A very bad thing just happened to your computer

Two nights ago I was searching the Internet for free antispam software to use at the non-profit I work for. Sometime in the 2-3 hours of searching/researching I went to a website that was supposed to list something like "Top 10 Anti-Spam Software." Anyway, I went to the website (whatever it was), clicked on the link for the list and a window pops up that reads (something very close to), "A very bad thing just happened to your computer." After that very little worked. If I clicked on the shortcut for Word, IE, Adobe Reader, anything a message opened that the file was not found. I was still able to work in the two documents I had open and could start a new document from within word but nothing on the desktop worked. (Or the Start menu for that matter.) Since I could not run my virus scan, I ran an online virus scan at Trend Micro and nothing was found. I rebooted the computer and the shortcuts on my desktop worked again. My computer has been acting "funky" since then. Stuff like locking up all the time, IE7 shutting down a lot, AVG Free doesn't work anymore. The file I previously downloaded to install it from doesn't work. I downloaded a new file to install it and it doesn't work. (Corrupt.) Same thing with Avira Antivir. Trend Micro (which is the "real" antivirus installed on my computer) hasn't found anything. Ran chkdisk, defrag (which appeared to be seriously needed even though I had defragged the hard drive 2 days before) and still I'm having issues. Now I can't even get on the Internet. Icons in the system tray show I'm connected but IE7 only comes up with the unable to connect (or whatever) screen. Troubleshooting the connection isn't working because it can't connect either but the device manager shows the wireless card to be working fine. Tried to "test" my Internet connection with Yahoo! Messenger and it could not connect either. (JUST occurred to me to try to send email from Outlook. Haven't done that yet.) I've scoured the Internet (on my desktop - the "very bad thing" happened to my work laptop) and have found NOTHING! I went through all the logs that I have been able to find that were created around the time it happened, checked out all the errors in the Event Viewer around the time it happened and since (found several - lots with usernv, SideBySide and W32Time), and have even searched for files that were changed that day. (*.*) and found a couple of additional log files and a mess of files I can't "view." Oh yes, I did a system restore (no help) and am seriously considering running repair. Does anyone have a clue what this is? If not, do you have any suggestions how I might go about finding what happened so that I can determine the best way to fix it?

Any suggestions will be very much appreciated.

Sincerely,
Linda

 

Welcome to MajorGeeks.com, please follow our standard cleaning procedures:

Run ALL the steps in this Sticky thread READ & RUN ME FIRST Before Asking for Support

• Make sure you check version numbers and get all updates.

Very Important: Make sure you tell us the results from running the tutorial...was anything found? Were you unable to complete any of the scans?...Were you unable to download any of the tools?...Did you do the on-line scans as suggested? etc.

After doing ALL of the above and you still have a problem, make sure you have booted to normal mode and run the steps in the below thread to properly use HijackThis and attach the log:

Downloading, Installing, and Running HijackThis

• Make sure you also rename HijackThis.exe as suggested in the procedures. Use analyse.exe for the new name. This is very important due to some new infections going around..

When you return to make your next post, make sure you attach the following logs and that you have run these scans in the following order too:

• CounterSpy Log - only for Windows XP, 2K, & NT users
• AVG Antispyware Log - ONLY IF NEEDED you were not able to run CounterSpy. - only for Windows XP, 2K, & NT users
• Bitdefender Log - from step 6
• Panda Scan Log - from step 6
• runkeys.txt - the log from GetRunKey.bat
• newfiles.txt - the log from ShowNew.bat
• HijackThis Log

NOTE: You can only attach 3 files in a single message so it will require that you use two messages to attach all of these logs!

 

Okay...I've followed the instructions. Hope I didn't miss or skip anything. Here are the first three files.

Linda

 

Here are the last two logs. CounterSpy didn't find anything. Again, I hope I followed all the instructions precisely and didn't skip anything.

It is VERY cool that you are here.

 

Let's start by running ComboFix to scan/remove multiple issues.

