Can't access the web via IE after rogue AV removal

Discussion in 'Malware Help - MG (A Specialist Will Reply)' started by germz, Jul 13, 2010.

  1. germz

    germz Private E-2

    Guys, i need some advice on how to deal with this situation. I recently removed (at least to my knowledge) a rogue AV program from a neighbors PC: Green AV or AV Anti-Virus Suite or smth like. You know the one that takes over ones PC, finds supposed malaware & asks one to buy the program. So, anyway, i followed the removal instructions on some sites with the use of Malawarebytes Anti-Malaware, cleaned the registry w/ 2 reg cleaners, cleaned temp files w/ CCleaner, etc. He had MS Security Essentials already installed & that one also helped a little, i think, cause it did take care of some part of this rogue. I also just put in KIS 2010 for him & started running a scan but dont know what it will find. (hope there is no conflict between the MS program & KIS, not sure if the former is considered a true AV). One thing i didnt do is the manual removal of rogue AV registry entries. So now he cant get on the web via IE. Surprisingly, he can get online via AOL no problem. He uses it as his primary browser, for mail & IMs though they are not his web provider, hes got FIOS, but his gf wants IE. Furthermore, i'm not able to update KIS or Malawarebytes (had to manually get definitions for the latter). Windows update still working though. Also, from what i remember the explorer.exe process is no longer present on the running process list. I think it should be at least on XP but hes using Vista which i'm not that familiar with.

    Sorry for making this too long, but i think we're dealing with a browser hijack here or IE was simply disabled by the rogue & i'm at loss here. I googled this topic & found some possibly solutins which mostly involve removing registry entries (which i dont mind doing) but those apply to XP not Vista so i'm not sure what to do. If this was my rig i would just do a fresh install but in his case i already invested my time into fixing this & he gave me a little smth for this & woulnt be happy to if i had to reinstall Vista even though his data is backed up. 1 possible simple solution i'm thinking of is just to install another browser like Mozilla, it may work since AOL wasnt affected by this. Any other suggestions?
     
    Last edited: Jul 13, 2010
    germz, Jul 13, 2010
    #1
  2. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Welcome to Major Geeks!

    Please read ALL of this message including the notes before doing anything.

    Pleases follow the instructions in the below link:

    READ & RUN ME FIRST. Malware Removal Guide


    and attach the requested logs when you finish these instructions.

    • **** If something does not run, write down the info to explain to us later but keep on going. ****
    • Do not assume that because one step does not work that they all will not. MGtools will frequently run even when all other tools will not.


    • After completing the READ & RUN ME and attaching your logs, make sure that you tell us what problems still remain ( if any still do )!
    Helpful Notes:


    1. If you run into problems trying to run the READ & RUN ME or any of the scans in normal boot mode, you can run the steps in safe boot mode but make sure you tell us what you did later when you post logs. See the below if you do not know how to boot in safe mode:

    2. If you have problems downloading on the problem PC, download the tools and the manual updates for SUPERAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes ( links are given in the READ & RUN ME) onto another PC and then burn to a CD. Then copy them to the problem PC. You will have to skip getting updates if (and only if) your internet connection does not work. Yes you could use a flash drive too but flash drives are writeable and infections can spread to them.
    3. If you cannot seem to login to an infected user account, try using a different user account (if you have one) in either normal or safe boot mode and running only SUPERAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes while logged into this aother user account. Then reboot and see if you can log into the problem user account. If you can then run SUPERAntiSpyware, Malwarebytes, ComboFix and MGtools on the infected account as requested in the instructions.
    4. To avoid additional delay in getting a response, it is strongly advised that after completing the READ & RUN ME you also read this sticky:

    Any additional post is a bump which will add more delay. Once you attach the logs, your thread will be in the work queue and as stated our system works the oldest threads FIRST.
    ​
     
    TimW, Jul 13, 2010
    #2

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