connected with toolbars which can cause undesired ads
and pop-ups:
http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/pest/pest.aspx?id=453078631

"BHOs are not stopped by personal firewalls, because they are seen by the firewall
as your browser itself. Some exploits of this technology search all pages you view
in IE and replace banner advertisements with other ads. Some monitor and report on
your actions. Some change your home page."

I suggest *at the very least* that you look at Start> Control Panel> Add and
Remove
Programs, and if Advanced Searchbar is listed, that you select it and click the
Remove button. If it remove successfully, things should improve, but ideally your
system should be checked by someone with experience reading "HijackThis" logs. If
you like, you can send me a log from HijackThis via email, and I will check it for
you privately, as doing so on these groups is not preferred.

Download and unzip HijackThis from one of these locations:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html
http://aumha.net/downloads/hijackthis.zip
Unzip to a folder *other than* your Desktop or the Temp folder (preferably make a
HJT folder on your desktop and unzip it to there), double-click HijackThis.exe,
and
hit "Scan".

When the scan is finished, the "Scan" button will change into a "Save Log"
button.
Press that, save the log somewhere you can find it (Desktop, My Documents, or
similar).
Most of what it lists will be harmless or even required, so do NOT fix anything
yet.

Copy the log files and paste them into an email to me at (e-mail address removed)

See the "housekeeping" you should complete before you post your log:
http://aumha.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4075

A tutorial for using Hijack This is located here:
http://tomcoyote.com/hjt/

If there are any other problems shown in your log, I will explain what may need to
be done. Hopefully, simply uninstalling the Searchbar via Add and Remove will be
sufficient.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message news:[email protected]...
Hi again, Glen. Here are the "Add-ons that have been used by Internet
Explorer" that you requested and were lost last night when Microsoft picked
the worst possible moment to make me log in:

AUDIO__MID Moniker Class - Microsoft
AUDIO__WAV Moniker Class - Microsoft
DHTML Edit Control Safe for Scripting for IE5 - Microsoft
HHCtrl Object - Microsoft
HTML Document - Microsoft
iTunesDetector Class - (Not Verified)
LSControl Class - Symantec
LSSupCtl Class - Symantec
Microsoft Scriptlet Component - Microsoft
MsnMessengerSetupDownloadControl Class - Microsoft MSN
MUWebControl Class - Microsoft
Office Update Installation Engine - (Not Verified) Microsoft
QuickTime Object - (Not Verified) Apple
RealPlayer G2 Control - (Not Verified) - RealNetwork
SearchAssistantOC - Microsoft
Shell Name Space - Microsoft
Shockwave Flash Object - Macromedia
Symantec Script Runner Class - Symantec
Symantec SmartIssue - Symantec
SymLTQueries Class - Symantec
SymSubQueries Class - Symantec
Tabular Data Control - Microsoft
Update Class - Microsoft Windows XP Pub.
Web Browser Applet Control - (Not Verified) Microsoft
Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool - Microsoft
Windows Media Player - Microsoft
Windows Media Player - Microsoft (NOTE: Listed twice - not a typo)
WUWebControl Class - Microsoft
XML Document - Microsoft
YInstStarter Class - Yahoo!
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search
Windows Messenger - (No Publisher Given)
Yahoo Messenger - Yahoo!
Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - Adobe
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search (NOTE: Listed twice - not a typo)
CNavExtBho Class - Symantec
eBay Toolbar Helper - eBay
MSN Search Toolbar Helper - Microsoft MSN
PrxcnBHO Class - (Not Verified) Proxyconn
Yahoo! Toolbar Helper - Yahoo!
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search (NOTE: Listed 3rd time - not a typo)
eBay Toolbar - eBay
MSN Search Toolbar - Microsoft MSN
Norton AntiVirus - Symantec
Yahoo! Toolbar - Yahoo!

Whew! There they are! All this is certainly improving my typing and
proofreading skills! Ha! Good luck in going through them. Maybe you'll
find something interesting!

Thanks and good night!

