You might want to copy and paste these instructions into a notepad file. Then you can have the file open in safe mode, so you can follow the instructions easier.


Boot into safe mode. See how HERE. http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/tutorial61.html

Turn off system restore.(XP/ME only) See how HERE. http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/tutorial56.html

In Windows Explorer, turn on "Show all files and folders, including hidden and system". See how HERE. http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/tutorial62.html

Open your task manager, by holding down the ctrl and alt keys and pressing the delete key.

Click on the processes tab and end process for(if there).

253d6b4e.exe

Close task manager.

Run HJT with no other programmes open(except notepad). Have HJT fix the following, by placing a tick in the little box next to(if there).

O2 - BHO: (no name) - {CA67A79B-3C59-4311-B37F-69053A382B8D} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\gebyw.dll (file missing)

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [253d6b4e.exe] C:\Documents and Settings\EndUser\Local Settings\Application Data\253d6b4e.exe

Click on the fix checked button.

Close HJT.

Locate and delete the following bold files and/or directories(if there).

C:\Documents and Settings\EndUser\Local Settings\Application Data\253d6b4e.exe

If the above file won`t delete, use killbox.

The above is the only nasty entry in your HJT log.

Reboot into normal mode and turn system restore back on.


Regards Howard

Sysprotection virus is gone!!!

Howard_hopkinso you are an absolute genius!!! You cured me of my nasty virus! Yesterday, I got the sysprotection virus which did the exact thing to my computer as piklemeup was experiencing. Thankfully I found this site on google, otherwise I'd be taking my laptop in for repairs. I downloaded all the programs exactly like you said with the exception that I had already downloaded Hijackthis from download.com before entering this site. I had also copied my Hijackthis log file into this site: www.hijackthis.de/ and within seconds received an analysis identifying the threats to my computer, which I was then able to have Hijackthis fix. But, I was still getting popups and sysprotection still had control over my homepage, but with following your instructions, I got rid of the problem completely. Thank you so much!! I've never posted in a computer website before, but I just had to tell you how much I appreciated this. Just have one question, do I leave all those virus protection programs on my computer (including ewido which I'll have to buy after the trial) and if I get another virus, I do I just follow the exact instructions again to remove it?

Deb

Once the trial of Ewido is finished, you can still use the programme. It`s just that you will lose one or two features that`s all. As for the rest of the programmes you downloaded, you can safely get rid of them.

Just keep hold of SS&D/Ad-Aware se/Spywareblaster/Ewido/ and your antivirus programme.

The http://www.hijackthis.de/ site is very good. However, it should only ever be used as a guide and nothing more. This is because the results are not 100% accurate.

I`m glad your system is now clean.

Thanks for letting us know.

Regards Howard

Post virus Checkup

I just got some kind of virus, i got the main part removed, and fixed the hijacked homepage, but I want to make sure it's all gone. Could somebody run through my hjt log and tell me if I still need anything cleaned up.

This is probably the wrong place to mention this, but I'm also having a problem with my CLI.exe, the error message is:
"The application failed to initalize properly (0xc0000135). Click on OK to terminate the application."

This started just after I did a reboot, while running the smitfraud fix.

Thanks
Piklemeup

I have merged your new thread into this one.

Your HJT log is clean.

The error message you`re getting is to do with your ATI software.

Reinstall the software, that should fix the problem.

If you have any further virus/spyware problems, please post in this thread.

Regards Howard

This thread is for the use of piklemeup only. Please don`t post your own virus/spyware problems in this thread. Instead, open a new thread in our security and the web forum.

Re-opening this for another of one of my problems. Could you just take a brief look at my HJT log and tell me what's wrong with it. AVG antivirus is telling me that I have a virus. The AVG antispyware is telling me that I have trackingcookie.paypal, trackingcookie.Com, and backdoor.hupigon.kg
I went through the virus removal thing, and did as many steps as possible.

I looked through the log, and as far as I could see, most of it looked legitimate, could you give me a second opinion.

Hi piklemeup, I can`t see anything nasty in your HJT log. However, we need to see the following logfiles.

Go and read the Viruses/Spyware/Malware, preliminary removal instructions. Follow all the instructions exactly.

Post fresh HJT, AVG Antispyware and Combofix logs as attachments into this thread, only after doing the above.

