Pls HELP

[facemg]

Hi all,

Im new here and think I have a Virus or Trojan on my pc.The other day all weird stuff happend on my pc,windows icons changing , pc crashing ect. I ran "The Cleaner" and it found a trojan called "Trojan Runner" which it got rid of for me. However,the problem continued so I downloaded "AVG" which picked up that I had a trojan called "Trojan Dropper". AVG,got rid of the Trojan Dropper and using the AVG I tried to run a "Redundant Scan",the scan was running fine till it gets to a file in the windows folder called "HOTMAIL.EXE" when the scan hits that file it locks up? Can somone please tell me what this file is as I have never used HOTMAIL and I want to know if its just somepart of windows that Im free to delete or is it another Trojan?.I have used like for virus checkers and they all say its not a virus or trojan but Id really like to be sure.

Thanks in advance
Face

[Ennis]

My god man....my god...

[petemcevoy]

Thats sound advice there Ennis, nice one.
Facemg - you can delete the file "hotmail.exe" its not a part of windows, sounds to me like you've taken a hammering though - might be worth your while doing a format/re-install. Before connecting your pc to the internet again, i'd take a look at the configuration, either your blithely opening e-mail attachments or there's some serious holes in your system - either way, it would be advisable to do some research and figure out whats going on with your pc - posting here isn't a bad start - have a look through some of the other posts as there's some sound advice on how to achieve a more secure setup with your windows box.
Knowledge is king.

[facemg]

Just want to say thanks for you for your help.I have deleted it as you said but was wondering if you could tell me what "HOTMAIL.EXE" was.

short note: why is it that no matter how many times you explain that your a beginner on the subject of virus and trojans and pcs in general ,and then go ahead and explain your problem you will always get "idiots" replying to your question with stupid comments like "my god,my god" why do they bother to reply just to make light of a problem that is serious to the indivdual thats writing it.

once again, thanks for taking my problem seriously enough to help me.

[knightmb]

Originally posted by facemg
Just want to say thanks for you for your help.I have deleted it as you said but was wondering if you could tell me what "HOTMAIL.EXE" was.

short note: why is it that no matter how many times you explain that your a beginner on the subject of virus and trojans and pcs in general ,and then go ahead and explain your problem you will always get "idiots" replying to your question with stupid comments like "my god,my god" why do they bother to reply just to make light of a problem that is serious to the indivdual thats writing it.

once again, thanks for taking my problem seriously enough to help me.

Don't worry about them

Hotmail.exe isn't used (as far as I remember) for any windows operation. Go ahead and nuke the file. Also try this if it's windows 95,98,ME

• Goto the Run menu
• type in msconfig and press enter
• this will allow you to see everything starting up, look for anything suspcious or if you want, just post everything here that shows in the startup (paths included). I can probably tell you what should and shouldn't be there.
• Also is it a compaq, dell, or HP system? Those come with a lot of system tools that run be default when the system starts, might save some cpu and RAM to remove them from startup

Give that a try, still having more problems, I'll try something else.

[petemcevoy]

Msconfig doesn't work in 95, sysedit and regedit are both useful though.

[Ennis]

Sometimes when you hear so much **** you just dont want to answer, mother,.

[Terr]

Originally posted by Ennis
Sometimes when you hear so much **** you just dont want to answer, mother,.

I belive it DOES work with Win95, only it doesn't come with it, AFAIK.

[KapperDog]

You can go to Tauscan and download a proggy that will scan your puter for trojans.

[Simon Templer]

For facemg

Jeez, sounds like you were just loaded with trojans... I'm just curious what you were doing that might have led to the infection?

Ways to Help Protect your Comp from Trojans and Etc:

1. Invest in a good virus scanner ( I recommend Norton, but someone might know a better one)
2. Don't download stuff you dont need, also included in this rule is dont open email attachments from people you don't know.
3. Check OS startup entries: (Registry, AutoExec, Startup Folder)
As mentioned you can use Sysedit, MsConfig, Regedit, etc

Here are a few places to look for suspious entries:

Places to look in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices

Places to look in the Win.INI:
"load="
"run="
normally these are left empty

Note: Check the AutoExec.bat for odd entries

Also as mentioned it prolly wouldnt be a bad idea to format your drive.

Good Luck I hope this helps alittle!