Sue

MtnLadyinBlackHills1986 said:
AAARRRRRHHHHHH! Glen, I wrote you a long answer to your last post, including
a very long list of Add-ons used by Internet Explorer and pressed "Post".
Pardon my language, but damn Microsoft made me log in again and when I came
back, my whole message was gone!!! I've got things to do and I'm just not up
to typing that all again. I'll try to give it a shot again tomorrow.

Sue

:

Replies inline, interspersed below.....

"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message Glee, you were correct about the Norton and McAffee virus scans. My local
ISP does an email scan using McAffee before it reaches my mailbox. The
Norton is on my own system. You say that Norton says its own email
scanning
is redundant, unnecessary and can cause problems? You'd think they'd
remove
it from their software line.....

You'd think! By their own admission, it is redundant. As long as you have
your
resident virus scanner running in the background, the email scanner affords
no
useful additional protection. yet, most A-V apps include it. Why? Because
users
*think* it makes them safer, and you give them what helps in their feeling of
security. If one supplier adds email scanning, they all must, lest they look
like
they are not trying to protect you as well as the competition.


I did run another Ad-Aware SE full scan last night, and it did not find any
more traces of a Trojan Horse.

That is good, and much as I suspected. From your original description, it
was
never
a trojan horse in the first place, but a trojan downloader, which can
download
its
friends, the trojan horses and other mal-ware. You may have only had it in
your
browser temporary cache. I can't tell because it is now in quarantine and
you
cannot give me the exact description from when it was detected. You say it
was
found in or connected to the Ntregopt file. With this trojan downloader in
quarantine, can you still find the original Ntregopt.exe file on your
computer
in
the folder it has been living in all these months?


I will check out the AVG software you gave me the links for. Did you see
the post by "Joe"? He mentioned a software called "Free Home" with the
option to do a boot scan? Do you know anything about this?

The AVG Anti-Spyware app will find most trojans and spyware, and much that is
missed
by Ad-Aware and other apps. Do not confuse it with it's sister app, AVG
Anti-Virus,
which is an A-V program that you don't need, since you already have Norton.

Joe mentioned Avast Free Home A-V....it is another anti-virus program, and
you
don't
need it. Your current A-V can be configured to do a boot scan when you start
the
computer, if it isn't doing it already. It won't help find a trojan, most
likely,
as they aren't loading prior to Windows.


I'm sorry to sound so confused, but I am a computer novice. I have several
people who are kind enough to want to try to help me, but I'm starting to
get
"information overload".

Quite understandable, and overload is very easy to hit, even for experienced
professionals. I would not have even entered the thread except the info I
saw
you
getting seemed to be too far off the mark. There appears thus far to be no
need or
reason to wipe anything out, restore anything, or go back months, for this
little
thing.


But I guess the main point to this post is: in answer to your question,
when I did a full rescan on Ad-Aware SE last night, there was NO indication
of Trojan Horse traces again. The Trojan trace info in my original post is
still quarantined in my Ad-Aware.

OK. Either install and run Ewido/AVG Anti-Spyware as described in my earlier
link,
or just run their online scanner, which I also linked. Have it quarantine or
delete
what it finds (quarantine is usually "safer" in terms of avoiding mistakes).

In you reply to DatabaseBen, you mentioned seeing a toolbar/BHO from
Proxyconn,
Inc
which you disabled. That is a legitimate BHO which is the Proxyconn Web
Accelerator, used by some ISPs to speed up their dial-up access:
http://www.proxyconn.com/

You might check with your ISP as they may have included it. Regardless, you
can for
now disable it....at worst having it disabled will only slow down your web
pages
loading.

Go back to where you disabled the BHOs and toolbars, in Internet Explorer>
Tools
menu> Manage Add-Ons. In the drop-down list, select "Add-ons that have been
used by
Internet Explorer" rather than just "Add-ons that are currently loaded". If
it's
not too much work, post back with a list of what is shown there. I don't
need
all
the info listed, just the Names and the first word of the Publishers list.

