possible trojan horse

[pat]

just today, while trying to delete some extraneous
programs thru the control panel, my firewall popped up
and asked if explorer.exe could access the internet.
When denied access, my computer then froze up
completely. I think this may be a variant of the blaster
worm. Has any one had this occur and how can i get rid
of it?

 

[CM]

Doesn't sound like a trojan horse to me. I would expect a
trojan horse to attempt to contact its source without your
knowledge or permission, not freeze your system.

I would suspect the configuration of your firewall as the
source of the problem, especially considering the fact
that you indicated the problem arose after denying Windows
Explorer access to the Internet.

If you're using a firewall like Zone Alarm, you need to
understand how it works so you can properly configure it.
Mis-configuring a firewall can cause your system to become
very difficult to use.

With your computer DISCONNECTED form the Internet, you can
disable your firewall, reboot and test to see if the
problems go away. If they do, then you've probably
identified the firewall as the source of the problems. In
that case, you'll need to modify its configuration
appropriately to restore functionality when it is re-
enabled.

CM