W32.Desktophijack

Have patience! We are very busy and it is a weekend. Also not many people helping here are around right now. Bumping does you more harm than good. You loose your place in the queue because your message moves up to more recent and we work from oldest to newest. Also the reply count to you message looks higher and we also look at unanswered threads first.

Please follow the steps below:

- 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 make sure you have booted to normal mode and run the steps below:

- 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).

 

Okay! I'm waiting on the HijackThis log. You need to make a new message now. You cannot edit messages after 5 minutes.

By the way wininet.dll is a valid Windows file. It does get infected however by SmitFraud and PSguard problems.

 

It's briefly covered in the HijackThis sticky thread: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=38752

See the 3rd paragraph.

 

Also run the below and post its log as an attachment.

Download smitRem.exe and save the file to your desktop.

Double click on the file to extract it to it's own folder on the desktop.

Reboot into safe mode.

Open the smitRem folder, then double click the RunThis.bat file to start the tool. Follow the prompts on screen. Wait for the tool to complete and disk cleanup to finish.

The tool will create a log named smitfiles.txt in the root of your drive, eg; Local Disk C: or partition where your operating system is installed. Please attach this log to your next reply.

 

You never ran ALL the steps in the READ ME FIRST sticky thread. I can tell the online scans were not run. Are there any other required steps you did not run?

 

You OS and IE versions are way out of date and represent a major security risk. After we fix your current problems, you must get updated.
You must use only one antivirus application, so choose which one you prefer (AVG or Symantec) and uninstall the other.

Look in Add/Remove programs for 3web and uninstall if found.

If you are using WinXP or WinMe, make sure you have system restore disabled (per the tutorial).
For all OS types, make sure viewing of hidden files is enabled (per the tutorial).

Please run HijackThis and click on the "Open the Misc Tools Section" button on the open page. Then select "Open process manager" on the left-hand side. Look for the following process (or processes) and one at a time kill them by selecting it and then click "Kill process". Then click yes.
C:\Program Files\3web\3web.exe

After killing all the above processes, click "Back".
Then please click "Scan" 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:
R3 - Default URLSearchHook is missing
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {25737338-BACA-CE63-1C42-46EC13E9103A} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {933E7167-F302-48C8-A4E9-19C4D4C15B3B} - C:\PROGRA~1\3web\AFE.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {AA58ED58-01DD-4d91-8333-CF10577473F7} - (no file)
O21 - SSODL: AOL Instant Messenger - {7C491604-11BE-B30B-9087-0562572E0C46} - (no file)

After clicking Fix, exit HJT.
Boot into safe mode and use Windows Explorer to delete:
C:\Program Files\3web <-- the whole folder

If you get an error when deleting a file. Right click on the file and check to see if the read only attribute is checked. If it is, uncheck it and try again. Other wise open Task Manager and kill the process if running then delete the file.

Now run Ccleaner (installed while running the READ ME FIRST). Now if running Win XP goto c:\windows\Prefetch and delete all files in this folder.
Now we need to Reset Web Settings:
1) If you have an Internet Explorer icon on your Desktop, goto step 2. If not, skip to step 3.
2) Now right click on your desktop Internet Explorer icon and select Properties. Then click the Programs tab and then click "Reset Web Settings". Now go back to the General tab and set your home page address to something useful like www.majorgeeks.com. Click Apply. Click Delete Cookies, Click Delete Files and select Delete all Offline content too, Click OK. When it finishes Click OK. Then skip step 3.
3) If you do not have an Internet Explorer icon on your Desktop, click Start, Control Panel (for some systems it may be Start, Settings, Control Panel), Internet Options, Programs tab and then click "Reset Web Settings". Now go back to the General tab and set your home page address to something useful like www.majorgeeks.com. Click Apply. Click Delete Cookies, Click Delete Files and select Delete all Offline content too, Click OK. When it finishes Click OK.

Fix Locked Desktop:
Also you should right click on your Desktop and select Properties. Then click the Desktop tab and then the Customize Desktop button. Now in the next window that comes up click the Web tab. Make sure at the bottom that Lock desktop items is unchecked. Then in the Web pages: box delete all items but My Current Home Page and make sure it is unchecked too. Then click OK. Apply. OK.


Now reboot in normal mode and post a new HJT log. And tell us how things are working.

 

I quote from the READ ME FIRST

Sorry about the 3Web item. It looked like malware due to the (no name). I guess that is your dialer to your ISP??

Just ignore the lines that related to 3Web and do the rest.

 

You're welcome! Everything you need to do is included in one of our stickies. Work thru the steps given:

How to Protect yourself from malware!


As for you game problems, I would suggest the Game Forum (or Software Forum). But you may want to uninstall it, reboot, and then reinstall to see if that helps.