Help with Windows XP

[Kathy]

To try and make a long story short (I've been at this 5
hours now), my IE Home Page was hijacked by spyware/adware
and I tried a number of programs to fix it and they didn't
work. Yes I foolishly resorted to editing the registry
based on some tips I found.

Didn't help with hijacking but when I later went into
Outlook, I suddenly started getting a Windows message
saying:

"Installing components for MS Outlook" and a bar showing
the progress. It would then say it need the MS OFfice XP
SMall Biz disc, so I inserted that (even though I had no
idea what it was installing Outlook for when I already had
it) and it ran a little with the disc in but then produced
this error message:

"Error 1304. Error writing to file c:\\program
files\common files\Microsoft Shared\web
folders\PKMAXCTL.DLL. Verify that you have access to that
directory"

It's my computer for home use so there's no reason for me
not to have access, I checked the folder and the files
exists. I got the same message in Notepad, but not in
Excel or Word.

So I guess I have two main problems:
- I still have my hijack issue (minor at this point
relatively)
- Did I do something so bad I need to re-install Windows
and Office again?

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated

Thank you.

Kathy

 

[Hilary Karp]

Kathy what programs did you use to try to clear out the hijacking? Here
are some options:

Run these programs to check for spyware/malware. After installing
update them, then boot into safe mode and run them. You should run
update and run them weekly.

Cwshredder
http://209.133.47.200/~merijn/files/CWShredder.exe

Ad-aware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com

Spybot Search and Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org

Bazooka Adware and Spyware Scanner
http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10247783.html

After your system is clean use these programs to help keep it clean:

Spywareblaster
www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html


Spywareguard
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sgdownload.html

IE-SPYAD
http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ehowes/resource.htm

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Use System REstore to restore your computer to a date before you started messing out with the registry. At least your system will be restored to a working condition and you can now use the spy ware removal tools like ad-aware and spybot to remove them.

 

[zippy]

Speaking from experience, you also may have been infected with the
download.trojan or downloader.trojan (on my machine they went hand in hand)
that not only installs programs that you don't want it seems to destroy the
ones you want. It also comes with the hijacker. On my machine it destroyed
my notepad, Windows Media Player (not that I use it anyways but..) It got
past my firewall because it masqueraded itself as IE. My firewall gave me
clues something was wrong because NotePad and WMplayer was asking permission
to access internet. It stopped me from updating my DAT files for Virus
Scan. All because I got lazy and didn't update programs. Now I'm doing it
daily. Luckily, I caught mine intime before it did too much damage.

If I was you, I would make sure that your virus scanner has the very latest
DAT files. Check Windows Update and make sure you have all the updates that
are needed. Run Adaware, Spybot, CWShredder and HijackThis.

Spybot Search and Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.net/

Lavasoft AdAware
http://www.lavasoft.de

CWSShredder
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html

Hijack This!
http://mjc1.com/mirror/hjt/

 

[Bob Fallona]

Great answer by Hilary, I would fix the hijack issue first as it may be
causing other problems ie Outlook. As far as Outlook, can you get into the
program or is it locked up? If you can get into it, I would backup or export
your messages to a PST file and backup your address book and reinstall.

 

[Kathy]

Thanks everyone for your help -- I have used the Lava
program, Spydoctor, Search & Destroy and a few other
programs but this is the most stubborn hijacking I have
ever had and they haven't fixed it. I will try all of your
suggestions, the restore to a previous date sounds like a
very appealing idea -- going back in time to before I
screwed everything up. And I will back up everything
before I get started on this tonight.

Thanks again, much appreciated.

Kathy

 

[Kathy]

Thank you Thank you Thank you! The Restore worked
perfectly, my applications are working again and the
spyware is gone. I really appreciate everyone's help.

-----Original Message-----
Hi,

Use System REstore to restore your computer to a date

before you started messing out with the registry. At least
your system will be restored to a working condition and
you can now use the spy ware removal tools like ad-aware
and spybot to remove them.