Ad-Aware SE etc Running stalling

Discussion in 'Malware Help (A Specialist Will Reply)' started by misterbojangles, Aug 27, 2007.

  1. misterbojangles

    misterbojangles Private E-2

    Since your last excellent advice last year helped cleanse me, I've run CCleaner, Ad-Aware and Spybot routinely on my home computer, and by and large I've remained problem free.

    Tonight however, Ad-Aware was able to update, but now runs slow (738 objects scanned in over an hour and a half). I've also acquired a new yellow warning triangle icon on my bottom right taskbar which gives the message something like "windows has detected spyware and will download spyware removal software....". This icon sits next to my usual Windows warning shield.

    I've lost access to my task manager which now says "administrator has withdrawn rights" or something similar when I Ctrl-Alt-Del.

    I'm leaving Ad-Aware running overnight to see if it eventually picks something up, but before I go through your standard procedures, is there any obvious culprit I can take action on immediately.

    I have disconnected the home computer from the internet for the time being, and can use my work laptop from home.
     
  2. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    I'm going to post two sets of instructions below. Each will be enclosed in separate Quote boxes. Make sure to complete the first one 100% before moving on to the second one.

    ATTACH THE FIRST LOG NOW BEFORE CONTINUING OR YOU WILL OVERWRITE IT!!!! And then immediately continue on to the below steps.

    How are things working now?
     
  3. misterbojangles

    misterbojangles Private E-2

    OK, step one file attached.

    I'm working through the step 2 instructions now from my laptop next to the infected machine.
     

    Attached Files:

  4. misterbojangles

    misterbojangles Private E-2

    Step 2 file attached here.
     

    Attached Files:

  5. misterbojangles

    misterbojangles Private E-2

    Seems to have sorted the obvious problems, and Task Manager is once again accessible. I'll go through the standard checks and poist any relevant logs if I am still worried.

    Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, again.
    If there were a way of making a donation as way of reward I'd do it now, but if hearty recommendations to use Majorgeeks are reward enough for you, then I'll carry on proclaiming the Majorgeeks.com message.
     
  6. misterbojangles

    misterbojangles Private E-2

    I spoke too soon. I am still unable to access Control Panel to go through the Add/Remove list. Apparently I do not have administrator rights any longer as there are restrictions on my computer!!!
    Worried!?!?:confused
     
  7. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    The previous procedure remove a bunch of problems, but perhaps you have others. Please follow our standard cleaning procedures which are necessary for us to provide you support. Also there are steps included for installing, renaming, running, and posting HijackThis logs as attachments.
    • 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 you still have a problem make sure you have booted to normal mode and run the steps in the below link to properly use HijackThis and attach a log:
    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 - 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 - from step 6
      • Panda Scan - from step 6
      • runkeys.txt - the log from GetRunKey.bat
      • newfiles.txt - the log from ShowNew.bat
      • HijackThis
    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!
     
  8. misterbojangles

    misterbojangles Private E-2

    Attached Files:

  9. misterbojangles

    misterbojangles Private E-2

    Sorry about the cocked up look to the last post with the image background matching the web page background!! :eek:

    Remaining logs attached.
     

    Attached Files:

  10. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    If you user FireFox, you should update now. You are using Mozilla Firefox (1.0.7)
    which is seriouly out of date. The current version is 2.0.6 which you can get here: Mozilla Firefox

    Uninstall the CounterSpy trial program since we are finished with it now.

    Run 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:

    O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ZoneAlarm Client] "C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe"
    O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_02\bin\jusched.exe"

    We highly recommend not putting anything in the Trusted Zone unless you cannot access the site without it and this is rarely necessary. Thus I recommend you also fix the below line.
    O15 - Trusted Zone: www.masshibsteria.com

    O20 - AppInit_DLLs: hardlife.ini

    NOTE: HJT may popup an error about the AppInit_DLLs line. Ignore it and click OK to continue.

    After clicking Fix, exit HJT.

    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 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
    Now run Ccleaner!

    Now attach the below new logs and tell me how the above steps went.

    1. Avenger
    2. GetRunKey
    3. ShowNew
    4. HJT


    Make sure you tell me how things are working now!

    Reminder Note: Once we have determined you are malware free you will need to disable System Restore, reboot, and re-enable system restore per step 8 of the READ & RUN ME. This only applies to if using WinXP or WinMe.
     
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2007
  11. misterbojangles

    misterbojangles Private E-2

    Woohoo!! Control Panel is back and accessible.:drool
    Thank you - fresh logs attached below and with next message.
     

    Attached Files:

  12. misterbojangles

    misterbojangles Private E-2

    HJT log
     

    Attached Files:

  13. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    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 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 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:
     
  14. misterbojangles

    misterbojangles Private E-2

    Thank you again. I've now completed the steps in the "How to Avoid Malware" guide. The £95 spent validating Windows was probably long overdue, and my previously invalid Windows XP has probably been the root of infections and problems.

    Windows Defender found 2 instances of Messenger Plus software bundlers on scans; one in a user desktop, and the other in a system restore even though system restore was toggled on and off previously.

    Hopefully not much else will go wrong, and I can continue using this old pc for years to come. I'll continue to spread the Majorgeeks message.
     
  15. chaslang

    chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

    You're welcome. Surf safely.


    Possibly because the desktop item found was the same item that got added to System Restore.
     

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