Well it seems the lady has come into a few cooties.

She has an xps m1210 laptop.

Since neither of us know just how long the stuff has been on her machine or where or how they all got there, I believe it would be in her best interest if we just back up everything that is important and whip out the reinstall discs. Easy? lol. Newp. No chance. Seems back when she got the computer she lived elsewhere with someone else and obtaining the drivers discs and o/s and all teh bundled software discs had to include a spy. Her little sister had to sneak the border and play friendlies… Now she snuck out with the baggy thing that all the discs are in which of course no one there claims to have seen. We have done some searches and find that one disc on the bag, is not for this laptop that we are about to work on. Ok. Now we have all the discs.

The hard part is deciding what to do after we install everything and well, does the sister go back and act like nothing happened? ( I mean this is a close as family issue, I am not in the family so I have to step back) I am thinking of burning the discs as a back up and bundling some jacked up progs with it.. but will they hate me for it?

well whatever

Ok So now the back up is not going so well. I have been to virustotal ,virscan.org and jotti’s a million times and man, I keep finding malware in everything she wants to backup. I am half tempted to just format and cross my fingers and lie like a dog. I am getting sick of each time they find stuff in the files I end up having to delete them anyway because they are beyond repair. Meanwhile I have a million more files to scan…one by one….. It’s hardly worth it. Then again she is fricken hot and I know what I am doing.
Well I also looked around and saw that ubuntu installs pretty good on this particular model. If I can assure her that open office is just as good as microsoft office/works then I got it made! I wouldn’t have to delete anything!
Tell you what, I will do something with this pretty machine and post it here later

to be continued…….

A hosts file is a file located in the ETC folder of almost every operating system (with some exceptions). The hosts file is a file that is scanned at the first accesses of a network. Be it a program that you expect to go to the internet or not. Your computer will first try and resolve the dns with the host. It does this by checking the hosts file.

In your hosts file, you can tell your computer what IP address to assign web addresses. By doing this, you bypass all network look ups on the internet for specific addresses. It is impossible to knock out every single website there is. You can how ever knock out all sites submitted, reported, and confirmed as malware sites.

You can also stop your kid from hitting sites you do not want her/him going to. The way it works is you move to the lowest section in the hosts file and type in the IP address you would like that website to go to. Like this:

127.0.0.1 a_site_you_do_not_want_to_go_to.com

This blocks that site from ever loading on your computer.

If you have a program that goes to “a_site_you_do_not_want_to_go_to.com” by default, the program will not be able to update. This can be used to your advantage if the site that the program is trying to connect to is a virus site, and the program is a virus, trojan or a malware notification type program (like a spider). We call them adware and spyware these days, the program will not be able to contact it’s owner, this hides you from the owner and increases your security. Some malware updates itself by connecting to its owner’s location, unless it is specificly assigned an IP address to connect to. That, of course, would be a mistake on the writer’s part. Much easier to locate that way, and you could actually block that IP address if you took the time.

I use mvps host because he has a much larger list than I do. I just add my stuff to his when i download it and set up my hosts file. If you have a list of bad sites, do what I and a few others do, email it to mvps site. I do suggest that you read everything on the wiki and mvps site before you do anything to change your hosts. Really, if you block yourself from the interenet (god only knows how that could ever happen) you just clear out all IP addresses and domain names in the list and you are back to the way it was.

If you have any questions related to this topic feel free to ask them.

TruXter

Owner and writer of :

iworkwithtech.com  and iworkwithpeople.com 

Tags: ip adress, malware, virus, trojan, security, computer, hack, intrusion, backdoor, safety, privacy, protection, prevention

We all have had infestations, pop ups that never go away, something that changes your home page, or something that redirects the site you type to a totally different site. Even worse than all that, when there is a combination of those problems.

Well, I have some good news and some help for you.

Next time, you might want to consider this stuff first before you even go anywhere on the internet.

For starters, I would begin stopping most malware from even connecting to the net from your computer, this step stops your computer from ever going to the sites where malware is created, uploaded, and/or updated. Fix your “hosts” file by going to MVP’s site and reading up on the subject. I actually just scroll down like 20 lines and he has a zipped file with 5 or so items in it. Extract the contents to the desktop, double click the batch file, and in a blink, I am Protected from tons of malware servers. http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

Please read mvps site to get a full understanding and to be on the same page as me. Yes the hosts project started out as a way to block banner ads, but it was later found that you can do much more. PLEASE READ THE MVPS SITE.

Before installation of new “hosts” file, I head to my existing “hosts” file and open it with Notepad to see if there are any changes made to it that are located here “C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc”

There is a line that should say “127.0.0.1 localhost” which means local host is YOU. If it says anything other than 127.0.0.1, then your machine has been routed to someone else’s server and everything you do and type is being passed through them first. They filter through it and crack what they want. If you have anything different there, please post it here as a comment so I, and others, can help take care of someone like this.

Next, let’s go scan your machine. If you can, install this, “http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/download/” and install a-squared Free 3.1

Run that program and remove anything and everything it finds. Let the scan finish before you start the next step. If both scanners try to remove the same files, it could cause problems.

