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Virus Attack On My IE

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Surfboard

Squeeker

Joined: Aug 18, 2004
Posts: 13

Status: Offline

Posted: Dec 21, 2004 - 08:28 PM
Post subject: Virus Attack On My IE

My Internet Explorer homepages has been changed to a different Web site other than the one I selected.
It keep locking into :http://www.microsoft.com/isapi/redir.dll?prd=ie&pver=6&ar=msnhome

I had this virus attack and my norton only quarantine it and does seem to block.

Can anyone provide an solution?

Merry Xmas !

Edgewood
FooSlinger

Joined: Jan 28, 2004
Posts: 3906
Location: Colonial Shanghai

Posted: Dec 21, 2004 - 09:16 PM

Depending on the virus name... I think this has been answered in a question by Carol. God knows she had enough problems, I think we answered every IT question known to man...

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Conlige suspectos semper habitos

bravojohnny

Raver

Joined: July 08, 2004
Posts: 497

Status: Offline

Posted: Dec 22, 2004 - 08:43 AM

well the dangerous method is to look it up in the registry manually and trace all the seperate files and remove from there

Surfboard

Squeeker

Joined: Aug 18, 2004
Posts: 13

Status: Offline

Posted: Dec 22, 2004 - 08:46 AM

Hey Edgewood wish for a life for this coming christmas.
As for me, I wish for someone who would give me a more proper answer to my frastration.
If I could find a solution in this forum, I will not be posting a duplicate subject.
Well blame me for not being human, I am in Shanghai !

emilytt

Reacher

Joined: May 06, 2004
Posts: 279
Location: xiangyang lu
Status: Offline

Posted: Dec 22, 2004 - 09:07 AM

hi surfboard, i am not so sure about the problem u were describing.. it doesn't seem like a virus attack since the link you were redirected to is IE's default homepage.. but can understand u don't want that as the default homepage.. have u tried to change the homepage from IE -> Tools -> Internet Options?

I don't think the virus that Norton found has anything to do with your IE's homepage. If Norton has quarantined it then your computer is safe from it...

Ozwiz

Newbie

Joined: Sep 30, 2004
Posts: 3

Status: Offline

Posted: Dec 22, 2004 - 09:45 AM

The best possible thing you can do is to NOT use IE. Internet Exploder is an insecure, buggy pile of cr*p! Try firefox, the latest and greatest from Mozilla. It's at http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

It is far more secure, and has great features - including tabbed windows which makes the browsing experience sooooo much better.

Disclaimer - I am not associated with Firefox in any way - I'm just a fan of a great free product!

Surfboard

Squeeker

Joined: Aug 18, 2004
Posts: 13

Status: Offline

Posted: Dec 22, 2004 - 10:13 PM

Gentleman and ladies, thanking you for providing me some suggestion. Well the thing is that this bugs get register in my IE even when I changed the setting through Tools- Internet Option, etc. It was placed as default by the word/file Blank. I went through the register could not locate such file. Well the bigger problem is that my notebooks belong my company, and being in an american firm and with all this company ethic/policy/ SOX, it kind of make me uncomfortable. Anyway I had the attack while surfing for information and not otherelse.

But a great reward is atleast you guy offer me some advise and not some open ended answer.

Cheer to your health and a prosperous new year.

emilytt

Reacher

Joined: May 06, 2004
Posts: 279
Location: xiangyang lu
Status: Offline

Posted: Dec 22, 2004 - 11:27 PM

ok.. if u have changed the tools - internet options and still not working.. then u have to change ther registry. go to "Run", from there type "regedit" and hit the OK button. the registry form will come out then.. go to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
---> SOFTWARE
---> MICROSOFT
---> Internet Explorer
---> Main

There u can see "Default_Page_URL".. u can modify the value from there by right clicking..

This seems more like a spyware.. you can download AVG for free and run a full scan then.. personally I think AVG finds out more virus/spyware than Norton does..

good luck!

carrol

PopStar

Joined: Oct 11, 2004
Posts: 1122
Location: East of Eden
Status: Offline

Posted: Dec 27, 2004 - 12:06 PM

Hey Edgewood, thanks for the laugh! You're right, I needed a heap of support when I first got here. Luckily most of the 'nonsense' has been sorted out .. but I have yet to get rid of the trojan Purityscan, which sits in my Application Data Restore and cannot be moved! Any ideas? Laughing

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Carrol

lawdude

Moderator

Joined: Sep 20, 2002
Posts: 687
Location: No longer in Shanghai, PRC
Status: Offline

Posted: Dec 27, 2004 - 12:21 PM

Surfboard (and carrol, this should work for you, too):

If you're able to install new software on your company's machine, try this: go to http://security.kolla.de/ and download "Spybot Search & Destroy." This piece of software searches your system for around 21,000 types of trojans, adware and spyware (some of these reset your homepage or redirect you when you go to a search engine).