1. Download this file - combofix.exe
2. Double click combofix.exe & follow the prompts.
3. When finished, it will produce a log for you. Attach this log to your next reply

Note:

Do not mouseclick combofix's window while it is running. That may cause it to stall.

Once you complete the above, attach fresh logs from the below.

• GetRunKey
• ShowNew
• HijackThis

 

Here you go.

By the way, I walked away from my computer when the new scan was running and when I came back a TrendMicro window was open showing that viruses had been detected. (First viruses it has detected in all of this.) I'm also attaching a screen print of the TrendMicro window for your viewing pleasure.)

 

Hijack This log and jpg.

I'm wondering. Would any of this stuff help troubleshoot other errors. I have about 18 old Gateway's where I work (I'm the Computer Service Manager) getting the same error and locking up several times a day. I have not been able to find anything about it and neither have any of the techies of the service vendor we sometimes use. The error message we are researching is showing up in the event log.

 

First, please disable any antivirus and/or antispy programs you have installed so they will not block this fix.

Step 1:
Please look in Add/Remove Programs for the following and uninstall if found. If you get any errors just make a note and proceed.

Step 2:
Please make sure the Viewing of Hidden Files & Folders is enabled per the READ ME.

Now, please run HijackThis and click on the Open the Misc Tools Section button on the open page. Then select Open process manager on the left-hand side. Look for the following process (or processes) and one at a time kill them by selecting it and then click Kill process. Then click yes.

After killing all the above processes, click Back.

Step 3:
Now scan with HijackThis and check the boxes for the following entries:
( Make sure ALL browser windows are closed when you click FIX )

Again, make sure ALL browser windows are closed when you click FIX.

Step 4:
Copy the contents of the below Quote Box to Notepad. Then click File and then Save As. Change the Save as Type to All Files. Name the file fixme.reg and then click save. (make sure you save it somewhere you can find it. Saving it to your Desktop may make that easy.) Then double-click on the fixme.reg file on your desktop (or locate it with Windows Explorer and double click on it if not saved to the Desktop) and when it prompts to Add in to the registry, say yes.

Step 5:
Now download The Avenger by Swandog46, and save it to your Desktop.

• Extract avenger.exe from the Zip file and save it to your desktop
• Run avenger.exe by double-clicking on it.
• Check the 'Input script manually' box.
• Click on the magnifying glass icon.
• Copy everything in the Quote box below, and paste it in the box that opens:

• Now click the 'Done' button.
• Click on the traffic light icon and OK the prompt.
• You will be prompted to restart, OK the prompt and your PC should reboot, if not, reboot it yourself.
• A log file from Avenger will be produced at C:\avenger.txt

Step 6: Begin here after rebooting from Step 5!
Next Reset Web Settings & Default Security Settings

Note for IE 6 users:
To Reset Web Settings:
Right click on your desktop Internet Explorer icon and select Properties. Then click the Programs tab and then click "Reset Web Settings". Now go back to the General tab and set your home page address to something useful like www.majorgeeks.com. Click Apply. Click Delete Cookies, Click Delete Files and select Delete all Offline content too, Click OK. When it finishes Click OK.

If you do not have an Internet Explorer icon on your Desktop, click Start, Control Panel (for some systems it may be Start, Settings, Control Panel), Internet Options, Programs tab and then click "Reset Web Settings". Now go back to the General tab and set your home page address to something useful like www.majorgeeks.com. Click Apply. Click Delete Cookies, Click Delete Files and select Delete all Offline content too, Click OK. When it finishes Click OK

To Default Security Settings:
Right click on your desktop Internet Explorer icon and select Properties. Then click the Security Tab and click Default Level for Internet, Local Intranet, Trusted Sites, and Restricted Sites. For IE 7 users, simply click the "Reset all zones to default level" button.

Note for IE 7 users:
Select Internet Options, then the Advanced Tab and then the Reset button under Reset Internet Explorer Settings.