I can give you some links to reading on how to adjust your settings in IE to
help
prevent some of these issues, but for now I think you have more than enough
to
chew
on, so I can hold those till later. Or I can simply bow out of the thread if
you
would rather work with someone else. :) I'm easy.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/




:

I haven't found Webroot Spysweeper's background monitoring to be very
useful, nor
the background monitoring of any other anti-spyware utilities. I do
prefer
AVG
Anti-Spyware (formerly Ewido) for on-demand scanning for spyware and
trojan
downloaders:
http://www.ewido.net/en/

They've also got an online scan:
http://www.ewido.net/en/onlinescan/

I am not a fan of either Norton or McAfee anti-virus, though either should
be
effective against viruses, but somewhat less so against trojans and trojan
downloaders. I can't imaging having both installed at the same time (in
fact, I
don't think they will co-habit), so I am guessing the McAfee scan you
refer
to is
just an online email scan that your ISP uses prior to your receiving the
email.

Turn off the email scanning in your resident anti-virus (Norton, I
presume).....even
Symantec support states it is redundant and unnecessary, and can cause
problems.

You mentioned that the trojan downloader was quarantined (by Ad-Aware,
IIRC), so
do
you still detect any trojans or downloader when you rescan? If so, where
are
they
being found....what location on your hard drive? If they are being found
in
System
Restore or in the Ad-Aware quarantine folder, then you only have to clear
the
quarantine area through the Ad-Aware interface, and or reset System
Restore
to
delete old restore points.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986"
<[email protected]>
wrote
in message Glee, I found from talking to another person later that the NTREGOPT
program
was not the cause of the Trojan Horse, although possibly it could have
used
it to "sneak" the Trojan Horse onto my computer.

So now it appears I have a Trojan Horse on my system! I have used
security
software from 3 major companies (LavaSoft, Symantec/Norton, and
Webroot),
have installed all the security downloads from Microsoft, have my
firewall
up, have not added any toolbars, do not go to the so-called "dark side"
of
the web, have 2 email scanners (Symantec/Norton and McAfee from my local
ISP), do not use links for "free checkups" of my computer and similar
dangerous links, do not use Instant Messaging, and I still got a Trojan
Horse!

I am a computer novice and have done everything I know how to do to keep
my
computer safe. I have "crashed" in the past, and I'm beginning to feel
that
I want to abandon the Internet. For me, it has changed from a source of
fun
and information to a dangerous maze with a hazard around every corner.

Can you give me any information on how to find and remove this Internet
Devil? I'd really appreciate any help you can give me.

:

This program has been used for years on countless computers, and has
been
downloaded
alone and also in the package with its sister app, ERUNT. The fact
that
you
ran
it
successfully for months and only got a warning about a trojan last
week,
indicates
that you simply have a trojan on your system, and it may have replaced
that
app,
using its name. It does not in any way implicate the download you got
months
ago
from majorgeeks.

In your paste of the trojan information, I don't see any mention of
NTREGOPT.
Are
you saying the file itself, ntregopt.exe, is in quarantine? The info
you
posted
only mentions a trojan downloader, and points to registry entries for
an
IE
toolbar.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986"
<[email protected]>
wrote
in message ,General Warning Message: Do NOT install the following program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

Hello, Databaseben! I talked to you way back in July when you were
very
helpful with all my computer problems. In your last post to me, you
recommended some free programs that could help "clean up" my
computer.
I've
put a copy of part of what you wrote below:

"http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

The program above will optimize your registry..."

I installed this program, and used it without problem for several
months.
But I had an alarming finding about this program when I ran Ad-Aware
SE
on
10/18/06. Unless I have read it wrong, it appears that a hacker got
hold of
it and corrupted it badly. I saved the quarantine area of Ad-Aware.
I
will
copy what it said about the above software program, which showed the
program's name and logo in the findings before I quarantined it. I
immediately removed it from my computer:

ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 2006-10-18 21-17-51.bckp)
Referencefile : SE1R128 18.10.2006
======================================================

WIN32.TROJAN.DOWNLOADER
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
obj[0]=Regkey : S-1-5-19\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[1]=Regkey : S-1-5-20\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[2]=Regkey :
S-1-5-21-861567501-2139871995-725345543-1004\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[3]=Regkey : software\microsoft\internet explorer\toolbar

Of course, I don't understand all the above. I don't know if you can
contact the program's authors and tell them about this development.
If
not,
I wanted to warn others NOT to install this software... But I wanted
you in
particular to know, so you won't recommend it to anyone else.

