Please print out or copy this page to Notepad. Make sure to work through the fixes in the exact order it is mentioned below. If there's anything that you don't understand, ask your question(s) before proceeding with the fixes. You should 'not' have any open browsers when you are following the procedures below.
Go to My Computer->Tools->Folder Options->View tab:
* Under the Hidden files and folders heading, select Show hidden files and folders.
* Uncheck the Hide protected operating system files (recommended) option.
* Click Yes to confirm and then click OK.
For the options that you checked/enabled earlier, you may uncheck them after your log is clean. If we ask you to fix a program that you use or want to keep, please post back saying that (we don't know every program that exists, so we may tell you to delete a program that we think is bad to keep).
Run an online virus scan at TrendMicro http://uk.trendmicro-europe.com/enterprise/products/housecall_launch.php. Just follow the instructions on the site to run the free online scan. If any viruses/trojans are detected, try to delete or clean them in that site. If any are not cleanable, copy and paste the infected files here. You may also use Panda ActiveScan at http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan. Post the log from the Panda scan here.
CleanUp! deletes EVERYTHING out of your temp/temporary folders, it does not make backups. If you have any documents or programs that are saved in any Temporary Folders, please make a backup of these before running CleanUp!. Download CleanUp! http://cleanup.stevengould.org/ (Alternate Link if main link don't work - http://www.greyknight17.com/spy/CleanUp.exe ) and install it. Run CleanUp! and click on the Options button. Uncheck 'Scan local drives for temporary files'. Also uncheck those two Newsgroup entries if you don't want to delete them. Click OK and then click on the CleanUp! button. Let it run. After it's done, choose Yes to logoff.
Make sure you downloaded, installed, updated and ran these programs already - Ad-aware, Spybot and Microsoft AntiSpyware. If you didn't, do them now. For more information, go to http://www.greyknight17.com/spyware.htm
Restart your computer and boot into Safe Mode by hitting the F8 key repeatedly until a menu shows up (and choose Safe Mode from the list). In some systems, this may be the F5 key, so try that if F8 doesn't work. Make sure to close any open browsers.
Uninstall the following via the Add/Remove Panel (Start->(Settings)->Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs) if they exist:
Gain or Gator
Run a scan in HijackThis. Check each of the following and hit 'Fix checked' (after checking them) if they still exist (make sure not to miss any):
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = http://red.clientapps.yahoo.com/cus...rch/search.html
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = http://red.clientapps.yahoo.com/cus...rch/search.html
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchURL,(Default) = http://red.clientapps.yahoo.com/cus...//www.yahoo.com
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchURL,(Default) = http://red.clientapps.yahoo.com/cus...//www.yahoo.com
O4 - Global Startup: GStartup.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\GMT\GMT.exe
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {CD67F990-D8E9-11d2-98FE-00C0F0318AFE} - (no file)
O16 - DPF: {001EE746-A1F9-460E-80AD-269E088D6A01} (Infotl Control) - http://site.ebrary.com/support/plugins/ebraryRdr.cab
O16 - DPF: {08BEF711-06DA-48B2-9534-802ECAA2E4F9} (PlxInstall Class) - https://www.plaxo.com/down/latest/PlaxoInstall.cab
Delete the following Files indicated in RED and Folders indicated in BLUE if they still exist.
O4 - Global Startup: GStartup.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\GMT
Restart and run a new HijackThis scan. Save the log file and Get HijackThis Analyzer and save it to the same folder as the hijackthis.log file. Run HijackThis Analyzer and type in y if you agree. Open up the result.txt file created. Copy the whole result.txt log and post it back here.
Go to My Computer->Tools->Folder Options->View tab:
* Under the Hidden files and folders heading, select Show hidden files and folders.
* Uncheck the Hide protected operating system files (recommended) option.
* Click Yes to confirm and then click OK.
For the options that you checked/enabled earlier, you may uncheck them after your log is clean. If we ask you to fix a program that you use or want to keep, please post back saying that (we don't know every program that exists, so we may tell you to delete a program that we think is bad to keep).
Run an online virus scan at TrendMicro http://uk.trendmicro-europe.com/enterprise/products/housecall_launch.php. Just follow the instructions on the site to run the free online scan. If any viruses/trojans are detected, try to delete or clean them in that site. If any are not cleanable, copy and paste the infected files here. You may also use Panda ActiveScan at http://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan. Post the log from the Panda scan here.
CleanUp! deletes EVERYTHING out of your temp/temporary folders, it does not make backups. If you have any documents or programs that are saved in any Temporary Folders, please make a backup of these before running CleanUp!. Download CleanUp! http://cleanup.stevengould.org/ (Alternate Link if main link don't work - http://www.greyknight17.com/spy/CleanUp.exe ) and install it. Run CleanUp! and click on the Options button. Uncheck 'Scan local drives for temporary files'. Also uncheck those two Newsgroup entries if you don't want to delete them. Click OK and then click on the CleanUp! button. Let it run. After it's done, choose Yes to logoff.
Make sure you downloaded, installed, updated and ran these programs already - Ad-aware, Spybot and Microsoft AntiSpyware. If you didn't, do them now. For more information, go to http://www.greyknight17.com/spyware.htm
Restart your computer and boot into Safe Mode by hitting the F8 key repeatedly until a menu shows up (and choose Safe Mode from the list). In some systems, this may be the F5 key, so try that if F8 doesn't work. Make sure to close any open browsers.
Uninstall the following via the Add/Remove Panel (Start->(Settings)->Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs) if they exist:
Gain or Gator
Run a scan in HijackThis. Check each of the following and hit 'Fix checked' (after checking them) if they still exist (make sure not to miss any):
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = http://red.clientapps.yahoo.com/cus...rch/search.html
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = http://red.clientapps.yahoo.com/cus...rch/search.html
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchURL,(Default) = http://red.clientapps.yahoo.com/cus...//www.yahoo.com
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchURL,(Default) = http://red.clientapps.yahoo.com/cus...//www.yahoo.com
O4 - Global Startup: GStartup.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\GMT\GMT.exe
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {CD67F990-D8E9-11d2-98FE-00C0F0318AFE} - (no file)
O16 - DPF: {001EE746-A1F9-460E-80AD-269E088D6A01} (Infotl Control) - http://site.ebrary.com/support/plugins/ebraryRdr.cab
O16 - DPF: {08BEF711-06DA-48B2-9534-802ECAA2E4F9} (PlxInstall Class) - https://www.plaxo.com/down/latest/PlaxoInstall.cab
Delete the following Files indicated in RED and Folders indicated in BLUE if they still exist.
O4 - Global Startup: GStartup.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\GMT
Restart and run a new HijackThis scan. Save the log file and Get HijackThis Analyzer and save it to the same folder as the hijackthis.log file. Run HijackThis Analyzer and type in y if you agree. Open up the result.txt file created. Copy the whole result.txt log and post it back here.
