More Browser Hijack problems

My Search Page and homepage have both been hijacked by one of the "SearchEngine" hijackers.
I downloaded Ad-Aware 6, and it found the thing, and deleted it. I thought all was well, but it was back the next day.
I went back and bought Ad-Watch 3.0, did my scan and deleted the (25!) "possible browser hijack" attempts. I thought all was well, but it was back the next day. When I tried to open Ad-Watch again, my computer froze. I had to use Ctrl+Alt+Delete to get anything moving.
I ended up with the comp freezing 3 times. The third time was so bad I had to turn it off with the power switch. Ad-Watch has not loaded properly since.
Tonight I downloaded "Clean My Computer" and ran the scan and fix. The hijacker was there as soon as I finished.
I came to MajorGeeks and downloaded "Hijack This" but when I try to open it the computer tells me it is not a valid Win32 function.
I am running an elderly Compaq Presario with windows 98 SE.
Any help you can give will be appreciated

 

HJT downloads as a Zip file, IIRC. You've got to unzip it, not just click it. Once it's unzipped, you can run the executable.

 

Thanks, Wiz (Duh, I should have realized that). I unzipped and scanned and now have a scan log of about 150 items. Some of them I know are bad, (smutserver, for Gossake?), but others I am unsure of.

I know the HJT scanlog question has been answered many times here, so I am going to go look up the old answers before bothering anyone further.

 

Thanks Chaslang. I use Webroot Window Washer, and it is great. I'm going to do the Hijack This! first, just because I love the dynamite & detonator icon.
If that doesn't do it, I'll try the spyware download from Webroot.

 

Feel free to post your HJT logfile here. Also, have a look at this thread:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/vb/showthread.php?t=26149

And here's some good info on interpreting the log:

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/htlogtutorial.html

 

Hijack free browser?

OK - I reloaded Ad-Aware, scanned a few times and removed everything it suggested removing. Then I went to the Merijn HJT logfile tutorial and, using it as a guide, removed about 40-45 items.
My homepage is now on "About Blank" and my Search to the Microsoft Default.
I'll cycle this thing a few times to see if everything is gone.
Thank you everyone for the help you have given me here, and I hope never to come back with this same problem again.

 

Either way, you're welcome back!

 

This morning it was back to "Your Best Search" Arrggghhh. I did the HJT scan again and killed about 20 items. We'll see.

 

donald any chance you want to let us have a look at your log file if this keeps reappearing as some nasties can not be fixed by HJT alone you need to remove the source folder
theres plenty of ppl here who can help you out

 

Thanks, General Lee - if it keeps coming back, I'll do that.
In the meantime, I was just informed that my request for a refund from LavaSoft for the AdWatch 3.0 that froze my computer so badly has been denied.
At one point, I saw an 800 number to call Lavasoftusa, but now I can't find anything except the Euro home office number.
Does anyone know the number for Lavasoftusa?

 

It's back again. I saved a copy of the HJT log, but now I can't get it to copy to this message board. I have attached it below. The R0 and R1 items are the ones I keep deleting via HJT, but I'm obviously missing something else that needs to be reomved.
I'm also finding all sorts of interesting things as I explore my PC, like a program named "apexec" which I'd never seen before, and a whole new cd "F" drive which does not exist anywhere except in the computer's imagination. I begin to wonder if the hijacker has reconfigured the whole system for it's convenience.
Anyway, if anyone can tell me what else to delete on the HJT log, it will be appreciated.

 

hi donald your only real problem is that search hijacker i would suggest running this then see what happens this should kill it if not post back and well try the next step
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4086.html

as for apexec as far as i can tell its related to your altavista items

as for an extra cd drive have you installed any cd burning apps a lot of them now add a virtual drive which gives you the option to copy your game cds to your hard drive and then play from there rather than keep the cd in the drive

 

Thanks again, General Lee, and to all of those who helped me with this.
I downloaded the CWS killer you recommended, and it deleted a file named "Tapic" something, which I had not noticed on HJT.
I am going to download the patch, now.
Again, Thanks everyone

 

your welcome donald

happy surfing