VERY OT: Nobody else can/will help.....

  • Thread starter Thread starter Shashay Doofray
  • Start date Start date
S

Shashay Doofray

Sorry to bring this to the ACF table, but I can't seem to get anywhere with
it.

A while back I managed to catch the CoolWeb virus which is one nasty bugger,
let me tell you!

Anyway, I downloaded the CoolWeb Shredder program which, supposedly gets rid
of the damn thing, but I don't think it worked on me.

I cannot use Internet Explorer. Yes, I know there are other alternatives
out there (Mozilla Firebird for one). And I have been using a program
called "Crazy Browser" which is ok, but there is an issue with IE Favorites.

I would really like to use IE again, if for no other reason than to access
my favorites (bank accounts, etc.,) I have gone to Microsoft and downloaded
the IE Service Pack executable file that "updates" your IE based upon what
you have and don't have. However, this didn't fix the problem.

Any of you wonderful guys out there have any ideas how I can fix this? Is
there a freeware program that will completely uninstall IE and then I can
re-install it through the MS dl site and hopefully do the trick?

I really am at wits end or I wouldn't bother you all with this. I tried
posting on the microsoft.public.windows, etc., etc., ng, but nobody answered
my post.

TIA guys,

SD
 
I am running a current version of Norton Antivirus which apparently did not
catch CoolWeb.

However you are right that it was my own stupid fault that I got it because
I had downloaded a "questionable" file from Kazaa that was infected.

SD
 
Screw it.

I just downloaded Mozilla 1.6 and it seems to be just as good or better -
plus it automatically imported all my IE bookmarks.

Microsoft. Who needs 'em?

By the way, thank you all for your responses. I knew I could count on my
buds here at ACF.

SD
 
Sorry to bring this to the ACF table, but I can't seem to get anywhere
with it.

A while back I managed to catch the CoolWeb virus which is one nasty
bugger, let me tell you!

Anyway, I downloaded the CoolWeb Shredder program which, supposedly
gets rid of the damn thing, but I don't think it worked on me.

I cannot use Internet Explorer. Yes, I know there are other
alternatives out there (Mozilla Firebird for one). And I have been
using a program called "Crazy Browser" which is ok, but there is an
issue with IE Favorites.

I would really like to use IE again, if for no other reason than to
access my favorites (bank accounts, etc.,) I have gone to Microsoft
and downloaded the IE Service Pack executable file that "updates" your
IE based upon what you have and don't have. However, this didn't fix
the problem.

Any of you wonderful guys out there have any ideas how I can fix this?
Is there a freeware program that will completely uninstall IE and
then I can re-install it through the MS dl site and hopefully do the
trick?

I really am at wits end or I wouldn't bother you all with this. I
tried posting on the microsoft.public.windows, etc., etc., ng, but
nobody answered my post.

TIA guys,

SD
Click to expand...

To be very honest, this is not the place for your question.

You should be asking it in the virus and security groups.

IEradicator is available in several places, and is not going to solve your
problem. You have to get rid of the virus first.

Do you have virus software? A firewall? Ad and Spy eradicating software?

The reason you got a virus in the first place is because you are not
security concious.

It's very easy to export IE favorites. Just open Files and you'll see it.

Go to www.symantec.com and look up your virus.

Sorry, but people should really learn what they are doing before they jump
into something. This applies to anything, even surfing the web. You
wouldn't try to surf without waxing your board now, would you?
 
Hi Shashay - Well and truely OT, but hyst this once. . . First run
CWShredder again but re-download it. New variants show up every day and
CWShredder is updated almost daily. You just may have used a copy that
didn't have your particular variant in yet. Here's a "standard" post about
this problem:


Sounds like this might be a variant of some malware called CoolWebSearch. Do
the following:

Download and run: http://www.merijn.org/files/cwshredder.zip to remove the
parasite. Be sure to close all instances of IE and OE. Always download a
fresh copy, as this is UPDATED almost daily.

Then download and run:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/iegentabs.reg to restore your
tabs and remove any restrictions that the parasite has put in place.

Be sure that you also download and install hotfix Q816093, here:

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=816093#appliesto

which blocks the exploit upon which this parasite family depends.

However, this also indicates that you may have acquired some other malware
along the way. If you go to this page at Jim Eshelman's site, here:
http://aumha.org/a/noads.htm and wait a little bit (be patient), an analysis
of a number of possible parasites on your machine will be made to help you
identify and remove them. NOTE: You will need to disable Ad Blocking in Zone
Alarm 3.x, if present or any other Ad Blocking software which interferes
with Java Scripting for this scan to work. You should get a message between
the two lines of **** giving the results of the scan.

Get Ad-Aware 6.0, Build 181 or later, here:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/. UPDATE and run this regularly
to get rid of most "spyware/hijackware" on your machine. If it has to fix
things, be sure to re-boot and rerun AdAware again and repeat this cycle
until you get a clean scan. The reason is that it may have to remove
things which are currently "in use" before it can then clean up others.

