[AT] Off topic, computer related.

Tue Mar 16 08:08:39 PDT 2010

These people seem quite competent -

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/cleanup

To get there you might have to register, that I don't know because I've 
been registered for years.  They have some pretty detailed things to do 
before posting a question which can be a real pain but with the 
information from those actions they seem to be able to find a solution.

David
NW NC

On 3/16/2010 8:11 AM, charliehill wrote:
> Guys at this point I don't know what to do.  I've apparently defeated the
> initial problem with "security essentials 2010" but still have a severe
> problem.  I first beat it back with Malware Bytes which I had from a similar
> problem last year.  Then the problem came back.  I downloaded the latest
> edition of Trend Micro House Call and beat it back again.  I thought it was
> gone.   Then it started immediately showing up again by redirecting any
> attempt I made to go to any website I found on a search engine.  To beat
> that I downloaded Firefox browser directly from a link supplied to me by
> e-mail by Mike Sloane.  At some point early in this whole process I
> dowloaded PCTools Spyware doctor.  It found a bunch of stuff but wouldn't
> remove it without my paying them $40.00.   I started doing searches with
> Firefox to find solutions and almost immediately Firefox began being
> redirected to bad sites.
>
> I went back and ran Malware Bytes again and it didn't find a thing but the
> problem was still there.  I could type in a search for a site, say
> microsoft, click on the link that I knew was a legit microsoft link and I
> would be redirected to a spam site that looked like a search engine.  It
> would immediately start to cascade to other sites.  I'm sure trying to take
> me back to the bug.  I went back and ran House Call again.  It didn't find
> anything but the problem was still there.  I would try to run an internet
> search for a solution and regardless of running the search on Firefox or IE
> I'd get re-directed.   I thought about Spyware Dr. which I had already
> downloaded but not paid for, so I put my credit card acct # at risk to pay
> them $40.  I ran the program and even though the other programs said I was
> clean it found 170 problems.  Most of them just tracking cookies and the
> like but 10 of them moderate to high risk trojans, bots and root kits.  I
> removed all of them.  Went back to try a web search again and immediately
> got a re-direct.  I managed to get into the Microsoft site and downloaded
> their newest Browser edition.  During that download Microsoft searched for
> threats and found none. As soon as I ran a search on that browser I got
> re-directed.  I went back to PC tools and instead of runing it's
> Intelliguard (recommended) search.  I ran the full search.  It took most of
> the night last night.  This morning I fixed the problems it found (by the
> way while Spyware Dr was running I unplugged the modem).  Then I plugged the
> modem back in and did a search on the brand new IE 8 browser and immediately
> got re-directed.
>
> That brings us up to now and represents probably 20 hours of working time
> over a 48 or so hour period.  I also ran Trend Micro's  RU boted and Root
> Kit dectection searches.  RU boted will tell me I've got a bot and tell me
> to search with Housecall but housecall doesn't find it.
> All of this time and for a long time in the past I've been running Zone
> Alarm full configured Pro version which is a firewall with virus and spyware
> protection.
>
> The only thing I can figure is this thing has wormed it's way into a
> legitimate program that Zone Alarm is allowing to access the internet but
> which one?
>
> I just ran Spyware Dr again while I was typing this.  This time it only
> found 5 tracking cookies.  Apparently all of them got on in the 2 or 3
> seconds it took me to shut down the most recent web search re-direct.
>
> My computer appears to be running fine right now as long as I don't try to
> do any sort of internet search.  I'm also wary of my favorites file.
> Something along the way ( I don't remember the specifics right now) led me
> to believe my favorites files were corrupted.  I've got litterally hundreds
> of favorites, probably thousands carefully sorted in files by subject.  It's
> my own personal information library for both work and personal stuff.  The
> thought of having to delete all of them is not pleasant and the task of
> manually copying each of them to paper so that they can be reloaded is
> daunting.
>
> I can't even do online searches to find a solution because when I do I get
> re-infected or at the least re-directed.
>
> If anyone has a clue about a problem with web search re-direction problems
> please let me know.  If you know of a site that deals with it please send me
> the link via e-mail in clickable form because I can't run a search for it.
>
> Thanks and beware.  There is one bad bug out there.  Either that or I'm
> being deliberately targeted which I'm now starting to consider as a real
> possibility.
>
> Charlie
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dan Folske"<dfolske at nccray.net>
> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group"<at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 7:34 PM
> Subject: Re: [AT] Off topic, computer related.
>
>
>    
>> My secretaries computer got hit with XP Internet Security a week ago.
>>
>> Windows XP Pro, MacAfee Antivirus, and IE 8
>>
>> A combination of Malwarebytes Anti-malware and ComboFix seemed to get it
>> off
>> but it was still locking up and running slow.
>> I was hoping to get by without wiping the hard drive so I sent it to our
>> tech department and guess what? They wiped it!
>>
>> They reloaded the University IT supported software but I spent all day
>> today
>> reinstalling purchased software and reloading backed up data.  Gave it
>> back
>> to the secretary this afternoon and MacAfee Scan on Demand picked up
>> another
>> virus within half an hour.
>>
>> It is still locking up once in a while so I may have a hardware issue as
>> well.
>>
>> I use IE 8, Chrome and Firefox on my machines because each one has some
>> sites or apps that they don't seem to work on while one of the others do.
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> AT mailing list
>> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> =======
>> Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found.
>> (Email Guard: 7.0.0.18, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.14560)
>> http://www.pctools.com/
>> =======
>>      
>
>
>
>
> =======
> Email scanned by PC Tools - No viruses or spyware found.
> (Email Guard: 7.0.0.18, Virus/Spyware Database: 6.14560)
> http://www.pctools.com/
> =======
> _______________________________________________
> AT mailing list
> http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at
>
>    