Major malfunctions

Discussion in 'Malware Help - MG (A Specialist Will Reply)' started by mudhunter, Jan 20, 2008.

  1. mudhunter

    mudhunter Private E-2

    A friend has been having major issues with his PC and dropped it off to see if I could get it to "work again". Windows XP (no service packs) -- 4 user accounts -- 2 of them for children -- all accounts have admin privileges.

    Under all the accounts (and in safe mode) I can not bring up the "control panel" or any of it's associated settings -- including display or add/remove programs. I get the error that i should let the admin know.

    Various spytool pop-ups and warnings display under all user accounts on start up. About 2 minutes after the computer has started up it reboots itself.

    Internet Explorer is not working at all. Loaded firefox via a cd to the machine while in Safe Mode as administrator. Then while in safe mode downloaded cc cleaner and ran it -- it ran fine.

    Then from Safe mode Downloaded combofix, spybot, avg and mgtools. Tried to run combofix and nothing -- now i just get a black screen when i go in under safe mode.

    I can ctrl/alt/delete in safe mode and it brings up task manager. Tried to kick off combofix.exe from there, but still nothing .... combofix.exe does appear briefly in the processes section of the task manager, but disappears in seconds.

    I'm not sure if this is salvageable or not. Considering a reformat. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
     
  2. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    When you get to taskmanager in safe mode ...go to new task ...type explorer ...do you get the screen/window?

    Can you attach the log from running MGTools.exe?
     
  3. mudhunter

    mudhunter Private E-2

    I did try typing explorer but to no avail ... still black screen.

    However, typing cmd I could get a dos prompt and could kick off mgtools.exe.
    Luckily this pc still had a floppy drive so I copied the log files to the floppy. mgtools took hours to run ... at least 3 hours, but it did finish. Log files are attached.

    One other note is that i did also try to run combofix from the dos prompt, but it looked to run for a second but nothing seemed to happen, no errors, nothing.
     

    Attached Files:

  4. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Your system is a real mess ....I don't know how you can get it to run at all. YOu have no JAva installed and your system does not have any service packs. If we get you clean you will need to install SP2!

    Let's try to do as much as we can:

    Run C:\MGtools\analyse.exe by double clicking on it. This is really HijackThis (select Do a system scan only) and select the following lines but DO NOT CLICK FIX until you exit all browser sessions including the one you are reading in right now:
    After clicking Fix, exit HJT.

    Now Copy the bold text below to notepad. Save it as fixME.reg to your desktop. Be sure the "Save as" type is set to "all files" Once you have saved it double click it and allow it to merge with the registry.
    Now...if you can:
    download The Avenger by Swandog469, 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

    Now run the C:\MGtools\GetLogs.bat file by double clicking on it. Then attach the new C:\MGlogs.zip file that will be created by running this and also attach the log from Avenger.
     
  5. mudhunter

    mudhunter Private E-2

    I agree a big mess. Ok, ran all the steps below. I can now log in without being in safe mode only. But still all kinds of pop-ups and errors.

    Attached are the latest files.
     

    Attached Files:

  6. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Please do not use this machine (other than cleaning and getting logs ) until we are finished.
    Please use add/remove programs to uninstall:
    Pest Trap
    Propel Accelerator
    TargetSaver
    Now install:
    Java Runtime 6

    Please disable all anti-virus and anti-spyware programs while we do the following:

    Run C:\MGtools\analyse.exe by double clicking on it. This is really HijackThis (select Do a system scan only) and select the following lines but DO NOT CLICK FIX until you exit all browser sessions including the one you are reading in right now:
    NOTE: HJT may popup an error about the AppInit_DLLs line. Ignore it and click OK to continue.

    After clicking Fix, exit HJT.

    Now Copy the bold text below to notepad. Save it as fixME.reg to your desktop. Be sure the "Save as" type is set to "all files" Once you have saved it double click it and allow it to merge with the registry.
    Now download The Avenger by Swandog469, 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

    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.
    o 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.
    o 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.

