Hi Stephen - Sounds like this might be a variant of some malware called
CoolWebSearch (if not, then see AdAware, SpyBot, and HijackThis, below). Do
the following:
Download, UPDATE before running, and run:
http://209.133.47.200/~merijn/files/CWShredder.exe to remove the parasite.
Be sure to close all instances of IE and OE. You may also get it here if
that link is blocked:
http://www.zerosrealm.com/downloads/CWShredder.zip
You will need to disable System Restore and then reboot your system
in order to clear the CWS garbage from the backups. After rebooting, then
re-enable System Restore.
The following link gives instructions on how to disable it:
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPOR...sf&view=docid&dtype=&prod=&ver=&osv=&osv_lvl=
Then download and run:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/iegentabs.reg to restore your
tabs and remove any restrictions that the parasite has put in place.
Be sure that you also download and install hotfix Q816093, here:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=816093#appliesto
which blocks the exploit upon which this parasite family depends.
Now download and run:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/RestoreSearch2.REG to restore
your search functions.
However, this also indicates that you may have acquired some other malware
along the way. If you go to this page at Jim Eshelman's site, here:
http://aumha.org/a/noads.htm and wait a little bit (be patient), an analysis
of a number of possible parasites on your machine will be made to help you
identify and remove them. NOTE: You will need to disable Ad Blocking in Zone
Alarm 3.x, if present or any other Ad Blocking software which interferes
with Java Scripting for this scan to work. You should get a message between
the two lines of **** giving the results of the scan.
Get Ad-Aware 6.0, Build 181 or later, here:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/. UPDATE and run this regularly
to get rid of most "spyware/hijackware" on your machine. If it has to fix
things, be sure to re-boot and rerun AdAware again and repeat this cycle
until you get a clean scan. The reason is that it may have to remove
things which are currently "in use" before it can then clean up others.
Another excellent program for this purpose is SpyBot Search and Destroy
available here:
http://security.kolla.de/ SpyBot Support Forum here:
http://www.net-integration.net/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi. I recommend
using both normally. After UPDATING and fixing things with SpyBot S&D, be
sure to re-boot and rerun SpyBot again and repeat this cycle until you get a
clean "no red" scan. The reason is that SpyBot sometimes has to remove
things which are currently "in use" before it can then clean up others.
Note that sometimes you need to make a judgement call about what these
programs report as spyware. See here, for example:
http://www.imilly.com/alexa.htm
If they don't fix it then start here:
Download HijackThis, free, here:
http://209.133.47.200/~merijn/files/HijackThis.exe (Always download a new
fresh copy of HijackThis [and CWShredder also] - It's UPDATED frequently.)
You may also get it here if that link is blocked:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloadget.php?id=3155&file=3&evp=3304750663b552982a8baee6434cfc13
Unzip it to any convenient folder, start it then press Scan. Click on
SaveLog when it's finished which will create hijackthis.log. Now click the
Config button, then Misc Tools and click on Generate StartupList.log which
will create Startuplist.txt
Then go to one of the following forums:
Spyware and Hijackware Removal Support, here:
http://216.180.233.162/~swicom/forums/
or Net-Integration here:
http://www.net-integration.net/cgi-...86d536d57b5f65b6e40c55365e;act=ST;f=27;t=6949
or Tom Coyote here:
http://forums.tomcoyote.org/index.php?act=idx
Sign in, then copy and paste both files into a message asking for
assistance, Someone will answer with detailed instructions for the removal
of your parasite(s).
Once you get this cleaned up, you might want to consider installing the
SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard here to help prevent this kind of thing from
happening in the future:
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html (Prevents malware Active
X installs) (BTW, SpyWare Blaster is not memory resident ... no CPU or
memory load - but keep it UPDATED) The latest version as of this writing
will prevent installation or prevent the malware from running if it is
already installed, and it provides information and fixit-links for a variety
of parasites.
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareguard.html (Monitors for attempts to
install malware) Keep it UPDATED. Both Very Highly Recommended
--
Please respond in the same thread.
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP
In