Also, let me know the results of the AVG Antirootkit scan.

Regards Howard

This thread is for the use of piklemeup only. Please don`t post your own virus/spyware problems in this thread. Instead, open a new thread in our security and the web forum.

AVG Rootkit was clean, but the AVG Antispyware had some problems with it. Here are my new logs.

Thanks for your help

Uninstall Messenger Plus! from add remove programmes in your control panel.

1. Please download The Avenger by Swandog46 from HERE. Save it to your Desktop and extract it.

2. Download the attached avengerscript.txt and save it to your desktop

Note: the above code was created specifically for this user. If you are not this user, do NOT follow these directions as they could damage the workings of your system.

3. Now, start The Avenger program by double clicking on its icon on your desktop.

Under "Script file to execute" choose "Load script from file".
Now click on the folder icon which will open a new window titled "open Script File"
navigate to the file you have just downloaded, click on it and press open
Now click on the Green Light to begin execution of the script
Answer "Yes" twice when prompted.

4. The Avenger will automatically do the following:

It will Restart your computer. ( In cases where the code to execute contains "Drivers to Unload", The Avenger will actually restart your system twice.)
On reboot, it will briefly open a black command window on your desktop, this is normal.
After the restart, it creates a log file that should open with the results of Avenger’s actions. This log file will be located at C:\avenger.txt
The Avenger will also have backed up all the files, etc., that you asked it to delete, and will have zipped them and moved the zip archives to C:\avenger\backup.zip.

5. Please attach the content of c:\avenger.txt into your reply, as well as fresh HJT and Combofix logs.

Let me know if you`re still having problems.

Regards Howard

This thread is for the use of piklemeup only. Please don`t post your own virus/spyware problems in this thread. Instead, open a new thread in our security and the web forum.

I need to run another AVG scan, but until I do, here are my logs.

I don`t need to see another AVG Antispyware log.

Your system looks clean now.

Have HJT fix this inactive entry.

O2 - BHO: (no name) - {7E853D72-626A-48EC-A868-BA8D5E23E045} - (no file)

Turn off system restore.(XP/ME only) See how HERE.

Now, turn system restore back on. This will have deleted all your old restore points and any nasties that are in them. It will also have created a new, clean restore point.

If you have any further virus/spyware problems, please post in this thread.

Regards Howard

This thread is for the use of piklemeup only. Please don`t post your own virus/spyware problems in this thread. Instead, open a new thread in our security and the web forum.

Haha, when I said AVG, I meant anti virus, not anti spyware, sorry for not clarifying. I did a scan, and it still picked up a few things.


(sorry about the picture size, the resized version was unreadable)

There's the picture of what it picked up. "ff dl" is short for firefox downloads, I dump my downloads in there. I deleted the file, but I'm not sure it's gone yet. I'll run another scan and report back.


*Edit*
Just finished the AVG anti-virus scan, and it's clean.

Another note on a related virus

Hello,

I worked on a machine on which AVG reported two infections:
-- both filenames were "tcpip.sys"
-- folders were windows\system32\drivers and windows\system32\dllcache
-- both viruses were "backdoor.hupigon.XTA"

This occurred on a well-updated Win-XP SP2 machine on 8/4/2007.

After AVG "healed" them, they were found again the next day, in System Restore folders.

After AVG "healed" those, there was no Internet connectivity. Windows Firewall could not be started, with the message "windows cannot start the windows firewall/internet connection sharing service".

The event log (Control panel / Admin Tools / Event Viewer) showed a missing file was causing errors. I searched disks for files named "tcpip.sys", based on a different post in TechSpot about the WinFW error message. A "tcpip.sys" was in the XP SP2 install materials, and, a file named "tcpip.sys.ORIGINAL" was in windows\system32\drivers, and, nothing was in windows\system32\dllcache . A scan showed the found files were uninfected. Using "FC" I found they were identical.

The Fix: After renaming "windows\system32\drivers\tcpip.sys.ORIGINAL" to "tcpip.sys", and rebooting, connectivity was restored and Windows Firewall started up.

Conjectures:
1) The technique that hupigon.XTA used to install itself caused Windows to keep the old version of "tcpip.sys" as the ".ORIGINAL" file
2) The technique that AVG used to "heal" the infection was to delete the file altogether.

HTH