Ad-ware help needed

[Winston]

After I reinstalled Windows XP a couple of weeks ago, I've been having troubles with ads popping up every 4-5 minutes, anytime that I'm online.

It's evident to me that I have some ad-ware installed on my computer which generates these ads. I use Internet Explorer.

Now, before this problem occurred a few weeks ago, I can honestly say that I have never been troubled by viruses, ad- or spyware in 9 years of being on the Net, except for one single instance 5-6 years ago. So I don't think it's related to my surfing habits as such. As a consequence, I've never needed to run anti-virus programs or ad-blockers before.

But now I have some malware, and I can't get rid of it. I have tried installing Lavasoft AdAware and running it. It manages to find and remove some suspicious programs, but not the one that is causing me trouble by generating the pop up-ads.

In the hope that someone could help me identify and get rid of the malware, here are the "symptoms" that I have noticed. Maybe some of you have seen it before.

1) Prevents me from opening the Windows Task Manager (where you can see what programs and processes are running)

2) Generates random pop up-ads every 4-5 minutes during online activity. The ads open in their own browser window

3) Ad browser windows have these addresses:

https://www.dofact.com

https://www.bigdispatch.com

https://www.yourtruths.com

https://www.broadcastsnews.com

https://www.newsalone.com

https://www.oneperception.com

https://www.realrealities.com

https://www.allcomprehend.com

https://www.locatebest.com

https://www.firstnarrative.com

and

winantivirus.com (this last one opens multiple windows and tries to install an "anti-virus"-file; the others above just open in a single window).

I hope somebody here can help me.

Thanks.

[SlowwHand]

Pm me your email address. If you still need help in about 5 hours, I'll try and send to you some programs, or MAYBE upload here.

[Winston]

Oh, thanks muchos.

PM sent.

[VetLegion]

PM me your bank account number and PIN. If I am still in the country in 5 hours, I deserve to be caught...

OK, what you need to do first is find out how this thing you have is called, let's say X. Then you can usually download X-remover from some company that builds antivirus software.

[Winston]

But I don't know what it's called, or what process is running it.

It won't let me open the Windows Task Manager, and it seems to block my use of the Windows-key also, the one that brings up the Start Menu.

[Winston]

Oh, I just remembered, in the beginning it stopped me from running Lavasoft Ad-Aware also, but I out-witted it, by renaming "adaware.exe" into "adawar.exe". He-he! Then I could run the program again, but it did not find this pesky malware program or whatever it is.

[VetLegion]

It could be that you have Vundo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vundo

Symantec (a reliable company) has a removal tool:

http://www.sarc.com/avcenter/venc/data/trojan.vundo.removal.tool.html

However, don't trust me and wait for a second opinion before you do anything.

[VetLegion]

Some more info here:

http://www.spynomore.com/articles/vundo-trojan-specifics-and-removal.php

However, be advised: many of these online sites that advertise spyware removal tools actually have tools that are themselves spyware. For example, the popup you have is for some sort of antivirus tool that uses spyware techniques to advertise itself.

So read all you want but be extra careful about what you eventually do.

And stop using IE, that's probably how you got it.

[Hot Mustard]

The best resource I've seen for fighting malware is this "Consolidated Security Thread" on the AnandTech forums.

It's quite exhaustive, and provides links to all the necessary software (almost exclusively freeware, I believe).

Table of Contents:

A. Common Terms
B. Malware Removal Procedure
C. Advanced Spyware Removal and Guide to Hijackthis
D. Malware Prevention
E. Antivirus Guide
F. Firewall Guide

[Winston]

Thanks, VetLegion and dejon/Hot Mustard ( ), I'll be looking into those links you gave.

Yes, I'm aware that many of the programs that are available are not what they seem to be.. That's why I've so far avoided having anything anti-virus related installed. I used to manage fine without, but not anymore.. And as a result, I'm a total novice when it comes to these things.

One thing though, I'm not going to change my browser. I've used Internet Explorer for nearly a decade without problem, and I like it. It fits my needs perfectly.

Edit: From that Wikipedia description, I think you're right that Vundo may be one of the problems that I have.. I remember seeing that message (in a poor Danish translation) a while back, and of course I just closed the message box.

Well spotted, Vetlegion.

[VetLegion]

You wouldn't believe how alike browsers are. You can get Firefox or Opera to look exactly like your current IE, but under the hood they are much better.

[Winston]

But the way in which I run Internet Explorer, it doesn't look like anything (!), I don't see it at all. I have all the menu bars and stuff hidden, so I just have websites fill out the entire screen, no messy things at all to interfere. That's what I like about it, its unintrusiveness.

For navigation, I press Alt+U to bring up the Favourites menu, or in rare cases toggle F11 to make the address field visible, and that's all I need.

[VetLegion]

F11 is convention Winston... almost like F1 and F5

[Combat Ingrid]

Have you tried Housecall?

[Winston]

Well, I remember a certain mod who was highly surprised when I posted of the F11 toggle in my Shortcuts for Windows-thread a while ago.

Ok, the thing I referred to as "Job List" is called the Windows Task Manager in English. I've edited it to the correct name in my earlier posts for clarity.

This malware thing won't let me open the Task Manager, but like with Lavasoft AdAware, I think I've solved the problem temporarily by renaming taskmgr.exe to taskmg.exe and opening it from Windows Explorer instead of the Ctrl+Alt+Delete routine.

I could post a list of the processes I have running, but I don't see anything out of the ordinary among them.