HELP needed from computer savvy FReepers!!(about:blank internet trojan horse is KILLING me)

7/29/04 | fiftymegaton

[fiftymegaton]

I have recently contracted the internet trojan horse or virus or whatever you call it which automatically changes your homepage to about:blank(some weird search engine). This trojan didn't really bother me until recently(last night) it started automatically coming up when I would go to check my e-mail(both a hotmail and a yahoo account). I can type in my ID and password but then instead of getting my mail page I get the about:blank page and hence I cannot send or receive any e-mails at this time. I have Symantecs anti-Virus and have downloaded Adaware and neither has helped this problem. I run IE 5.5 at the moment and was wondering if downloading the often praised mozilla browser would help with this current problem. Any advice is welcome!

[RedBloodedAmerican]

spybot search and destroy.
adaware
anti-trojan
hijack this

find em and use em

[Viet-Boat-Rider]

Go to Mcafee.com and download STINGER. It will remove it and fix your computer.

[atomicpossum]

Here's a link regarding removal of this problem: http://computercops.biz/article-5199-nested-0-0.html

[Flavius]

i downloaded FIRFOX (mozzila new version EXCELLENT) free,

BOUGHT ZONEALARM PRO paid 40.00

Have not looked back yet!

NET.. DUMp I.E.

[Billthedrill]

You got burned with Cool Web Search. Click HERE for a removal tool. Then you might think about Spybot Search & Destroy to inoculate you from further nasty adware and malware. Good product, and it's free.

Good luck.

[Threepwood]

It might be a variant of a horrible Russian ad-program called "Coolwebsearch" Go here:

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

[FreedomPoster]

Also download and run cwshredder.

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

[TheGeezer]

Is it Search200? Go to http://www.search200.com/help.html and download the unload program. It will work: I've used it at work. Good luck!

[FreedomPoster]

This is a quick bunch.

[deport]

http://eboston.addr.com/wwwboard/messages/1494.html

The above link is to a question at the Computer Lady.com which maybe of some help.... Also you may asked your question over there as they seem to provide lots of info.....

[TomGuy]

FireFox has some problems when running websites that have Java coding.

[rwfromkansas]

You need all of 'em to get rid of the stuff.

I had the infamous home page-changing malware and I had to post hijackthis logs, run through about 4 trojan/spybot removal programs plus one virus program, and then run cwshredder about a dozen times before it ended up finally being clean.

I have learned my lesson. I run cwshredder every week or so to make sure nothing got back on here. So far, so good.

I also run Norton once a week and spybot, adaware, hijackthis (to examine the logs), SpywareBlaster, SwatIt, and XoftSpy every couple weeks.

I try to run the Housecall online virus scan every couple months.

It is just insane what you have to do these days to keep the computer clean.

[Flavius]

well I hear you but so far so good...

[StriperSniper]

.

[rwfromkansas]

It is an awful little bug. I used the remover 10 times it seemed like and my computer still had not removed it.

Why? I WASN'T IN SAFE MODE.

If you have problems removing stuff in regular mode, reboot in safemode and run cwshredder or some other program again.

It helps a ton...

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Yep. And those ones I listed, I tried in that sequence to clean one recently, and spybot was the only one to get rid of the problem.

[KS Flyover]

From Langa List: http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-07-22.htm#5

We initially discussed the "About:Blank" hijack when it first crawled out from under its rock ( http://langa.com/newsletters/2004/2004-07-08.htm#4 ), but a lot more info is now available:

Hey Fred: Saw the latest LangaList and then ran into this. Thought you might want to pass it on to your readers: "About:Buster v1.26 [23K] Win2k/XP FREE http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4289.html Is your Internet Explorer hijacked to something similar to res://.dll/index.html#37049? Symptoms include an about:blank home page and popup ads. This one is a bear to remove, but a couple of tools have been released to help remove these, including About:Buster. The download page has instructions on using this tool..."---Michael H. Bell

Hi Fred. With regard to the "about blank" browser hijack, I had 2 friends systems infected with this Trojan and after some searching found this very useful site with information about Cool Web Search (CWS) which it is part of + the CWS shredder program removes all traces completely, even ones that Ad Aware did not pick up. Recommended. http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html ---Geoff Wilkinson

I think you would have an interesting read of this page by Eric Howes and Suzi over at Spyware Warrior forums, at which I diagnose HijackThis logs at, under the user name TeMerc. I also have a MSN community, and I always post links to your newsletters. Here is my site:
http://groups.msn.com/TeMercInternetSecuritySite/home.htm ---Tom Mercado