I'm a big fan of Spybot S&D. I've used it for a few years now and never had a problem with it--and it's been completely effective and uses very little resources. You can (and I'd recommend) set it to "immunize" your PC so that no new malware can be installed--it will show you a pop-up window when an attempt is made and block it.

Good luck.

sinned69

SuperStar

Joined: Sep 01, 2004
Posts: 1511
Location: China, Middle East, Asia Pacific
Status: Offline

Posted: Dec 27, 2004 - 12:28 PM

i've answered this type of question before so you if you can be bothered then search thru the forums you might find what i had written previously as i had pasted in all the weblinks in my previous reply.

anyway try these programs; "spybot" "ad-aware" "Bazooka Scanner" and "spyware blaster" these can help remove and avoid getting these type of hijackers. Also look at changing from IE to MyIE2 or Mozilla Firefox.

If you are seriously wanting these programs or even others then look at these 2 sites where you can download many of the programs i have mentioned here.
www.download.com or www.tucows.com once you are these sites just type in the programs ive mentioned, and download them or better still visit the programmers homepage to make sure you are downloading the latest edition.

in relation to changing the registry, do this only if you know what you are doing... and backup the registry just in case... Very Happy

_________________
qing nin shao deng

carrol

PopStar

Joined: Oct 11, 2004
Posts: 1122
Location: East of Eden
Status: Offline

Posted: Dec 27, 2004 - 02:36 PM

Neither Spybot nor Ad-aware nor spyware blaster has been able to sort out my problem ... but thanks for the advice ..

_________________
Carrol

lawdude

Moderator

Joined: Sep 20, 2002
Posts: 687
Location: No longer in Shanghai, PRC
Status: Offline

Posted: Dec 27, 2004 - 04:42 PM

carrol,

It looks like you know which trojan you need to get rid of. I'd try Googling it and see if you get a hit on some cleaner that can get rid of it. Are you running anitvirus software? I use Trend Micro PC-Cillin, and it blocks trojans, adware and viruses from installing in real time. They have a free limited-time eval copy you can download from their site and a few other places.

carrol

PopStar

Joined: Oct 11, 2004
Posts: 1122
Location: East of Eden
Status: Offline

Posted: Dec 27, 2004 - 05:09 PM

Thanks, Dude. This is a really weird one, I tell you. I've searched, and tried so many things, it just aint true! It comes up on AVG as : Trojan horse downloader.Purityscan.L and it says it's in Application Data \ rst?.exe - BUT try to locate it, hah! I don't know what to make of it, honest. When I tell AVG to move it to the virus vault, it says it cannot be moved. Have tried search engines, a different thing called purityscan comes up, not as a trojan horse. Have tried using that tool to delete, does not help either.

_________________
Carrol

Rio
Post Boaster

Joined: Dec 04, 2004
Posts: 4724

Posted: Dec 28, 2004 - 11:14 AM

For all the people, get rid of Norton and use Kaspersky. The best imo Smile

AVG is alright, but not as good as Kaspersky. They can delete it in a second.

SLV

Talker

Joined: Nov 11, 2004
Posts: 90

Status: Offline

Posted: Dec 28, 2004 - 12:09 PM

i agree with rio about KAV, it's pretty damn good. But for most people, Any Updated Virus Scanner will do, it's running wihtout one that gets them into trouble.

carrol, purityscan is a known pain in the ass, it's a fake program essentially that claims it will protect your children from bad netware and then installs some bad netware. Wink

If you are uninterested in professional help with your problem, I'd advise the very best thing any user can learn to do (and I know you don't want to hear this) -- reinstall windows. unless you are interested in becoming a professional, whenever you have a problem that is going to take you twelve hours to sort out, reinstall windows. it will take about four hours, and will make your pc run considerably faster for awhile, and save you lots of grey hairs.

to surfboard: it sounds for all the world like your pc is behaving normally. the default homepage is about:blank, that is usually fine. the problem you are encountering, maybe, is that if you set it to another page, you are getting the unable to find the page error, either because you are not connected to the internet, or because there is a problem connecting to your ISP's dns server (the computer that helps you find other computers on the web). POSSIBLY, if you have ruled these probelms out, you could also consistently receive this type of error because you have experienced a browser hijack. one of the more infamous ones that gives a similar error to yours is called 'LSP'. More information can be found at the following page: http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm -- if you are unable to access this page or to download the fix program, I can post it here. However, although the version of this fix program that i have is rather harmless, I will not be responsible for any damage done to your computer, Wink

and I recommend that you use any fix like this only as a last resort. PC problems should generally be resolved by your company's IT department, or if this is not a possibility, by a professional.

I just hope both of you do not waste a lot of time and energy figuring out how to resolve these issues, unless you really want to learn as I have, by lots and lots of trial and error. Wink

if you do, kudos to you, but i advise you buy a second pc, for the explicit purpose of using the web to research problems when your main pc is down. :nod: