PLEASE HELP??? Error say WININET.DLL not found...pls read,TIA!!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter HAvok
  • Start date Start date
H

HAvok

Hi,thanks for taking the time to read. I can't get IE 6 to work on
Windows XP.(Nothing else except agent newsreader works for that
matter.)Whenever I try opening anything it says WININET.DLL was not
found. This happened after AVG antivirus found a trojan in that file
and removed it. Is this a needed file or something put there by a
virus to screw up my system? Can I find a way to get it back(system
restore not working either) and what folder should it go in???
Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!!
TIA,
DG
 
Thanks for the info Alan...I really appreciate it. Unfortunately I'm
not able to get on the internet.EVERY program I have that tries to
connect to the net(except my newsreader) doesn't work.
IE,outlook,outlook express,...even real player,Nero,System
Mechanic,ect. doesn't work because they try to connect(updates and
whatever) when they start. I don't understand how or why my newsreader
is working.) Therefore I can't get SFC or even a copy of the
file...not sure what to do.I've looked for other newsgroups that may
post files like that but have come up with nothing.
I'm open for suggestions...
Thanks again!
Dave
 
That's a signature of a smitRem infection.

Checking for/Help with Hijackware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=5878
http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal_and_Prevention:_Introduction
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/data/prevention.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/tshoot.html
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm
http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com/
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

When all else fails, HijackThis v1.99.1
(http://aumha.org/downloads/hijackthis.zip) is the preferred tool to use.
It will help you to both identify and remove any hijackware/spyware. **Post
your log to http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30,
http://castlecops.com/forum67.html,
http://forums.subratam.org/index.php?showforum=7, or other appropriate
forums for expert analysis, not here.**

If the procedures look too complex - and there is no shame in admitting this
isn't your cup of tea - take the machine to a local, reputable and
independent (i.e., not BigBoxStoreUSA) computer repair shop.
 
Yes, I see the problem in reading about SFC but you can use SFC
without connecting. You don't have to "get SFC". It is a part of XP.
Use the Help in XP to read about it.

....Alan
 
Hmmm...I figured out SFC...ran it,and it replaced a few files it said
were "new unrecognizable versions",but it didn't replace WININET...
Dave
 
Odd that SFC didn't replace it if it was missing.
Use the latest Wininet.dll you have elsewhere and put it in the system
folder.
A search for wininet.dll on my hard drive finds 13 copies.

....Alan
 
Hello All,

I came across this same problem this morning. AVG found wininet.dll to
be infected and removed it from the System32 directory. Other than
that, both pc checked out to be clean so I suspect that this was either
a false positive or there is some newer bug going around that no one
has picked up on yet.

To fix the issue I also attempted to copy wininet.dll from cd back into
the system32 directory but each time it appears that AVG picked it up
as infected again - perhaps that is why SFC didn't work. My solution
was to copy a Wininet.dll that was set as REad only to System32, and
voila, everything worked.

In the meantime I'll keep looking around for some more info on this
problem and I'll update you all if I find something.

Good Luck.

John Lykos.
 
That's what happened with mine also John,it kept reading it as a
virus.I searched my pc for another wininet.dll but it seems to have
deleted ALL of them.Maybe you could send a copy of your dll to this
group as an attachment and I could put it in system32 directory and
see if it works?
DaveG
 
Thanks for the link John,unfortunately I can't get to it.Since I'm
missing that file,anything I try to use for a web browser doesn't
work.I'm not sure why my newsreader is even working.Any program that
even tried to access the net for updates or whatever shuts down
immediately.
Dave
 
Everyone can guess how i reached here. My firefox seems to be working
by xyz's grace so I got the DLL. Lets see where it takes me.

-Abhay
 
It's most likely that OP has a smitFraud infection, Alan.

<QP>
Checking for/Help with Hijackware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=5878
http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal_and_Prevention:_Introduction
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/data/prevention.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/tshoot.html
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm
http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com/
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

When all else fails, HijackThis v1.99.1
(http://aumha.org/downloads/hijackthis.zip) is the preferred tool to use.
It will help you to both identify and remove any hijackware/spyware. **Post
your log to http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30,
http://castlecops.com/forum67.html,
http://forums.subratam.org/index.php?showforum=7, or other appropriate
forums for expert analysis, not here.**
</QP>
 
Hi All
I also had the same problem occur yesterday (9 Aug) immediately
following an AVG update. Hmmmm. Seeing as I do not use IE as a browser
and system is locked up tight, I smelt a rat. There are no symptoms of
SmitRem infection visible (I have removed it from some other people's
PCs).
Was unable to copy wininet.dll back from Windows CD, doing that gave
some BSOD "checksum" error and machine was U/S.
Thankfully I Ghost my machine regularly. Restored wininet.dll from May
backup, and Windows booted but everything except Firefox was broken, so
AVG, Spybot etc all not working after more reboot.
Resorted to resetting CMOS (turn off PC, pull power plug from wall, go
drink cup of coffee, come back plug in and boot, LOL) and voila no
errors on booting. AVG fired up and began telling me it found a virus
in wininet.dll again so I told it to IGNORE and I immediately did a
manual update check and there was a PRIORITY UPDATE with today's date
so I got it.
Everything working fine, and have scanned entire system with AVG, Panda
ActiveScan online, Spybot, AdAware they find no nasties. Am off to try
TrendMicro Housecall just in case.
It does appear to me that the 9-Aug-2006 update to AVG may have BEEN
BUGGY???
:-|
Luc
 
Although this will not help to fix the problem, I have finally
discovered in the AVG free forums that the 9-Aug update to AVG was
causing problems with false positives for wininet.dll being a virus, if
your system is running Windows XP original with no service packs (I'm
running partially patched SP1, but cannot run SP2 as it dislikes my
hardware).
See http://forum.grisoft.cz/freeforum/read.php?4,73778,73801#msg-73801
Cold comfort?
Luc
 
I had a feeling that it might have been AVG giving a false positive.
All of my client pc's that had this problem are absolutely clean of spy
ware and virus'. Again, my work around was to copy back wininet.dll
that has been set with a read only attribute.
 
Yup...I found it was AVG.Screwed up my machine pretty good,too. I had
to put in the original XP install disk and choose repair.It wound up
completely re-installing Windows. It just overwrote Xp,luckily I
didn't lose any prgrams or files.
Dave
 
Hope all goes well for you Dave. AVG is a pretty good product overall
but Its these kind of problems that can drive you to drink... but they
do force you to learn how to break down a problem otherwise you
eventually become an expert at reinstalling Windows.
 
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