XP Stopped resolving etc\hosts

[Rob]

An XP Pro PC has stopped resolving entries in the
etc\hosts file. It still resolves from DNS properly. The
hosts files has been replaced and recreated, with no
luck.

 

[Marc Reynolds [MSFT]]

What do you see when from a command window you run "ipconfig /flushdns"
followed by ipconfig /displaydns"?

You may have the Qhosts trojan.

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/trojan.qhosts.html

--

Thanks,
Marc Reynolds
Microsoft Technical Support

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Rob]

Marc,

Good call. Looks like the virus came and did its damage,
but is no longer present. I followed the link provided.
Although the tool found no virus, the damage had been
done. I had to follow Symantec's instructions for
manually fixing my registry.