Thread: Hijacked ..???? help please.

first of all ..i am no expert so please bare with me .. last night i strated to chat . with a regular contact on MSN messenger. at the start of the chat my contact suggested i click onto a site which they typed in as it may be of interest to me .
i did this & after watching a short animated 'cartoon' , i lost all connection to MSN.
i find out this morning that i was not actually chatting to my regular contact , but maybe someone else , as they now have the same problem as myself.
i also got an icon in the bottom of my screen saying ' you may be a victim of software counterfitting'.
i am unable to access msn outlook & messenger ...
i would be very greatfull of any help..would appear that i may not be the only person with this problem.
i did a virus check & found nothing. system is windows XP.
many thanks

Hello there, is does sound like you have been attacked in some way!!

Have you run any anti spyware on your system

try the following
download AVG free antispyware http://free.grisoft.com/doc/avg-anti.../lng/us/tpl/v5 , install it and update the software.

Now turn of your system restore
start>settings>control panel>system>system restore - turn off system restore (please note this will lose all your restore points, but will stop any trojans or viruses returning)

Next reboot your pc into safe mode
1. Shut down Windows, and then turn off the power, then back on again
2. Start tapping the F8 key.
3. The Windows Advanced Options Menu appears. If you begin tapping the F8 key too soon, some computers display a "keyboard error" message.
To resolve this, restart the computer and try again.
4.Ensure that the Safe mode option is selected.
5.Press Enter. The computer then begins to start in Safe mode.

run avg and do a full system scan, this may take a while, remove everything it finds, once done reboot and scan again (hopefully it will be clean now)

Hi , many thanks for your suggestions, have just done exactly as your instructions, it did throw up .. trojan horse downloader. Istbar.qn/fileysb.dlll.
this was removed & scanned again when off safe mode . this time was all clear , but unfortunately i am still unable to access MSN .
i still have a blue star shaped icon on the bottom right of my screen which keeps telling me ' i may be a victim of software counterfeiting' .
your's 'frustrated'.

That blue star sounds like microsofts validation tool, did you run windows updates recently or did this only appear after the virus problem?

Also what happends when you try and use msn or email? any error messages?

thanks

hi the validation tool appeared directly after the problem started , my windows is genuine & supplied with my new sony pc.
when i attempt to sign into msn..it shows a sign counting numerous attempts to sign in then tells me i am not able to sign in.
i also find this morning that when trying to log into 2 of my bvank accounts ..i get a page telling me the page cannot be displayed.
many thanks.

Hi

Ok download HijackThis from here. Please don't attempt to fix anything yourself, just following the instructions below.

1. Download hijackthis.exe from the link above.
2. Make sure the program is on your C:drive root, not on your desktop or mydocuments etc.
Run hijackthis.exe and when the program has started, click the Scan button. The program will scan your system, it may take a few minutes.
3. Click the "Save Log" button and save the logfile to a location of your choice. The log file should then automatically open in a Notepad window.
4. In the Notepad windows, click the Edit menu and click Select All. Then click the Edit menu again and click Copy.
5. Go back to your chosen forum , start a new thread or reply to a thread you have already started. Click in the reply box and press your browsers Edit menu and then Paste.
6. We will take a look at your logfile to spot any problems and advise any fixes

Thanks

hi there, problem sorted !!!!... i contacted a friend in the 'know' this morning & after some time ...he downloaded a copy of windows on top of mine & it fixed it .
unfortunately when i logged onto msn explorer , i had to do it via one of my other hotmail addresses ...the one i was using when the problem hit was still unavailable & i suspect now lost...together with all my contacts.
anyway .... please accept my thanks for all your assistance ...nice to know there is a hand to hold out there.
regards .

Thanks for letting us know. A windows repair was a good idea, normally a last resort , but it seems to have done the trick for you.

Please bookmark us, and come back again if you have anymore questions or problems.

Thanks