about: blank- HELP!

bDawk20 · Sep 14, 2009

Hey, I'm new to this site. I've been researching for a few hours trying to get rid of about:blank. My CPU Usage isn't high and the only problem is that my homepage is initially about:blank until i open a new tab. its still a nuisance and i read its a security risk. I want it gone, but have no idea how to do it. I didn't want to download hijackthis and do it this way, but ive tried everything else i could find and nothing has worked so i caved and downloaded and ran it. This is what i got:

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 3:55:01 AM, on 9/10/2009
Platform: Windows Vista SP1 (WinNT 6.00.1905)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v7.00 (7.00.6001.18294)
Boot mode: Normal

Edit by chaslang: Inline HJT log removed. READ & RUN ME FIRST. Malware Removal Guide sticky not followed.

Also, I went into regedt32 and went to HKEY_COCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Wubdows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows and then ewnt into AppInit_DLLs and the value was:

C:\PROGRA~1\Google\GOOGLE~2\GOEC62~1.DLL

i looked up the location of this file everywhere on my computer and it was not to be found. i renamed the data badfile.dll (again I am not sure if this does or did anything this is the first time I've ever used the registry editor and i think i read somewhere to rename it though i may have done so incorrectly)

Also, i deleted googletoolbar because i read that may also be a problem. Also tried uninstalling Internet Explorer 8 but could not.

Any help is greatly appreciated! (also i apologize in advance because i had various windows and internet windows opened when i ran the hijackthis and i just read that can make it longer and harder to read) Thanks in advance!

chaslang · Sep 14, 2009

Welcome to Major Geeks!

You don't have an about blank hijack. You have set your start pages that way yourself. I saw the below in your log (which is now deleted).

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = toolbar:newtab

Reset your start pages yourself also Reset Web Settings from the Tools menu of Internet Explorer.

You need to disable Spybot's Teatimer since you should not use it with McAfee and also it will block you from making changes to your home page.

Also you need to uninstall the Adware_ProMFCT malware.

If you continue to have problems, you will need to run our malware cleaning steps given below.

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

Please 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:

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:

Starting your computer in Safe mode

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.

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 other 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.

To avoid additional delay in getting a response, it is strongly advised that after completing the READ & RUN ME you also read this sticky:

Don't Bump! It Only Hurts You!!!

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.

Log in or Sign up

about: blank- HELP!

bDawk20 Private E-2

chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member