About Blank

statman

My sister had a problem with her computer, it turned out it was something to do with the about blank virus. In looking for help on this forum I had her download and run the hijack this(?) program.
She got a list of about 30 odd different things so she deleted all the lines with about blank. This didn't work so she did it again this time deleting some other lines(?).
Now the system boots up but no sign of any OS so you can't actually do anything on it. My limited knowledge ran out a while ago so I was wondering if anyone had any advice other than
1 Don't delete things
2 Throw the computer away

Thanks in anticipation

Fran

I've got problems with my firewall so can't do a search - try an internet search for "about blank" it should lead somewhere.

She should definitely NOT delete anything else but get proper help!

There is a lot of info on internet security in the FAQ's which is a sticky at the top of this board.

royalsteve

statman wrote:

My sister had a problem with her computer, it turned out it was something to do with the about blank virus. In looking for help on this forum I had her download and run the hijack this(?) program.
She got a list of about 30 odd different things so she deleted all the lines with about blank. This didn't work so she did it again this time deleting some other lines(?).
Now the system boots up but no sign of any OS so you can't actually do anything on it. My limited knowledge ran out a while ago so I was wondering if anyone had any advice other than
1 Don't delete things
2 Throw the computer away

Thanks in anticipation

that abouth home thing was a mjor pain in the b**t and i would like to flatten the pencil who invented it........

i work in computers and it took me and fellow techies weeks to get rid of it...as it respawn itself.....in the end a simple program cleared the problem.

to be honest you could spend hours trying to sort the problem.......depends what os you did have....have you got the disks...i would try reinstall windows........it should overwrite any files that your sister deleted........but should not overwrite any data files...no guarantee of that of course.....

please be careful using hijack this! as that directly accesses registry entries...deleting the wrong ones as you have found out renders your os useless.

PM me if you want......

An alternative is to go here
http://www.tech-forums.net/

some really helpful bods on there and they provide step by step instructions on how to resolve problems...they also very strict.....any unauthorised users who try to give advice get warned...to many warnings and your booted off.

incidentally when i had the " About:Blank browser hijacker ", the only software that got rid of it was Adware Away - there is a free verion of this site...just click download

http://www.adwareaway.com/

tried everything......even specialist programs from tech forums...i had dlink hardware firewall, nortons firewall/antivirus, adaware, spybot, hijackthis but none detected it....though didnt expect much else as firewalls aside they are mainly reactive tools.....unless you pay for proactive adaware version

peter_the_planter

I don't think you have any other option than to reinstall windows. You may well have to reformat the hard disk where windows originally resided.
About-blank is a particularly difficult one to get rid of so expert help is recommended. Hijack this is a terrific tool to remove junk but it must be remembered that you are editing the registry, a course not to be taken lightly.
Make sure she has updated Spywareblaster, Adaware, Spybot S&D, Anti-virus and Firewall up and running before connecting again to the net.
Advice for the future these are some of the sites I know of which are good.
http://forum.misec.net/board/Trojans/1083505568

http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=25

http://forum.tweakxp.com/forum/messages.aspx?ForumID=29

http://www.webuser.co.uk/cgi-bin/forums/postlist.pl?Cat=&Board=hijackthis&page=11&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=93

http://www.d-a-l.com/help/forumdisplay.php?f=8
Beware of downloading Kazaa and Messenger plus, both are loaded with junk.

statman

Info great thanks.
Tried to boot from win 98 cd but that doesnt work. How do I overwrite the OS please?
or alternatively how do I clear and reformat?
I am assuming this will lose all info on the system.
The other thing is whilst I have the 98 cd I dont have the original code so is there a way around that?

Thanks again

peter_the_planter

Am I right in thinking that you are both on Win98? If so you should make a startup disk, probably floppy on this system. Try here for info
http://www.pctechguide.com/tutorials/Win98Install_Startup.htm
You can find other site on Google.
I am unsure what you mean by the 'original code'
When you have made the boot floppy, run it in the duff machine and this should allow you to install the cd.

statman

Thanks for the reply -
the original code I mentioned is the key code for installing the Win 98.
I don't think I've got access to anything that is 98 so is there a way that you know of creating the start up / repair disk from the win98 cd on another system?

thetheboy

When you get windows 98 up and running download coolwebshredder from here
I got infected ages ago by similar...
also download mozzila firefox a different browser to i.e get it here
hope this helps

peter_the_planter

I don't remember that much about 98 but I don't think it was that fussy. If you can get/use another cd then that should work. Make the boot disk and continue from there. Maybe someone else has some further input.

statman

Thanks peter the planter, have used a link to get a 98 start up disk so will go round tomorrow and give that a go.
Then its back to take the next step.
Thanks to all again for the help.