Quite a world when you try to be helpful and evil people only want to
hurt
others! Kudos to Ad-Aware SE to catching this! (I'm sure my Spy
Sweeper
would have caught it too but I hadn't done my scan with it yet.)

Databaseben, I did want you to know that your other software
suggestions
have been very helpful and I thank you!
 
L

Leythos

And we have full page ads in PC World & PC Magazine.

Please do all of us a favor and do some research before assuming a
toolbar, if it's not Google, Yahoo or MSN, is automatically
questionable. We have a tough enough time trying to complete with
billion dollar companies like Google, Yahoo & MSN, so we can do without

Being in PC World and PC Mag doesn't mean anything - they give good
reviews based on the amount of Ad money spent.

As for search bars, they're all crap and unnecessary and do nothing of
good for any computer.

Since you've stated that your product is free, does nothing bad, is not
spyware, etc... How do you make your money for development and coding
costs?
 
J

Jerry

The link you keep mentioning has nothing called Advanced Searchbar on
it or any of our CLSID's?

http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/pest/pest.aspx?id=453078631

Yes, I stand by my product and yes I will defend it, even in the
newsgroups. If you had a software product you wouldn't bother defending
it if people called it questionable? You would just go along with it? I
don't think you would. It has taken an enormous amount of time and
resources to develop to the Advanced Searchbar. It's a shame you
haven't tried it because you would most likely agree it's the best
toolbar available for IE. It has absolutely no malware, no spyware, no
adware just plain ole software and records nothing. We don't even have
an option to update the software, we did this to avoid people saying
that we are spying on their computer if it went out to look for
updates. I know there are lots of toolbars that are adware but that
doesn't give people the right to bash every toolbar especially toolbars
with no spyware without doing some diligent research.


Regards,
Jerry O'Dea
Advanced Search Technologies, Inc.
http://www.advancedsearchcorp.com




The "Advanced Searchbar" you give links to uses the CLSID
{57F02779-3D88-4958-8AD3-83C12D86ADC7}
and is considered a legitimate toolbar, using a file named advancedsearchbar.dl

The one I refer to (is it yours?) uses CLSIDs
{CDEEC43D-3572-4E95-A2A5-F519D29F00C0}
and/or {43F02779-6D88-4958-8AD3-83C12D86ADC7}
uses a file named toolbar.dll
(see previously cited:
http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/pest/pest.aspx?id=453078631)
and is not listed as legitimate.

That is the very reason I asked the OP to send me a HJT log, so I could see what
CLSIDs and files were actually involved, since both toolbars appear to use the name
Advanced Searchbar. In trying to rid a system of malware, it is better to err on
the side of safety (the toolbar can always be reinstalled rather simply if benign).

If and when I get the HJT log, I will be happy to share it with you and the forum if
necessary. But until such time as I can verify that ifo, the recommendation stands,
since I have no other way of knowing what is on her system.

Please do me a favour and don't assume that I did not spend quite a bit of time
researching this before I made the recommendation. I do NOT assume ANY toolbar is
questionable just because it is not Google, Yahoo, or MSN (The new version of the
Google toolbar phones home constantly, and I would not inflict the Yahoo toolbar on
anyone's system). I base my reply on the research I did and what I discovered.

It looks like you search the newsgroups and forums for any mention of your toolbar
to jump to its defense. Are you getting a lot of bad publicity, or what?Enquiring
minds want to know......
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



Glee,

Advanced Searchbar is questionable software? NO WAY!

None of our core files are connected with toolbars that can cause
undesired ads and pop-ups. None! We are absolutely against spyware and
adware. We have the best toolbar available so we don't need to do any
crap like that. Please take a look at the positive ratings & reviews we
have from legitimate sites.