Step 7:
Please download ATF Cleaner by Atribune. This program does not require an installation. The executable actually runs the program.

NOTE: This program is for Windows XP and Windows 2000 only. ATF Cleaner will remove all files from the items that are checked so if you have some cookies you'd like to save. Please move them to a different directory first.

• Double-click ATF-Cleaner.exe to run the program.
• Under Main choose: Select All
• Click the Empty Selected button.

If you use Firefox browser

• Click Firefox at the top and choose: Select All
• Click the Empty Selected button.
  • NOTE: If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.

If you use Opera browser

• Click Opera at the top and choose: Select All
• Click the Empty Selected button.
  • NOTE: If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.

Click Exit on the Main ATF Cleaner menu to close the program.

Step 8:
After you have completed ALL of the above in the correct order, please attach the following logs.

• HijackThis Log
• ShowNew Log
• GetRunKey Log
• Avenger Log

Let me know of any problems you may have encountered with the above instructions and also let me know how things are running now.

 

I am attaching requested logs.

Regarding steps of this post:

1. hf444f.exe was not listed in the processes Hijack This (step 2)
2. Attached HijackThis log is log created in step 2. Did not see if I was supposed to run it again later in the steps.
3. Attached ShowNew and GetRunKey logs - did not see in steps to run these again so I ran both after last step.

 

Hijack This log

 

Go back to Post 8, Step 3 and run this again, be sure you shut down any antispy and antivirus program before running HJT.

Attach a fresh HJT log once complete.

 

Everything has been going so well to this point. Let me begin by saying that when I ran the steps before I DID turn off all virus scans, antispyware, antispam, everything. But when I viewed the processes in Hijack one or two items in the Trend Micro directory were showing up. I closed them and ran the processes thing again and proceeded from there. Knowing I had turned off everything last time I just uninstalled it all this time before proceeding. Now NOTHING in step 3 is showing up. Please tell me what to do. Hope to hear from you soon as I am running competely "protectionless" right now.

I am attaching a jpg of what scan view (where I am supposed to check the boxes in step 3 and the items aren't listed) and 2 jpgs of the processes that are shown after unintstalling TrendMicro, SuperAntiSpyware and Spybot S&D.

 

It looks like they were removed, attach a fresh HJT log.

 

Here's the log. I'm reinstalling Trend Micro again.

 

Your logs are clean. If you are not having any other malware problems, it is time to do our final steps:

1. If we used Pocket Killbox during your cleanup, do the below
   • Run Pocket Killbox and select File, Cleanup, Delete All Backups
2. If we used ComboFix, you can delete the ComboFix.exe file, C:\ComboFix folder, C:\QooBox folder, C:\WINDOWS\nircmd.exe, and the C:\combofix.txt log that was created.
3. If we used SDFix you can delete all the SDFix related files and folders from your Desktop or whereever you installed it.
4. If we used SmitFraudFix, you can delete all files and folders related to it now including the c:\rapport.txt log.
5. If we used VundoFix, you can delete the VundoFix.exe file and the C:\VundoFix Backups folder and C:\vundofix.txt log that was created.
6. If we had your run FixWareOut, you can delete the Fixwareout.exe file and the C:\fixwareout folder.
7. If we had you run Avenger, you can delete all files related to Avenger, the log (avenger.txt) and C:\avenger.
8. If we had you download any registry patches like fixme.reg, fixme1.reg or fixWLK.reg (or any others), you can delete these files now.
9. You can delete the ShowNew.Zip and GetRunkey.Zip files and the files that you extracted from the ZIP files. You can also delete the C:\newfiles.txt and C:\runkeys.txt logs that were created
10. If you are running Windows XP or Windows ME, do the below:
    • go back to step 8 of the READ & RUN ME to Disable System Restore which will flush your Restore Points.
    • Then reboot and Enable System Restore to create a new clean Restore Point.
11. After doing the above, you should work thru the below link:
    • How to Protect yourself from malware!