Start Bar and Desktop Icons Disappearing

Discussion in 'Malware Help (A Specialist Will Reply)' started by AC Only, May 21, 2008.

  1. AC Only

    AC Only Private E-2

    Hello.

    My start bar and desktop icons disappear from time to time and I usually have to Ctrl-Alt-Del, click New Task and enter explorer.exe and it reapears again, only to have to have it disappear moments later. Is there any fix to this, because from what I've been reading on the web, it's malware. I ran spybot and came up with some stuff. Here is my Hijack this log. I hope you guys could help.
    :cry
     

    Attached Files:

  2. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Welcome to Major Geeks!

    Please uninstall HJT as it will be properly installed when you do the following:

    Please follow the instructions in the below link and attach the requested logs when you finish these instructions.

    READ & RUN ME FIRST. Malware Removal Guide
     
  3. AC Only

    AC Only Private E-2

    Ok, well, after many hours of doing all that, I'm finally done. Now, I haven't done system restore yet, because I'm not sure it's gone. I have to wait and see. If it doesn't work, I'll make sure to post all my logs and hope you guys can help.

    If this does work, does system restore loose all my files?
    :confused

    Here's hoping this works! *crosses fingers*
     
  4. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    You are not supposed to do system restore flushing until we/you are sure that your system is clean.....and without looking at the logs that we request you to attach, I cannot say whether it is or isn't.
     
  5. AC Only

    AC Only Private E-2

    Ok, well glad I haven't done it yet. Here are the logs.
     

    Attached Files:

  6. AC Only

    AC Only Private E-2

    I hope its gone!
    :major
     

    Attached Files:

  7. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Good...now lets do this:

    Please disable all anti-virus and anti-spyware programs while we do the following (re-enable when you are finished):

    Run C:\MGtools\analyse.exe by double clicking on it. This is really 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:
    After clicking Fix, exit HJT.

    Now 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 Swandog469, 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.
    * Do not change any check box options!!
    * Copy everything in the Quote box below, and paste it into the Input script here: part of the window:


    * Now click the Execute button.
    * Click Yes to the prompt to confirm you want to execute.
    * Click Yes to the Reboot now? question that will appear when Avenger finishes running.
    * Your PC should reboot, if not, reboot it yourself.
    * A log file from Avenger will be produced at C:\avenger.txt and it will popup for you to view when you login after reboot.

    Also delete all files in the below folders except ones from the current date (Windows will not let you delete the files from the current day).
    C:\WINDOWS\Temp
    C:\Documents and Settings\%username%\Local Settings\Temp

    Now run the C:\MGtools\GetLogs.bat file by double clicking on it. Then attach the new C:\MGlogs.zip file that will be created by running this and also attach the log from Avenger.
     
  8. AC Only

    AC Only Private E-2

    Here are my new logs, hopefully everything is well.
     

    Attached Files:

  9. TimW

    TimW MajorGeeks Administrator - Jedi Malware Expert Staff Member

    Sweet....one last thing:

    Please download ATF Cleaner by Atribune. This program does not require an installation. The executable actually runs the program.

    NOTE: This program is for Windows XP and Windows 2000 only. ATF Cleaner will remove all files from the items that are checked so if you have some cookies you'd like to save. Please move them to a different directory first.

    * Double-click ATF-Cleaner.exe to run the program.
    * Under Main choose: Select All
    * Click the Empty Selected button.

    If you use Firefox browser

    * Click Firefox at the top and choose: Select All
    * Click the Empty Selected button.
    o NOTE: If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.

    If you use Opera browser

    * Click Opera at the top and choose: Select All
    * Click the Empty Selected button.
    o NOTE: If you would like to keep your saved passwords, please click No at the prompt.

    Click Exit on the Main ATF Cleaner menu to close the program.

    If you are not having any other malware problems, it is time to do our final steps:

    1 If we had you use ComboFix, uninstall ComboFix (This uninstall will only work as written if you installed ComboFix on your Desktop & renamed it like we requested.)

    * Click START then RUN and enter the below into the run box and then click OK. Note the quotes are required
    * "%userprofile%\Desktop\cf" /u
    o Notes: The space between the cf" and the /u, it must be there.
    o This will uninstall ComboFix and also reset hidden files and folders settings back to Windows defaults.
    * Delete the C:\cf folder from combofix.
    2 *If we used SmitFraudFix, you can delete all files and folders related to it now including the c:\rapport.txt log.
    3 *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.
    4. If we had you download any registry patches like fixme.reg or fixWLK.reg (or any others), you can delete these files now.
    5. You can delete the C:\MGtools folder and the C:\MGtools.exe file. You can also delete the C:\MGlogs.zip
    6. If you are running Windows XP or Windows ME, do the below:
    * Refer to the cleaning steps in the READ ME for your Window version and see the steps to Disable System Restore which will flush your Restore Points.
    * Then reboot and Enable System Restore to create a new clean Restore Point.
    7. After doing the above, you should work thru the below link:
    How to Protect yourself from malware!
     

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