Just for your information:
http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/advancedsearchbar.com
http://www.castlecops.com/tk1913-advancedSearchbar_dll.html
http://www.spywaredata.com/spyware/malware/advancedSearchbar.dll.php
http://www.fileresearchcenter.com/A/ADVANC~2.DLL-5670.html
http://www.spywareterminator.com/item/608/AdvancedSearchbar.html

All of the reviews for Advanced Searchbar:
http://www.advancedsearchbar.com/reviews.html

And we have full page ads in PC World & PC Magazine.

Please do all of us a favor and do some research before assuming a
toolbar, if it's not Google, Yahoo or MSN, is automatically
questionable. We have a tough enough time trying to complete with
billion dollar companies like Google, Yahoo & MSN, so we can do without
the incorrect statements about the Advanced Searchbar.

The Advanced Searchbar is a FREE award winning toolbar that enables you
to search over 100 search engines and is loaded with features that make
searching and browsing the Internet easier than ever. The Advanced
Searchbar has more features than the Google, Yahoo and MSN toolbars
combined. No other toolbar has as many features.

The Advanced Searchbar is COMPLETELY FREE. No cost to you ever. No
limitations. No personal information is required whatsoever and the
Advanced Searchbar has No Adware, No Spyware, & No Malware.

Regards,
Gerald O'Dea
Advanced Search Technologies, Inc.



You have a very questionable toolbar installed.....Advanced Searchbar. It's core
files are listed among those connected with toolbars which can cause undesired ads
and pop-ups:
http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/pest/pest.aspx?id=453078631

"BHOs are not stopped by personal firewalls, because they are seen by the firewall
as your browser itself. Some exploits of this technology search all pages you view
in IE and replace banner advertisements with other ads. Some monitor and report on
your actions. Some change your home page."

I suggest *at the very least* that you look at Start> Control Panel> Add and
Remove
Programs, and if Advanced Searchbar is listed, that you select it and click the
Remove button. If it remove successfully, things should improve, but ideally your
system should be checked by someone with experience reading "HijackThis" logs. If
you like, you can send me a log from HijackThis via email, and I will check it for
you privately, as doing so on these groups is not preferred.

Download and unzip HijackThis from one of these locations:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html
http://aumha.net/downloads/hijackthis.zip
Unzip to a folder *other than* your Desktop or the Temp folder (preferably make a
HJT folder on your desktop and unzip it to there), double-click HijackThis.exe,
and
hit "Scan".

When the scan is finished, the "Scan" button will change into a "Save Log"
button.
Press that, save the log somewhere you can find it (Desktop, My Documents, or
similar).
Most of what it lists will be harmless or even required, so do NOT fix anything
yet.

Copy the log files and paste them into an email to me at [email protected]

See the "housekeeping" you should complete before you post your log:
http://aumha.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4075

A tutorial for using Hijack This is located here:
http://tomcoyote.com/hjt/

If there are any other problems shown in your log, I will explain what may need to
be done. Hopefully, simply uninstalling the Searchbar via Add and Remove will be
sufficient.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message news:[email protected]...
Hi again, Glen. Here are the "Add-ons that have been used by Internet
Explorer" that you requested and were lost last night when Microsoft picked
the worst possible moment to make me log in:

