Any advice please

carrie483

Hi, sorry i have one more query.

My computer has McAfee virus scan running and also has XP firewall.

When McAfee runs it usually finds about 24 infected files which it says it removes.

Now the homepage has started changing to 'about blank' and occasionally the screen changes to a black background with very large green (i think?) stripes running down the screen and i have to restart.

Any ideas or advice on what i can do? I suspect something has got through the firewall.

Thank you Carrie

thewizard

Hmmm wierd one. HAve you got any anit-spyware software?

pchelpman

sorry thewizard but "about:blank" is a very common piece of junk. It MAY be possible to remove easily or it may not. None of the standard scanners will fix it.

Please download HijackThis here.....

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html

Unzip it then scan your computer with it. Post the resulting logfile report to this thread and we'll advise on specific removal procedures.

Fenris

That is odd. First thing I'd do is get a HD utility from the makers website and make sure your HD's in good condition. Sometimes these things can start happening when your HD picks up a pysical error. If it's making funny noises while it's hanging, it's a fair bet the drive's failed. Don't panic though! Hopefully it'll be something else!

I'd suggest backing up all your data to a seperate drive if you have one before you do anything else. If the drive utility says your HD's fine then try these:

Run your anti-virus software, then run it again! Believe it or not, they don't always pick up things on the first scan!

Scan your system with a free ad/spyware program. Spysweeper is about the best, It's shareware and will work forever, but you won't get updates until you register it. Adaware is free and picks up most problems, but not all. Spybot is a good one too.

Try clearing out your registry. A LOT of problems lurk here because most people have no idea what it does and don't ever look in it. I use Registry Mechanic, but it's not free. Google for free ones and I'm sure you'll find something.

Set the system back to a date when you had no problems. If that doesn't solve it then a system recovery's probably a good idea; I do mine out of habit every 6-8 months just to clear out any rubbish that accumulates. It's a bit drastic but it should sort out any problems!

Hope this helps!

GreenNotM

Carrie have a look in your task manger you will/may have some progs running with 4 letter names or aaa99.exe. About:blank has been around for a while - it is a hijacker and backdoor opener.

Run the download above hijackthis.exe and post the text file - in the meantime let Mcafee have a go and earn its money.

Macfee cannot remove the files because they are being restored from system restore everytime. Turn off system restore
(to turn system restore off - right click over the "My computer " icon on your desktop. select "properties" goto the system restore tab - put a tick in "turn off System Restore" Click okay .. reboot to safe mode. )
reboot to safe mode -( press F8 as the pc reboots) . run a full scan and reboot to safe mode - full scan again till you have no infection - if this fails after the a few times - spybot and lavasoft can help remove it. - see stickie at top of forum ..

Once clean turn sytem restore back on. un tick the above box... HTH

thewizard

I know this is no use but about:blank is also a legit thing used in Windows Internet Explorer 7 and other tabbed browsers when you open a new tab without a new URL.

albertross_2

goto to google, and then in ie click tools, internet options, use current, ok.. the about blank button on the same page will produce the effect you describe.


the black screen could be coming up just because the pc has crashed, try https://www.windowsupdate.com, and some spyware scanners.. to rule out nasty software.

GreenNotM

albertross wrote:

the black screen could be coming up just because the pc has crashed, try https://www.windowsupdate.com, and some spyware scanners.. to rule out nasty software.

hopefully it will be that simple

http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/analyses/trojablankt.html
http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/virusencyclo/default5.asp?VName=TROJ_STARTPAG.LA&VSect=T
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/trojan.bookmarker.f.html

but a lot of trojans start by changing the home page - generic name is just about:blank OP did say her AVS was finding nasties .. Usually arrives off a dodgy website so firewalls do not stop the infection and AV must be memory resident and running to catch it - the clever viruses now are written to kill the top dozen AVS ...

albertross_2

It may well be nasties, but as thewizard pointed out, it is also a legit IE setting, so it is sensible to check that first before going down the full spyware diagnostics route - I could live without seeing another hijackthis log right now..

My PC does the same black screen with a bit of green on thing when it crashes, and it only does it on this site..

pchelpman

albertross wrote:

It may well be nasties, but as thewizard pointed out, it is also a legit IE setting, so it is sensible to check that first before going down the full spyware diagnostics route - I could live without seeing another hijackthis log right now..

My PC does the same black screen with a bit of green on thing when it crashes, and it only does it on this site..

Yes, this could be a legit setting as mentioned and I know HJT logs can be daunting at times, albertross.

Thing is HJT is often the easiest and quickest way for all concerned to see if the user has a problem or not.

Albert - if you, carrie or anyone else would like me to look at your HJT logs I'd be happy to do it. It would at least give me some peace of mind that your PCs are OK.

Over to you!

carrie483

thewizard wrote:

Hmmm wierd one. HAve you got any anit-spyware software?

Hi,

I have No adware.