Next, go get Spybot-Search and Destroy, you will find it here “http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html” spybot - Search & Destroy 1.5.2

Now, go get Ad-Aware “http://www.lavasoftusa.com/single/trialpay.php“

Run Ad-Aware after Spybot. The same rules apply.

If your issue persists, HJT that stands for “hijack this” found here “http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php“

You can join their forums “http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/forums.php” and get help from people who spend all day, every day just helping people decipher what HJT finds in it’s logs. They all will tell you what to keep and what to kill. They are an excellent group.

In most cases, you would have prevented this from ever happening if you would have started with MVP’s “hosts” file. That is a very good practice. Also, it would be wise prevention to not install anything and everything you find on the internet. First thing you must always do when you download anything is scan it with as many virus scanners as possible. I use Jotti’s site for the online single file scanner. It scans with like 20 different virus scanners at one time and shows you a real time results area at the bottom of the page. If you watch the scan result, you can see what scanners are worth a darn and what scanners are worth being cup holder….. AVG is garbage.. See for yourself. “http://virusscan.jotti.org/“

If anyone has protection tips of the malware kind, drop a note here ..

Good free firewall to prevent this kind of thing:

Sygate firewall:

http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm

Trojan killers:

http://swatit.org/download.html

Trojan Hunter trial version:

http://www.misec.net/

Do this immediately:

Disabling system restore in Win Xp
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2001012513122239?Open&src=sec_doc_nam&docid=2001111912274039&nsf=tsgeninfo.nsf&view=docid&dtype=∏=&ver=&osv=&osv_lvl

More Xp resource:

XP resource info:

www.blackviper.com

http://grc.com/dos/xpsummary.htm

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp
If you do not have SpyBot and Adaware, do this:

Spybot:

Download and Read the SpyBot tutorial here:

http://s89223352.onlinehome.us/mirror/spybot/index1.php

Download it, Unzip the program, and immediately check for updates, install the updates and then do the scan.

Let it fix everything marked in red. Reboot but not with restart, shut it down for two full minutes. You�ve got two measely minutes and it�s worth it, and let Spybot run if it indicates.

To add an item to your �Ignore List� click on the little �+� sign next to the item and left click it to highlight it, then right click it and a menu appears, select the function you want.

When you are done reboot again same way. Two full minutes shut sown is best.

Tea Time discussed by designer here:

http://forums.net-integration.net/index.php?showtopic=13433

Also, go to the update page. Notice 3 icons across the top. Between “Search For Updates” and “Download Updates” there is an icon for the download mirror location. After you click on �search for updates,� the one in the middle will change. If it doesn’t say “Spybot.US by Rootboxen.net USA” click on the dropbox arrows and click on Rootboxen, and use only that one. If you got a “checksum error” trying to download –that’s why.

Ad-Aware:

Download AdAware from http://www.lavasoft.de/

check for updates at “webupdate”.

I use these settings (green check)

From main window click “Start” then make sure ” Activate in-depth scan” has a green check next to it.

Put a black dot nest to “Use custom scanning options� and click Customize” next to it, then green check these options:
“Scan within archives” ,”Scan active processes”, “Scan registry”,
“Deep scan registry” ,”Scan my IE Favorites for banned URL”
“Scan my host-files”

At the top of the �STATUS� page notice the Tweak (gear) icon. Click on it.

The first setting is �Scanning Engine.� Click on the little plus sign next to it, and in the drop-down green check “Unload recognized processes during scanning”, and �include basic Ad-Aware settings in log file�. Next click on the �+� next to “Cleaning Engine” and in the drop-down green check “Let windows remove files in use at next reboot” and Delete quarantine objects after restoring�

Click “proceed”, that will save those settings.

Click “Scan”

When the scan finishes, mark everything for removal and delete it. Right-click the window and choose “select all” from the drop down menu, press �next� and then �yes� to the prompt: �remove all these entries�.

However, if you have certain programs running that will give a false indicator of a browser hijack attempt, such as Script Sentry, which places a monitoring function in the registry and looks like a browser hijacker but is not, then you may want to add that to the ignore list because you want to keep it there to do it�s job. To add an item to the ignore list, put the a cursor on the file it reveals and left click it to highlight it, then right click it and a menu appears. Click on �ignore list.�

Shut down, two minute shut down is best, and let Adaware run on reboot if it indicates.
When you are done all that, go into Safe Mode and run Adaware, SpyBot, and Av. Then go to ’search files and folders’ and search for the file name of the trojan and delete it in Safe Mode. If you are clean there, that’s about it. Re-enable your system restore.

I also use these:

Spyware Blaster

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

MRU Blaster

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/mrublaster.html

and Script Sentry.

Run Adaware, SpyBot and your AV in normal mode. Clean? good. Go here:

Jason�s Browser Security Test:

http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/

Gibson tests:

http://www.grc.com/default.htm

I use LeakTest, DCOMbobulator, ShieldUp, and plugnpray.

Love for the tech community.

Tags: adaware, adware, asquared, computer, hijacker, hijackthis, hosts, infected, infection, log, maliciouse program, malware, popup, redirect, scanner, spybot search and destroy, spyware, trojan, virus