    Now run the C:\MGtools\GetLogs.bat file by double clicking on it. Then attach the new C:\MGlogs.zip file that will be created by running this and also attach the log from Avenger.

    Be sure to tell us how things are running.
     
  7. mudhunter

    mudhunter Private E-2

    Control panel was not available to me and neither was add/remove programs. I was able to run combofix.exe in safe mode and did. After that control panel was available .... then did the below steps.

    All pop-ups are gone, but a new desktop message requesting me to download some security software has appeared.

    There are also windows updates now available to download. I suspect it is ok to do this, but will wait to hear from you.

    Logs attached.
     

    Attached Files:

  8. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Just a few more items to remove:
    * 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

    After reboot look for all of the above files we had Avenger attempt to delete. If you still see them, delete them yourself.

    Before you download the updates (SP2 will hopefully be one), please do the following:
    Bitscan link: agree to the license and then select Scan. DO NOT CHANGE THE OPTIONS TO SHOW ALL FILES SCANNED. That will make your logs huge and we don't need to see clean files. Once Bitdefender completes the scan:

    Click-on the Detected Problems tab. Then select Click here to export the scan report

    When the window comes up to save the report, change the Save as type: box to Text (Tab Delimited) (*.txt) and then in the File name box enter change to bdscan then click save. This will save a file named bdscan.txt in whatever folder you are currently in when you save the file (take notice of where you are at so you can find it later). This bdcan.txt file will actually contain HTML code that we can easily view later while reviewing your log. All we have to do is rename the file to bdscan.html.
    Attach the BitDefender log and the log from Avenger.
     
  9. mudhunter

    mudhunter Private E-2

    Logs attached.

    Note there is still a message on the screen: "Anti-Virus Recovery Helper" -- with a "download the software" button on it. No other pop-ups at this time.
     

    Attached Files:

  10. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Could you tell me exactly what it says ......we may need to re-run the C:\MGtools\GetLogs.bat file.
    In the meantime ...run Rogue Remover.
     
  11. mudhunter

    mudhunter Private E-2

    The desktop message is :

    Anti-Virus Recovery Helper

    Warning! An unexpected error has occurred. We recommend that you install security software to help protect your computer from viruses and other security threats, and that you keep your security software up to date. To get antivirus protection for your PC, download the software and then register it.

    HOW TO PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER:

    Make sure you have anti-virus software installed and have it set to update daily. If you do not have anti-virus software installed on your computer, you may download it from official site

    it goes ... on ....

    then at the bottom has a button that says "Download the Software"

    Not sure if you need it, but the log file from the rogue scan is attached.

    Thanks!
     

    Attached Files:

  12. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Though I asked you to remove Pest Trap ...rogue remover still found it.

    Run the Bitdefender scan again and attach the log.

    Run the C:\MGtools\GetLogs.bat file by double clicking on it. Then attach the new C:\MGlogs.zip file
     
  13. mudhunter

    mudhunter Private E-2

    The message is gone today and all seems to be running really well. Here are the requested logs.

    I still need to re-install Norton and update to SP2. Just want to make sure everything is clean first.

    Thanks for all of your help.
     

    Attached Files:

  14. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    It looks like you already installed Norton ....and your logs look 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, C:\combofix.txt and C:\ComboFix-quarantined-files.txt logs that was created.
    3. If we user 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 now.
    8. If we had you download any registry patches like fixme.reg or fixWLK.reg (or any others), you can delete these files now.
    9. You can delete the C:\MGtools folder and the C:\MGtools.exe file. You can also delete the C:\MGlogs.zip
    10. If you are running Windows XP or Windows ME, do the below:
    * Refer to the cleaning steps in the READ ME for your Window version and see the steps 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!

    Now download SP2 and set a system restore point before installing it (it will also set a new restore point).
     
  15. mudhunter

    mudhunter Private E-2

    All clean up steps are complete.
    SP2 is now installed. :)
    Norton Anti-Virus also installed now -- previous installation had not completed.

    Thank you so much for your help!!
     
  16. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    You're very welcome ...safe surfing. :)
     

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