AUDIO__MID Moniker Class - Microsoft
AUDIO__WAV Moniker Class - Microsoft
DHTML Edit Control Safe for Scripting for IE5 - Microsoft
HHCtrl Object - Microsoft
HTML Document - Microsoft
iTunesDetector Class - (Not Verified)
LSControl Class - Symantec
LSSupCtl Class - Symantec
Microsoft Scriptlet Component - Microsoft
MsnMessengerSetupDownloadControl Class - Microsoft MSN
MUWebControl Class - Microsoft
Office Update Installation Engine - (Not Verified) Microsoft
QuickTime Object - (Not Verified) Apple
RealPlayer G2 Control - (Not Verified) - RealNetwork
SearchAssistantOC - Microsoft
Shell Name Space - Microsoft
Shockwave Flash Object - Macromedia
Symantec Script Runner Class - Symantec
Symantec SmartIssue - Symantec
SymLTQueries Class - Symantec
SymSubQueries Class - Symantec
Tabular Data Control - Microsoft
Update Class - Microsoft Windows XP Pub.
Web Browser Applet Control - (Not Verified) Microsoft
Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool - Microsoft
Windows Media Player - Microsoft
Windows Media Player - Microsoft (NOTE: Listed twice - not a typo)
WUWebControl Class - Microsoft
XML Document - Microsoft
YInstStarter Class - Yahoo!
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search
Windows Messenger - (No Publisher Given)
Yahoo Messenger - Yahoo!
Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - Adobe
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search (NOTE: Listed twice - not a typo)
CNavExtBho Class - Symantec
eBay Toolbar Helper - eBay
MSN Search Toolbar Helper - Microsoft MSN
PrxcnBHO Class - (Not Verified) Proxyconn
Yahoo! Toolbar Helper - Yahoo!
Advanced Searchbar - Advanced Search (NOTE: Listed 3rd time - not a typo)
eBay Toolbar - eBay
MSN Search Toolbar - Microsoft MSN
Norton AntiVirus - Symantec
Yahoo! Toolbar - Yahoo!

Whew! There they are! All this is certainly improving my typing and
proofreading skills! Ha! Good luck in going through them. Maybe you'll
find something interesting!

Thanks and good night!

Sue

:

AAARRRRRHHHHHH! Glen, I wrote you a long answer to your last post, including
a very long list of Add-ons used by Internet Explorer and pressed "Post".
Pardon my language, but damn Microsoft made me log in again and whenI came
back, my whole message was gone!!! I've got things to do and I'm just not up
to typing that all again. I'll try to give it a shot again tomorrow.

Sue

:

Replies inline, interspersed below.....

"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986" <[email protected]>
wrote
in message Glee, you were correct about the Norton and McAffee virus scans.My local
ISP does an email scan using McAffee before it reaches my mailbox. The
Norton is on my own system. You say that Norton says its own email
scanning
is redundant, unnecessary and can cause problems? You'd think they'd
remove
it from their software line.....

You'd think! By their own admission, it is redundant. As long asyou have
your
resident virus scanner running in the background, the email scanner affords
no
useful additional protection. yet, most A-V apps include it. Why? Because
users
*think* it makes them safer, and you give them what helps in theirfeeling of
security. If one supplier adds email scanning, they all must, lest they look
like
they are not trying to protect you as well as the competition.


I did run another Ad-Aware SE full scan last night, and it did not find any
more traces of a Trojan Horse.

That is good, and much as I suspected. From your original description, it
was
never
a trojan horse in the first place, but a trojan downloader, which can
download
its
friends, the trojan horses and other mal-ware. You may have only had it in
your
browser temporary cache. I can't tell because it is now in quarantine and
you
cannot give me the exact description from when it was detected. You say it
was
found in or connected to the Ntregopt file. With this trojan downloader in
quarantine, can you still find the original Ntregopt.exe file on your
computer
in
the folder it has been living in all these months?


I will check out the AVG software you gave me the links for. Did you see
the post by "Joe"? He mentioned a software called "Free Home" with the
option to do a boot scan? Do you know anything about this?

The AVG Anti-Spyware app will find most trojans and spyware, and much that is
missed
by Ad-Aware and other apps. Do not confuse it with it's sister app, AVG
Anti-Virus,
which is an A-V program that you don't need, since you already have Norton.

Joe mentioned Avast Free Home A-V....it is another anti-virus program, and
you
don't
need it. Your current A-V can be configured to do a boot scan when you start
the
computer, if it isn't doing it already. It won't help find a trojan, most
likely,
as they aren't loading prior to Windows.


I'm sorry to sound so confused, but I am a computer novice. I have several
people who are kind enough to want to try to help me, but I'm starting to
get
"information overload".

