MS Word hijack?

rob22 · Mar 22, 2005

I'm a new Forum member but I've been reading through the Forum. A coworker recently reported her win98 system was in bad shape and called in a "computer guy." He reported the existence of browser hijackers and said he cleaned them from the registry. He also reported that "Microsoft Word was hijacked (a replaced DLL file) and the computer would only operate for a minute or so before locking up"
I'm wondering what that "Word hijacker" was about. Can anyone educate me?

Thanks

chaslang · Mar 22, 2005

I don't think I have every seen anything called a MS Word hijack. While it is possible for a piece of malware to corrupt the installation of MS Word by deleting of modifying a DLL, I would not call it a hijack. So I am not too sure what this "computer guy" was referring too. Did he fix the problems?

Was your coworker having any problems running Word?

rob22 · Mar 23, 2005

I had never heard of a Word hijacker either, that's why I asked. One of my work roles is to do some triage/troubleshooting. But my coworker never complained about trouble with Word, which is at the heart of the problem --they don't know symptoms and don't report any until it's too far gone. When I read about a Word problem, I thought it was a normal.dot issue. But I'll never know.
The last time I saw that pc in person, it was running okay. I send out weekly emails to staff about preventing problems but there are always those few who repeatedly disregard -- and it's funny, those are the ones who always have problems.

I have not heard any new complaints, so I'm assuming the pc is working now.

Here's another example: Complaints of sluggish performance and programs hanging up. To save time, I send a newly reformatted replacement desktop -- worked fine with 4 Office apps running (win98). Two weeks later, in the field, same complaint. What does THAT suggest?

chaslang · Mar 23, 2005

It could be some form of malware. Run our cleanup tutorial on one of the PCs when you are having problems. Here is the boiler plate we use:

To help us to best help you, please follow the steps below closely and in the order given and do not skip anything. If you have any difficulty, please post back letting us know what steps you have completed, what you found while doing the scans if anything along with details about any problems you may have encountered in completing the steps. The more details you can provide the better. Don't be afraid to ask for additional help if you don't understand something!

- Run ALL the steps in this Sticky thread READ ME FIRST BEFORE ASKING FOR SUPPORT: Basic Spyware, Trojan And Virus Removal 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:

- Download HijackThis 1.99.1

- Unzip the hijackthis.exe file to a folder you create named C:\Program Files\HJT

- Do NOT run Hijack This from the Desktop, a temp folder, or a sub-folder of C:\Documents and Settings, or choose to run it directly from the downloaded ZIP file.

- Before running HijackThis: You must close each of the following:your web browser, e-mail client, instant messenger, and programs like notepad, wordpad, MS Word etc. And any other unnecessary running programs.

- Run HijackThis and save your log file.

- Post your log as an ATTACHMENT to your next message. (Do NOT copy/paste the log into your post).

rob22 · Mar 23, 2005

I don't have access to the computer in question and it was already serviced by someone else.
I was just curious about the term used, "MS Word hijacker"

Thanks

chaslang · Mar 23, 2005

I was merely commenting on your last statement

Two weeks later, in the field, same complaint. What does THAT suggest?
Click to expand...

If it happens again, the procedure I gave is what would be followed.

rob22 · Mar 24, 2005

Yes, thank you. I've printed out all the instructions to have on hand if/when I need. I'm crossing fingers that they can hang on until we upgrade our hardware once the budget is approved---So I can set up a clean system with protection before they get their hands on it.

chaslang · Mar 24, 2005

Okay! Also add the steps in the below to your list of things to do:

How to Protect yourself from malware!

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MS Word hijack?

rob22 Private E-2

chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

rob22 Private E-2

chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

rob22 Private E-2

chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member

rob22 Private E-2

chaslang MajorGeeks Admin - Master Malware Expert Staff Member