Phony Windows Updates??? Say it ain't so

zapp · Jan 3, 2012

Friends
specs on this are Windows XP Home 2002 svc Pack 3 COA'd on a Dell D520 notebook. IE8 unfortunately

I do tech work and seldom am stumped but I confess; I am baffled and worried by this one. I have a client's notebook - one that, due to the user's personal traits, ends up infected at least once if not twice a year. So starting out 2012 with a bang.

on the surface, performance/behavior-wise, I have seen worse. But under the hood its bugging me. This had several toolbars loaded and some games, but in the logs MBAM has given most of the trouble appears to have entered via toolbars. After several scans/reboots, rechecks, etc, on what I thought was the final reboot - the coup de grace' for the malicious guys, it went into "installing windows updates.... 1 of 3". Windows Updates was/is turned OFF. On none of the previous reboots did such appear.

I there a malware floating about somewhere that re-animates itself via a fake Windows Update at reboot time? I have not heard of such.

One other item: Many of the adware/tracking/etc entries were due to something called "TotalRecipeSearch" which seems to have an alliance to "Mywebsearch" which is well-hated. Searching the web I find little in the geek forums about "Total", yet several trojans were in directories under this name, and the thing apparently morphs into several program entries, slightly modifying its name each time. It had an appearance in "Add/Remove", and the uninstall proved deceitful, so I have remaining folders with all the program elements intact. Revo is of no use. I'm wondering whether I need to delete all the elements and dig out of the registry all remnants I can find?

thx for your guidance.

Kestrel13! · Jan 3, 2012

Hi there, only way I can get a good "look" at what is going on is:

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

Pleases 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.

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Phony Windows Updates??? Say it ain't so

zapp Staff Sergeant

Kestrel13! Super Malware Fighter - Major Dilemma Staff Member

Log in or Sign up

Phony Windows Updates??? Say it ain't so

zapp Staff Sergeant

Kestrel13! Super Malware Fighter - Major Dilemma Staff Member

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