Oh God Spyware :( lop.com, searchbar and crap

[Citrus]

IEXPLORE.EXE

It's not Microsoft Internet explorer. It's some other nasty bugger. It puts a really ****ty toolbar on IE and your desktop when you open Microsoft Internet explorer. When I use the Task Manager to close it, it comes back a split second later. (the toolbars don't return unless I reopen IE)

(yeah I know about Spybot and Ad-Aware; I tried the usual programs and it didn't help with this)

screenshots soon

Please help ;-;

This post has been edited by Citrusponge on Oct 29 2005, 05:23 AM

[Morshu McPhereson]

Go into safe mode, hunt down the program, and delete it.

[Citrus]

The problem is I dunno what I'm looking for. Well there's the IEXPLORE.EXE but I'm sure there's at least one other. And it might be changing its name or some ****

[Morshu McPhereson]

I'd run all of your virus scans and adware/spyware scans in safe mode.

[Citrus]

Hmmm... maybe I'll try that. Adaware won't be good cuz it wants me to go to their confusingly designed website to get the new version... Just got Spybot a few minutes ago and it seemed to be able to delete what it found in unsafe mode... I should get Spyware Blaster again. Damn family needs to stop using IE XC

[Morshu McPhereson]

You can also try this http://www.trendmicro.com/home/default.asp

Somewhere on the page there's a free online virus scan and a free online spyware scan.

[Mugenmidget]

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/

Run HijackThis in Safe Mode and just check all suspicious entries and clean them. If you want you can save a log file and post it here so we can help you discern what entries are spyware and which ones are not.

[Retriever II]

iexplore.exe IS Internet Explorer (and I don't see a second one in your list). explorer.exe is the Windows Desktop.

It's a Browser Helper Object that hooked itself in IE, and may also have another complementary process running in the background. HijackThis can remove the BHO, but I would go through the process list and do a google search on each item. Sites like lilutilis will usually come up on top and tell you if you've found a malware process.

[Yoshimaster]

I had that problem once. It was a pain in the ass, as it would minimize whatever program I was running (which sometimes happened to be a game that took up the whole screen) and slow everything down. And it definitely was iexplore. I checked many times.

[Citrus]

I did a HijackThis scan and got rid of a few things. The problem seems solved. But I did the same thing yesterday and it was back this morning :/

There's still some leftover crap I need to delete...

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\atom grid dent exit
I deleted this folder containing 2 files and it came back

A HijackThis scan for good luck:

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 11:24:17 AM, on 10/28/2005
Platform: Windows XP SP1 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\Program Files\Avast4\aswUpdSv.exe
C:\Program Files\Avast4\ashServ.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ZONELABS\vsmon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\pctspk.exe
C:\Program Files\Ahead\InCD\InCD.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\ntl\BROADB~1\SMARTB~1\MotiveSB.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\E_S4I0F2.EXE
C:\PROGRA~1\Avast4\ashDisp.exe
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_02\bin\jusched.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe
C:\Program Files\MessengerPlus! 3\MsgPlus.exe
C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\Min\My Documents\My Music\iTunesHelper.exe
C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\reader_sl.exe
C:\Program Files\Avast4\ashWebSv.exe
C:\Program Files\Avast4\ashMaiSv.exe
C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\NOTEPAD.EXE
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\wuauclt.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\Jay\My Documents\technical monkey\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.google.co.uk/
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchURL,(Default) = http://www.google.co.uk
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page_bak = http://www.google.co.uk/
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page = C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\blank.htm
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Window Title = Exploring
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHlprObj Class - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: Google Toolbar Helper - {AA58ED58-01DD-4d91-8333-CF10577473F7} - c:\program files\google\googletoolbar2.dll
O3 - Toolbar: MSN Toolbar - {BDAD1DAD-C946-4A17-ADC1-64B5B4FF55D0} - C:\Program Files\MSN Toolbar\01.01.2607.0\msgr.en-us.en-gb\msntb.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Google - {2318C2B1-4965-11d4-9B18-009027A5CD4F} - c:\program files\google\googletoolbar2.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SystemTray] SysTray.Exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [PCTVOICE] pctspk.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NeroCheck] C:\WINDOWS\system32\NeroCheck.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [InCD] C:\Program Files\Ahead\InCD\InCD.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Motive SmartBridge] C:\PROGRA~1\ntl\BROADB~1\SMARTB~1\MotiveSB.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [EPSON Stylus Photo R300 Series] C:\WINDOWS\System32\spool\DRIVERS\W32X86\3\E_S4I0F2.EXE /P30 "EPSON Stylus Photo R300 Series" /O5 "LPT1:" /M "Stylus Photo R300"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [avast!] C:\PROGRA~1\Avast4\ashDisp.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_02\bin\jusched.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TkBellExe] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe" -osboot
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MessengerPlus3] "C:\Program Files\MessengerPlus! 3\MsgPlus.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Zone Labs Client] C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [iTunesHelper] "C:\Documents and Settings\Min\My Documents\My Music\iTunesHelper.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - Global Startup: Adobe Reader Speed Launch.lnk = C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\reader_sl.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: &Google Search - res://c:\program files\google\GoogleToolbar3.dll/cmsearch.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: &Translate English Word - res://c:\program files\google\GoogleToolbar3.dll/cmwordtrans.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Backward Links - res://c:\program files\google\GoogleToolbar3.dll/cmbacklinks.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Cached Snapshot of Page - res://c:\program files\google\GoogleToolbar3.dll/cmcache.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Similar Pages - res://c:\program files\google\GoogleToolbar3.dll/cmsimilar.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Translate Page into English - res://c:\program files\google\GoogleToolbar3.dll/cmtrans.html
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_02\bin\npjpi150_02.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_02\bin\npjpi150_02.dll
O9 - Extra button: AIM - {AC9E2541-2814-11d5-BC6D-00B0D0A1DE45} - C:\Program Files\AIM\aim.exe
O9 - Extra button: Run IMVU - {d9288080-1baa-4bc4-9cf8-a92d743db949} - C:\Documents and Settings\Min\Start Menu\Programs\IMVU\Run IMVU.lnk
O9 - Extra button: Yahoo! Messenger - {E5D12C4E-7B4F-11D3-B5C9-0050045C3C96} - C:\PROGRA~1\YAHOO!\MESSEN~1\YPAGER.EXE
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Yahoo! Messenger - {E5D12C4E-7B4F-11D3-B5C9-0050045C3C96} - C:\PROGRA~1\YAHOO!\MESSEN~1\YPAGER.EXE
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\MSMSGS.EXE
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\MSMSGS.EXE
O16 - DPF: Yahoo! Chat - http://us.chat1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/cha...t/c381/chat.cab
O16 - DPF: Yahoo! Pool 2 - http://download.games.yahoo.com/games/clients/y/pote_x.cab
O16 - DPF: {00B71CFB-6864-4346-A978-C0A14556272C} (Checkers Class) - http://messenger.zone.msn.com/binary/msgrchkr.cab
O16 - DPF: {14B87622-7E19-4EA8-93B3-97215F77A6BC} (MessengerStatsClient Class) - http://messenger.zone.msn.com/binary/Messe...nt.cab31267.cab
O16 - DPF: {2917297F-F02B-4B9D-81DF-494B6333150B} (Minesweeper Flags Class) - http://messenger.zone.msn.com/binary/MineS...er.cab28578.cab
O16 - DPF: {2B323CD9-50E3-11D3-9466-00A0C9700498} (Yahoo! Audio Conferencing) - http://us.chat1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/cha...v45/yacscom.cab
O16 - DPF: {4F1E5B1A-2A80-42CA-8532-2D05CB959537} (MSN Photo Upload Tool) - http://spaces.msn.com//PhotoUpload/MsnPUpld.cab
O16 - DPF: {8E0D4DE5-3180-4024-A327-4DFAD1796A8D} (MessengerStatsClient Class) - http://messenger.zone.msn.com/binary/Messe...StatsClient.cab
O16 - DPF: {B38870E4-7ECB-40DA-8C6A-595F0A5519FF} (MsnMessengerSetupDownloadControl Class) - http://messenger.msn.com/download/MsnMesse...pDownloader.cab
O16 - DPF: {B8BE5E93-A60C-4D26-A2DC-220313175592} (ZoneIntro Class) - http://messenger.zone.msn.com/binary/ZIntro.cab32846.cab
O16 - DPF: {EB6D7E70-AAA9-40D9-BA05-F214089F2275} (Vitalize Class) - http://www.clickteam.com/vitalize3/vitalize.cab
O18 - Protocol: msnim - {828030A1-22C1-4009-854F-8E305202313F} - "C:\PROGRA~1\MSNMES~1\msgrapp.dll" (file missing)
O19 - User stylesheet: (file missing)
O21 - SSODL: System - {2E007C64-284F-4E39-A73F-BBDDF255F50D} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\system32.dll
O23 - Service: avast! iAVS4 Control Service (aswUpdSv) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Avast4\aswUpdSv.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Antivirus - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Avast4\ashServ.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Mail Scanner - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Avast4\ashMaiSv.exe" /service (file missing)
O23 - Service: avast! Web Scanner - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Avast4\ashWebSv.exe" /service (file missing)
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\11\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: iPodService - Apple Computer, Inc. - C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
O23 - Service: TrueVector Internet Monitor (vsmon) - Zone Labs, LLC - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ZONELABS\vsmon.exe

[Citrus]

Oh **** and bugger; it's back

Hmm. I guess I fixed it again. Maybe.

This post has been edited by Citrusponge on Oct 29 2005, 06:05 AM