Quite understandable, and overload is very easy to hit, even for experienced
professionals. I would not have even entered the thread except the info I
saw
you
getting seemed to be too far off the mark. There appears thus farto be no
need or
reason to wipe anything out, restore anything, or go back months, for this
little
thing.


But I guess the main point to this post is: in answer to your question,
when I did a full rescan on Ad-Aware SE last night, there was NOindication
of Trojan Horse traces again. The Trojan trace info in my original post is
still quarantined in my Ad-Aware.

OK. Either install and run Ewido/AVG Anti-Spyware as described inmy earlier
link,
or just run their online scanner, which I also linked. Have it quarantine or
delete
what it finds (quarantine is usually "safer" in terms of avoiding mistakes).

In you reply to DatabaseBen, you mentioned seeing a toolbar/BHO from
Proxyconn,
Inc
which you disabled. That is a legitimate BHO which is the Proxyconn Web
Accelerator, used by some ISPs to speed up their dial-up access:
http://www.proxyconn.com/

You might check with your ISP as they may have included it. Regardless, you
can for
now disable it....at worst having it disabled will only slow down your web
pages
loading.

Go back to where you disabled the BHOs and toolbars, in Internet Explorer>
Tools
menu> Manage Add-Ons. In the drop-down list, select "Add-ons thathave been
used by
Internet Explorer" rather than just "Add-ons that are currently loaded". If
it's
not too much work, post back with a list of what is shown there. I don't
need
all
the info listed, just the Names and the first word of the Publishers list.

I can give you some links to reading on how to adjust your settings in IE to
help
prevent some of these issues, but for now I think you have more than enough
to
chew
on, so I can hold those till later. Or I can simply bow out of the thread if
you
would rather work with someone else. :) I'm easy.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/




:

I haven't found Webroot Spysweeper's background monitoring to be very
useful, nor
the background monitoring of any other anti-spyware utilities. I do
prefer
AVG
Anti-Spyware (formerly Ewido) for on-demand scanning for spyware and
trojan
downloaders:
http://www.ewido.net/en/

They've also got an online scan:
http://www.ewido.net/en/onlinescan/

I am not a fan of either Norton or McAfee anti-virus, though either should
be
effective against viruses, but somewhat less so against trojansand trojan
downloaders. I can't imaging having both installed at the sametime (in
fact, I
don't think they will co-habit), so I am guessing the McAfee scan you
refer
to is
just an online email scan that your ISP uses prior to your receiving the
email.

Turn off the email scanning in your resident anti-virus (Norton, I
presume).....even
Symantec support states it is redundant and unnecessary, and can cause
problems.

You mentioned that the trojan downloader was quarantined (by Ad-Aware,
IIRC), so
do
you still detect any trojans or downloader when you rescan? Ifso, where
are
they
being found....what location on your hard drive? If they are being found
in
System
Restore or in the Ad-Aware quarantine folder, then you only have to clear
the
quarantine area through the Ad-Aware interface, and or reset System
Restore
to
delete old restore points.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986"
<[email protected]>
wrote
in message Glee, I found from talking to another person later that the NTREGOPT
program
was not the cause of the Trojan Horse, although possibly it could have
used
it to "sneak" the Trojan Horse onto my computer.

So now it appears I have a Trojan Horse on my system! I haveused
security
software from 3 major companies (LavaSoft, Symantec/Norton, and
Webroot),
have installed all the security downloads from Microsoft, have my
firewall
up, have not added any toolbars, do not go to the so-called "dark side"
of
the web, have 2 email scanners (Symantec/Norton and McAfee from my local
ISP), do not use links for "free checkups" of my computer andsimilar
dangerous links, do not use Instant Messaging, and I still got a Trojan
Horse!

I am a computer novice and have done everything I know how todo to keep
my
computer safe. I have "crashed" in the past, and I'm beginning to feel
that
I want to abandon the Internet. For me, it has changed from a source of
fun
and information to a dangerous maze with a hazard around every corner.

Can you give me any information on how to find and remove this Internet
Devil? I'd really appreciate any help you can give me.

