Modifying the Internet Explorer History

[2yyiam]

I seem to have a unique problem.
In my IE history, websites seem to appear that I know have not been
visited by me, and they're definitely not pop-ups!
How is this possible, since I'm the only one using this pc, how can
websites appear in my history, that I have not actively viewed?
Is it possible that someone could be hacking into my pc and viewing
these websites?
Any ideas out there would be gratefully appreciated!
PS.Needless to say, these websites are not exactly decent!

 

[Don Varnau]

Hi,
It happens- mostly through scripts.To clear the History completely and get a
fresh start...

CCleaner from http://www.ccleaner.com/ should be able to clear the History
and the index.dat file. Just check the appropriate boxes and run it.

Free History Eraser from
http://smartprotector.com/eraser/free-history-eraser.htm will delete the
History folder (and the index.dat file) and a new one will be created when
you restart.
Or the History folder can be deleted manually:
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/delcache.htm

Security tips:
http://www.aumha.org/a/parasite.php#protect
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm

Hope this helps,
Don
[MS MVP- IE]

 

[2yyiam]

Sorry to bother you, first of all thanks for your reply, what I wanted
to understand was, is it possible for someone else to hack into my
computer and modify the history? Or browse web pages through my
connection which then appear on my history? The websites are actual
webpages and not popups, and are all questionable material which I have
not accessed myself on my computer!
What are scripts which can cause this? Are these scripts accessing
these websites?
Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE]

Sorry to bother you, first of all thanks for your reply, what I wanted
to understand was, is it possible for someone else to hack into my
computer and modify the history? Or browse web pages through my
connection which then appear on my history? The websites are actual
webpages and not popups, and are all questionable material which I
have not accessed myself on my computer!
What are scripts which can cause this? Are these scripts accessing
these websites?
Thanks in advance for your help!

You may be infested with malware.
Systematically go through the steps at this site:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
also see
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/forum55.html

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
Please respond in Newsgroup. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

 

[2yyiam]

This malware can create websites that have apparently been visited by
the IE?? And these websites then appear in my history?
I'm sorry to keep going on, I just need to understand how these
websites appear, cause it keeps happening, there was a period where
nothing happened for a long while, but in the past websites have
appeared in my history on IE and also files have appear in my Recent
folder which I have never heard of or accessed!
Thanks for your help!

 

[Tom]

This malware can create websites that have apparently been visited by
the IE?? And these websites then appear in my history?
I'm sorry to keep going on, I just need to understand how these
websites appear, cause it keeps happening, there was a period where
nothing happened for a long while, but in the past websites have
appeared in my history on IE and also files have appear in my Recent
folder which I have never heard of or accessed!
Thanks for your help!

It only takes one visit to a malicious page to become infected. But don't
ask anyone (especially an MVP) to explain how this can happen. Even if they
knew, they wont explain it because then we end up with even more nasty pages
on the web. Just follow the instructions the MVP gave you and report back
your findings. That is the first step toward resolving your issue.

Tom

 

[Tom]

It only takes one visit to a malicious page to become infected. But don't
ask anyone (especially an MVP) to explain how this can happen. Even if they
knew, they wont explain it because then we end up with even more nasty pages
on the web. Just follow the instructions the MVP gave you and report back
your findings. That is the first step toward resolving your issue.

Oh, BTW, a better subject line for this would have been...
'Unvisited sites mysteriously appear in History'

Also to kind of explain how you might have not seen any sites popup,
scripting can open a new window off screen (hidden) or behind (a pop-under)
the IE. From what I have read, IE7 fixes this by not allowing popups to
display off screen but I'm sure the thugs will find an exploit around it.
Too bad Windows 98 users will never benefit from it.

Tom

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE]

This malware can create websites that have apparently been visited by
the IE?? And these websites then appear in my history?
I'm sorry to keep going on, I just need to understand how these
websites appear, cause it keeps happening, there was a period where
nothing happened for a long while, but in the past websites have
appeared in my history on IE and also files have appear in my Recent
folder which I have never heard of or accessed!
Thanks for your help!

I will NOT tell you how it is done, but visiting a seemingly innocous site
can do this and leave behind a small program that will regenerate the
favorites if they are deleted.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
Please respond in Newsgroup. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

 

[2yyiam]

Thanks for the replies. I wasn't looking for a method on how to do it!
I was just suspicious about whether it was someone else hacking onto my
connection, and if so, would there be away to trace it!!
I don't want to know how it is done, so sorry if I gave that
impression!
Thanks again