slow computer and a browser Hijack

[chemist]

Hello again, ZeroFox. Insert your XP SP2 CD into your CD/DVD drive again.

Go Start > Run and copy/paste the following bolded text into the Run box and click OK:

Expand -r D:\i386\beep.sy_ c:\windows\system32\drivers

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Go Start > Run and copy/paste the following single-line command into the Run box and click OK:

cmd /c peV -ltf "%systemdrive%\beep.sys" >log.txt&log.txt&del log.txt

A Notepad file will open. Post the contents of log.txt in your next reply.

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[ZeroFox]

Thanks for all your help but I've just reinstalled the OS. It's a lot lot better now. I think the computer has just been abused, and had alot of rubbish on it, but now it's alot faster, and actually works.

[chemist]

Hello again, ZeroFox. Thanks for letting us know.

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MICROSOFT UPDATES
It is very important that you get all of the critical updates for your Operating System and Internet Explorer. Keeping your OS and browser up to date will help make you less susceptible to attacks by Trojans and viruses. Please go to Microsoft and download all the critical updates to help prevent possible re-infection.

SPYWARE PREVENTION
This is a good time to set up protection against further attacks. In light of your recent problem, I'm sure you'd like to avoid any future infections. Please read these well written articles:

• How Did I Get Infected In The First Place? by TonyKlein
• How to Prevent Malware by miekiemoes

To help protect your computer in the future I recommend that you get the following free programs if you do not already have them:

• WOT, Web of Trust, warns you about risky websites that try to scam visitors, deliver malware or send spam. Protect your computer against online threats by using WOT as your front-line layer of protection when browsing or searching in unfamiliar territory. WOT's color-coded icons show you ratings for 21 million websites, helping you avoid the dangerous sites:
  • Green to go
  • Yellow for caution
  • Red to stop
  WOT has an add-on available for both Firefox and IE.
  
• SpywareBlaster prevents the installation of ActiveX-based malware, blocks cookies, and restricts the actions of "bad" sites. See tutorial here
  
• MVPS HOSTS FILE replaces your current HOSTS file with one that will restrict known ad sites from serving you unsolicited advertisements. It basically prevents your computer from connecting to those sites by redirecting the attempted connections to 127.0.0.1, which is the IP of your local computer. See guide here and for Windows Vista here
  • Download Host.zip and Save it to your Desktop.
  • Right-click hosts.zip and select 'Extract all files' or 'Extract files...'.
  • Follow the prompts and click 'Finish'.
  • This will open the newly created hosts folder on your Desktop.
  • Double-click on the included mvps.bat file, this will rename the existing HOSTS file to HOSTS.MVP, then it will copy the included updated HOSTS file to the correct location on your machine.
  • Once updated you should see another prompt that the task was completed.

Keep your antivirus program and antispyware programs updated and scan with them on a regular basis.

Please respond to this thread one more time so we can mark this thread as resolved.

[ZeroFox]

Yep, just done all the stuff on the last post. Thanks for the help.

Zero

[chemist]

You're welcome, Zero! Glad to have helped.