:

This program has been used for years on countless computers,and has
been
downloaded
alone and also in the package with its sister app, ERUNT. The fact
that
you
ran
it
successfully for months and only got a warning about a trojan last
week,
indicates
that you simply have a trojan on your system, and it may have replaced
that
app,
using its name. It does not in any way implicate the download you got
months
ago
from majorgeeks.

In your paste of the trojan information, I don't see any mention of
NTREGOPT.
Are
you saying the file itself, ntregopt.exe, is in quarantine? The info
you
posted
only mentions a trojan downloader, and points to registry entries for
an
IE
toolbar.
--
Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+
http://dts-l.org/



"MtnLadyinBlackHills1986"
<[email protected]>
wrote
in message ,General Warning Message: Do NOT install the following program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

Hello, Databaseben! I talked to you way back in July whenyou were
very
helpful with all my computer problems. In your last post to me, you
recommended some free programs that could help "clean up" my
computer.
I've
put a copy of part of what you wrote below:

"http://www.majorgeeks.com/NTREGOPT_d4824.html

The program above will optimize your registry..."

I installed this program, and used it without problem for several
months.
But I had an alarming finding about this program when I ran Ad-Aware
SE
on
10/18/06. Unless I have read it wrong, it appears that a hacker got
hold of
it and corrupted it badly. I saved the quarantine area ofAd-Aware.
I
will
copy what it said about the above software program, which showed the
program's name and logo in the findings before I quarantined it. I
immediately removed it from my computer:

ArchiveData(auto-quarantine- 2006-10-18 21-17-51.bckp)
Referencefile : SE1R128 18.10.2006
======================================================

WIN32.TROJAN.DOWNLOADER
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
obj[0]=Regkey : S-1-5-19\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[1]=Regkey : S-1-5-20\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[2]=Regkey :
S-1-5-21-861567501-2139871995-725345543-1004\software\classes\software\microsoft\internet
explorer\toolbar
obj[3]=Regkey : software\microsoft\internet explorer\toolbar

Of course, I don't understand all the above. I don't knowif you can
contact the program's authors and tell them about this development.
If
not,
I wanted to warn others NOT to install this software... But I wanted
you in
particular to know, so you won't recommend it to anyone else.

Quite a world when you try to be helpful and evil people only want to
hurt
others! Kudos to Ad-Aware SE to catching this! (I'm suremy Spy
Sweeper
would have caught it too but I hadn't done my scan with ityet.)

Databaseben, I did want you to know that your other software
suggestions
have been very helpful and I thank you!
 
J

Jerry

How do you make money if you offer the Advanced Searchbar for free?

Some of the 100+ search engines listed in the Advanced Searchbar may
pay a listing fee or may share revenue from advertising within the
search results (sponsored links).

Just like Google, Yahoo, MSN and all of the other search engines make
money, from people doing searches and hopefully clicking on a sponsored
link, otherwise we make nada.

Your statement "As for search bars, they're all crap and unnecessary
and do nothing of good for any computer." is total nonsense. You've
not tried the Advanced Searchbar yet.


Regards,
Jerry O'Dea
Advanced Search Technologies, Inc.
http://www.advancedsearchcorp.com
 
L

Leythos

How do you make money if you offer the Advanced Searchbar for free?

Some of the 100+ search engines listed in the Advanced Searchbar may
pay a listing fee or may share revenue from advertising within the
search results (sponsored links).

Visual Spam.
Just like Google, Yahoo, MSN and all of the other search engines make
money, from people doing searches and hopefully clicking on a sponsored
link, otherwise we make nada.

So, you are just another source of showing Ad's to people.
Your statement "As for search bars, they're all crap and unnecessary
and do nothing of good for any computer." is total nonsense. You've
not tried the Advanced Searchbar yet.

Sorry, I've been a coder/designer since the 70's and I know crap when I
read about it - Search Bar's are all crap and don't have anything to
offer that you can't get without them.

You should also learn to properly Quote in Usenet if you're going to
present yourself as somewhat technical / knowledgeable.
 

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