Another excellent program for this purpose is SpyBot Search and Destroy
available here: http://security.kolla.de/ SpyBot Support Forum here:
http://www.net-integration.net/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi. I recommend
using both normally. After UPDATING and fixing things with SpyBot S&D, be
sure to re-boot and rerun SpyBot again and repeat this cycle until you get a
clean "no red" scan. The reason is that SpyBot sometimes has to remove
things which are currently "in use" before it can then clean up others.

Note that sometimes you need to make a judgement call about what these
programs report as spyware. See here, for example:
http://www.imilly.com/alexa.htm



If they don't fix it then start here:

Download HijackThis, free, here:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/hijackthis.zip (Always download a
new fresh copy of HijackThis [and CWShredder also] - It's UPDATED
frequently.)

Unzip it to any convenient folder, start it then press Scan. Click on
SaveLog when it's finished which will create hijackthis.log. Now click the
Config button, then Misc Tools and click on Generate StartupList.log which
will create Startuplist.txt

Then go to one of the following forums:

Spyware and Hijackware Removal Support, here:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/index.php?s=8a236cdf61469fbad3bddbe810be0374&act=SF&f=11

or Net-Integration here:
http://www.net-integration.net/cgi-...86d536d57b5f65b6e40c55365e;act=ST;f=27;t=6949

or Tom Coyote here:
http://tomcoyote.org/forums/index.php?act=ST&f=10&t=495&s=2c6e92805e310b519b9fa61cc7098fba

Sign in, then copy and paste both files into a message asking for
assistance, Someone will answer with detailed instructions for the removal
of your parasite(s).




Once you get this cleaned up, you might want to consider installing the
SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard here to help prevent this kind of thing from
happening in the future:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/spywareblaster.html (Prevents malware Active
X installs) (BTW, SpyWare Blaster is not memory resident ... no CPU or
memory load - but keep it UPDATED) The latest version as of this writing
will prevent installation or prevent the malware from running if it is
already installed, and it provides information and fixit-links for a variety
of parasites.

http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareguard.html (Monitors for attempts to
install malware) Keep it UPDATED. Both Very Highly Recommended


--
Please respond in the same thread.
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP



In
 
Sorry to bring this to the ACF table, but I can't seem to get anywhere
with it.

A while back I managed to catch the CoolWeb virus which is one nasty
bugger, let me tell you!

Anyway, I downloaded the CoolWeb Shredder program which, supposedly
gets rid of the damn thing, but I don't think it worked on me.

I cannot use Internet Explorer. Yes, I know there are other
alternatives out there (Mozilla Firebird for one). And I have been
using a program called "Crazy Browser" which is ok, but there is an
issue with IE Favorites.

I would really like to use IE again, if for no other reason than to
access my favorites (bank accounts, etc.,) I have gone to Microsoft
and downloaded the IE Service Pack executable file that "updates" your
IE based upon what you have and don't have. However, this didn't fix
the problem.

Any of you wonderful guys out there have any ideas how I can fix this?
Is there a freeware program that will completely uninstall IE and
then I can re-install it through the MS dl site and hopefully do the
trick?

I really am at wits end or I wouldn't bother you all with this. I
tried posting on the microsoft.public.windows, etc., etc., ng, but
nobody answered my post.

TIA guys,

SD
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about your frustrating problems. If you want some EXCELLENT
assistance you can always try the alt.privacy.spyware newsgroup. They are
the BEST! They deal with this kind of thing all the time.

Now, on a FREEWARE and On-Topic Note, Mozilla Firebird is almost identical
to Internet Explorer, but even Better. It can even use the Google Toolbar,
and put your IE Favourites on a sidebar WITHOUT even the need to import
them. Highly Recommended.

But IE Eradicator is also freeware and might get rid of IE so as to allow a
reinstall of it that works for you. If not, you could always run Windows
Setup again to put things right (no need to format first and you won't
lose any settings) and then update IE after.

But if you want more specific info, go to alt.privacy.spyware. We answer
questions there. :)
 
Andreas said:
Sorry to hear about your frustrating problems. If you want some EXCELLENT
assistance you can always try the alt.privacy.spyware newsgroup. They are
the BEST! They deal with this kind of thing all the time.

Now, on a FREEWARE and On-Topic Note, Mozilla Firebird is almost identical
to Internet Explorer, but even Better. It can even use the Google Toolbar,
and put your IE Favourites on a sidebar WITHOUT even the need to import
them. Highly Recommended.

But IE Eradicator is also freeware and might get rid of IE so as to allow a
reinstall of it that works for you. If not, you could always run Windows
Setup again to put things right (no need to format first and you won't
lose any settings) and then update IE after.

But if you want more specific info, go to alt.privacy.spyware. We answer
questions there. :)
Click to expand...
Try stuff this dedicated site.

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

Don't rush. Read through it carefully. It works!

FWIW I think you'd be well advised, also, to move away from IE
completely. It's continually being targeted and its bugs speak for
themselves :-( Using Mozilla 1.6 and loving it.

/Scrubbs
 
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