Need help!

[Guest]

thalenoi said:

"Hijack this" is the best thing to do.

Create a system restore point before deleting stuff with Hijack this. you will need expert advice of what to delete though. I went tru this too...you can always set back your system, back to your hijacked home page....

You will not lose any data.

 

Creating a restore point is useless IMO all you have done is backed up a corrupted registry.

 

If the online scanner won't delete the hijacker (and it does 98% of the time) then deleting registry entries usually makes the system inoperatable anyway. While it is possible to 'repair' it most times, one is far better off to do a fresh OS install. The newwest hijackers not only hijack the browser page (that is why EVERYONE should have SpySweeper running in the background) they prevent updates for virus programs, change registry and start settings, and install trojans so they can reactivate later, as well as cloning themselves when you attempt to delete them. There favourite hiding spots are in the restore files, temp files and Winsys32 files where they clone legitimate file names.

 

So go ahead and backup you stuff now, but realize that anything other than archive files may be infected already and a certainly your restore files are.

 

I may not be an 'expert', but I do this for a living and clean 6-8 machines a week that have been hijacked.

 

Of course you could just stop using IE as advised but the US Dept of Homeland Security, and install Mozilla or Firefox. But that would put me out of business.

 

EDIT:

 

And one more thought, this is a great time to get rid of that abortion of an OS ME, probably the worst OS Microsoft ever put out. ::

[Guest]

Hi,

 

>>>>"Create a system restore point before deleting stuff with Hijack this."<<<<

 

'system restore" is not working well either, for me, and the crux of the problem. I can't come up with a valid 'restore point'. ::

 

I think my system is so corrupted, that maybe best to just

start from scratch. ::

 

HT

[thalenoi]

>Creating a restore point is useless IMO all you have done is backed up a corrupted registry.

 

You can tamper with the registry until you get rid of the culprit. It took me a few shots and restores of the registry.

Therefore it was not useless.

 

BTW, the new yahoo messenger install screwed up my registry. Just reloaded restore point and all was fine.

 

A fresh OS install? When you have installed/downloaded 123 programs? latest resort.

 

LH, you clean 6 to 8 machines a week?

what's your method if you don't use Hijack this?

 

And yes, run Webroot Spysweeper.

[Guest]

thalenoi said:

>Creating a restore point is useless IMO all you have done is backed up a corrupted registry.

 

You can tamper with the registry until you get rid of the culprit. It took me a few shots and restores of the registry.

Therefore it was not useless.

 

[color:"red"]The registry is only one part of eliminating a hijacker. Most store themselves in the restore files and in winsys32. Fixing the registry won't help if it is immediately reinfected from an infected restore file.[/color]

 

BTW, the new yahoo messenger install screwed up my registry. Just reloaded restore point and all was fine.

 

A fresh OS install? When you have installed/downloaded 123 programs? latest resort.

 

[color:"red"] Did it 3 times this week. But would have 123 programs? Can take 4-6 hrs though. :: [/color]

 

LH, you clean 6 to 8 machines a week?

what's your method if you don't use Hijack this?

 

[color:"red"] Basics.......... shut down restore. Then reboot in safe mode with networking. Run online scan.

Reboot again in normal mode, run Spybot S&D, including tools for startup, BHOs,and hosts (New buggers set themselves as undeletable)

Now run it again

Then run Spysweeper.

 

Once you get a clean read, reboot normally and run them again. If it is still clean NOW you can set the restore point back on. (Remeber not to give it too much resources, it only automakes more points.)

 

Only if this did not clean it up would I run Hijack This. It's a detector, not a fixer. In some cases one needs to run specialized anti hijackware like for 'CoolWebSearch' and some of the newer, most nasty adware. Whole sites are devoted to eliminating these and they update daily..... as do the new hijackers.

 

For machines that are too badly corrupted to let even safe mode operate, there are boot discs that have antivirus programs against the most common nasties and for the really bad ones I made a drive leech that allows me to hook on to a hard drive that is not even powered to do a S&D :: Advantage here is that the system does not have be operating as it tries to clean itself, stopping the hijackers from cloning and hiding elsewhere as you seek them out. Sorta slits their throats as they sleep, so to speak. [/color]

And yes, run Webroot Spysweeper.

 

[color:"red"] or just stop using IE [/color]