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Possible trojan/virus, need help on getting rid of it?

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Krizalid99v2

Technical User
Sep 8, 2005
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OS: Windows XP Pro SP2
Firewall: ZoneAlarm Pro
AntiVirus: AVG Free Edition
Spyware: Spybot + the on-scan for spyware (detects registry changes and allows you to choose whether it should be allowed or not, i think this is the TeaTimer.exe that comes with Spybot)

Okay yesterday after I switched on my computer and landed into the desktop. After the usual programs have loaded, the SpyBot spyware on-scanner repeatedly kept popping up informing me of registry changes - saying something about deleting values.

Because I was dead tired at the time and the fact that in the past this happened anyway, I clicked 'Allow' to all of them, thinking it was nothing major (i just clicked allows without reading the info properly).

Then the next time I restart the machine I noticed my ZA firewall and many other programs in the taskbar wasn't loading up (such as my SoundMAX audio). I thought this may have been a bad load up so I rebooted, and same thing happened.

Eventually I had to manually enable the ZA firewall, AVG and the SoundMAX audio to get them up.

I then tried to uninstall and re-install ZA to fix the problem, but after I reinstalled ZA windows was still telling me the firewall has been shut down. Nevertheless after I went on the net ZA re-appeared and it now seems fine.

Then later, a file called system32.exe came up and kept trying to get the net access, only for me to block it with the firewall. This seems to have gone now for some reason, but then later a file named csrss.exe kept on wanting net access and I denied it.

I went into Safe Mode and did virus scans and spyware scans, AVG picked up something from the Temporary internet cache folder and deleted it - not sure if this was the problem. SpyBot picked up nothing. I also deleted a csrss.exe file from C:\WINDOWS\Config because that seemed suspicious when you compared it to the other two on the system (the one I deleted had a 'install box' icon instead of the 'dos' icon). When I rebooted, Windows asked for the csrss.exe file as a result of me removing it, but things seem to working fine.

I have now got it to a state where everything seems to be working, programs are loading up, however a file named TeaTimer.exe (which is meant to be SpyBot's live-scan thing) keeps popping up wanting the get the net access, and when I deny it on ZA firewall, SpyBot then keeps on coming up with non-stop warnings of 'registry change denied' as shown here in this picture:


It's non-stop, just keeps popping up until I stop it from the task manager processes (TeaTimer.exe).

This is the ZA warning beforehand, and if you click 'Deny' thats when the above will happen with SpyBot.


It seems my SoundMAX audio doesn't seem to work anymore, as you can see in the picture - it has a red 'stop' icon on it.

So it seems my machine is not clean yet, has TeaTimer.exe turned into virus/trojan?

Can anyone help me clear it out?

Any help will be most appreciated, thanks for your time.
 
Download HiJackThis, do a scan and paste it here for our discernment...

check out Pechenegs post (2nd one from the top), he is like the resident GhostBuster ;), in this thread:

PS: There is a dedicated Virus/Spyware Discussion Forum here, see - forum760 ...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
 
Have you tried a System Restore to a few days before this event? I don't like Spybot's TeaTimer, it's as annoying as Vista's UAC. Personally, I'd disable it.

Tony

Users helping Users...
 
Well here's a HijackThis log I made:


As for System Restore, no I haven't used it in years as I already had it turned OFF in the in the My Computer Properties section, but haven't unchecked it in the Services area. I have unchecked it now though and have restarted the computer. Funnily enough TeaTimer.exe has stopped asking to get to the net...

As for un-installing and re reinstalling SpyBot I haven't done that yet.

I've found out that after I deleted the csrss.exe from C:\WINDOWS\Config Windows gives me an error message when I boot up saying it cannot find it. I wonder if it was genuine, or just the possible malware/trojan playing it's tricks?

As for the links provided, they are quite remarkable, I will try them if you guys cannot determine from the results of the log.

Anyway hope you guys can help, thanks in advance.
 
These two look nasty.

F2 - REG:system.ini: Shell=Explorer.exe C:\WINDOWS\Config\csrss.exe
O1 - Hosts: 66.98.148.65 auto.search.msn.es

These two look unnecessary.
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {7E853D72-626A-48EC-A868-BA8D5E23E045} - (no file)
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {CD67F990-D8E9-11d2-98FE-00C0F0318AFE} - (no file)

These two require checking that you know the reason for data being present.

O16 - DPF: {C5E28B9D-0A68-4B50-94E9-E8F6B4697516} (NsvPlayX Control) - O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\..\{2D6823C0-8C62-4631-967E-2098DDDA336B}: NameServer = 92.31.242.20 92.31.242.21



As far as TeaTimer is concerned I would be inclined to uncheck it from SpyBot S+D and just run with SDhelper as your Resident setting. I stopped using TeaTimer early on in XP as I found it to be a bit buggy, mind you that was several years ago now.

ZoneAlarm too has its faults and often pops up as a cause of strange problems in this forum. The inbuilt Windows firewall is adequate for most people, but some like the extra security of a third party firewall. If you are behind a Router that is firewalled then maybe you can review your firewall needs?

Are you surfing as an Administrator user? That's the easiest way to get your machine infected, as limited users do not have permission to write files to folders like System32/Config, especially if you are using the NTFS file system and not the less secure FAT32.
 
I agree with Linney's and Wahnula's assessment on TeaTimer . Both ZA and TeaTimer, monitor the Registry and certain changes that occur, and by denying the running of TeaTimer through ZA, TeaTimer notices that it can not modify a certain Reg Key, and complains about it it... So just turn TT off and you should be happy to go...

Now concerning the LOG, note the following:

O2 - BHO: (no name) - {7E853D72-626A-48EC-A868-BA8D5E23E045} - (no file)

This is the Windows Live Messenger and should be left alone if you need/use it (according to the screenshot, you use Messenger)...

O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {CD67F990-D8E9-11d2-98FE-00C0F0318AFE} - (no file)

This is the IE integration of the REAL PLAYER Software, and can be fixed or ignored... personally I would fix it... Throw REAL PLAYER from your system, and replace it with the REAL PLAYER ALTERNATIVE (can be found Here), RP is known to do a little spying on its users, e.g what kind off clips one views etc. read:
You should not have run the LOG while you where on the WEB, that is the reason why Linney pointed out the following to be checked...
O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\..\{2D6823C0-8C62-4631-967E-2098DDDA336B}: NameServer = 92.31.242.20 92.31.242.21
as the above is 99% likely to be your ISP (Opal Telecom UK)...

and the entries that Linney described as being possible Nasty, need to be fixed ASAP...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
 
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