About:blank has hijacke me

[Christechie]

I'm actually working on friends PC, which has Win XP Home on it. Three kids use the PC, on a broadband connection and the PC only has NAV and Symantec Spam protection. Needless to say, there is all kinds of SpyWare loaded, some of which is loading at startup.

I've installed the trial version of Spy Sweeper and each time I run a scan, more SpyWare is uncovered. It seems to never end. I'm about to have the PC's owner buy the full version of Spy Sweeper, so I can have the most current definitions.

They have NAV 2004, and I've updated the current virus defs and ran a scan. But no matter what I do, I can't seem to get rid of about:blank. Just when the PC looks clean, IE launches multiple times, taking me to all sorts of web sites. Spy Sweeper keeps sensing the changes to the IE home page and IE search pages, but even if I select remove the changes, they keep coming back.

What is the best way to rid this PC of about:blank? Please help!!! Thanks!

[vikeor]

im having trouble with that and searchbars.. one keeps popping up at the bottom of my screen and its super annoying and i cant get rid of it =\

[pphalan]

Sounds like your going to have to do a manuel uninstall.The reason is the spyware you have is reinstalling itself from a program you downloaded.Ncase is one that comes with a tool bar or other" legitimate program" Search the web for each of your problems and you will find step by step instructions about each one.You will be suprised at how many people are hit by them.The last malware I did a search on gave me 437000 hits.

[implexant]

I agree with pphalan: format and reinstall. You'll probably never fully get rid of the spyware. When you reload, load AVG FREE Edition for anti-virus, and Spysweeper for the spyware protection. I've had alot of success with that combo.

O yes, and make sure they don't use IE. Change to Firefox or Opera. Most spyware comes in through IE.

-Chris

[originel]

yeah a re-format would definitely help. It also couldn't hurt to set up multiple accounts, giving the kids their own account with limited access should cut down even more. Or switch to linux j/k...prolly not for you

[paul9]

three handy links, just in case you haven't tried them;
www.lavasoft.de -adaware se (free)
www.spybot.info - spybot s&d (free)
www.mozilla.org - firefox/mozilla (free)
notice a common theme? i'm a really cheap person

[pphalan]

Dont forget a firewall
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/conten...eeDownload.jsp
Zone Labs:
FREE

[proffit]

ok here id the deal i delt with this a few months ago just go threw what i did and it should get rid of it. http://www.techimo.com/forum/t118411.html

[digby0668]

Have you turned off system restore before you run spysweeper or your anti-virus software?

[Christechie]

A lot has happened since my original post. I have since gotten rid of about:blank and have updated to the registered version of SpySweeper. I've updated to the latest defs. for the program. Each sweep reveals 2 items:
Running Threat CWS_NS3 atlvq32.exe
Elite Bar

I select them both and move them to Quarantine. I get the following message:
C:\windows\system32\atlvq32.exe is in use. It will be removed on reboot.

I open up Quarantine and remove the 2 entries. SpySweeper says they are removed. I then re-boot and run another sweep. These same 2 items are again detected.

It seems that one or both are running in memory, so they are not fully being removed. I've tried a Selective Startup in msconfig, so that the startup items are not loaded. I've manually removed any entries in the Registry that reference either of these 2 items. I've manually removed this atlvq32.exe file.

I've heard that CWS_NS3 is nearly impossible to remove and so far it is true. Can anyone offer any assistance? Thanks again!