A day in the life of a computer repair tech

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ZLOB Downloader SmitFraud problem Bethesda MD

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Thanks for stopping by.

Hi Joanne, of Bethesda, MD.  I am glad I was able to help you out with your ZLOB Downloader / Smitfraud problem.

When I arrived on-site I saw that Joanne’s computer had been infected by ZLOB, and Smitfraud.  It had the tell-tale applications showing on the desktop, etc.

I had with me the latest versions of ATF-Cleaner, ComboFix, Hijack This, and SpyBot. So I could get right to work.

First I installed, and ran ATF-Cleaner.  ATF-Cleaner removes many different types of temporary files.  Many viruses, trojans, and other types of malware “hide” as temporary files, so getting rid of all of the temp files can be a big help in curing your computer.

Then I ran Combo-Fix.  There are risks (as combo-fix itself tells you).  ComboFix is a specialized tool.  It won’t find, and cure your computer of the thousands of viruses that Norton, or McAfee will, but it targets the Virtumundo, and SmitFraud strain of malware.  Combo-Fix ran just fine.

After ComboFix had finished doing what it does, I used Hijack This to clean out anything that appeared malicious.  In this case there were 4 different users defined for this computer, so I had to go user, to user, looking at the Hijack This log, and deciding which entries were likely malicious.

Finally I ran Spybot to see if there was anything else going on.  I tried it in normal mode, first, but that just did not cut it. It was unable to remove some  ZLOB related items in normal mode.  I re-ran it in Safe Model and it ran just fine.

With the four different user id’s defined for the computer, it took a little while to get the above done, but I was able to eradicate the trojan, and it’s accompanying bit of malware.

Thanks!

At WatzaNetwork? we offer you help with your PC, Mac, Blackberry, Palm, Router, DSL, or Cable modem.

We provide at your site services in Montgomery, and Frederick counties MD, including

Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village, Germantown, Rockville, Potomac, Darnestown, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring (including Liesure World), Clarksburg, Urbana, Ijamsville, and Frederick, MD.

Or see our computer products store. We sell PCs ( XP and Vista ), Macs, Routers, etc.

March 23, 2008 Posted by Bob | Computer Repair, computer virus | , , , , | 1 Comment

WinXP Win98se sharing problem Norton Internet Security Problem in Potomac, MD

THERE IS NO WARRANTY IMPLIED IN ANY WAY FOR ANY OF THE INFORMATION FOUND IN THIS BLOG. I HOPE YOU FIND THIS BLOG HELPFUL, BUT USE THE INFORMATION HERE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Hey Craig, of Autumn Wood Way, in Potomac,

I am glad I was able to help you get your old Win98SE computer onto your Network.

Craig has an old Dell Dimension 4100, a much newer Dell Dimension 8400, and a new notebook with Windows Vista.

He wanted to be able to share a folder between his Win98SE Dell, and his WinXP Home machine. It should have been pretty simple. I turned on file and printer sharing on his older system, and also on his XP system. Shared a folder on the older system, and then tried to map to it from the new system.

Two problems

  1. The XP system was not seeing the older Dell on the network at all, and
  2. The Older Dell’s keyboard was not working very well. Some critical keys were not working.

The keyboard problem needed to be solved first. Of course WinXP has the “keyboard on screen” option, but not Win98. So I downloaded a virtual keyboard, and was then able to type again.

With the virtual keyboard I was able to change the workgroup, and also explicitly map \\new_dell_name to the newer dell.

Still no luck. So I started to look around to figure out what could be blocking. On the old Dell Craig had an old version of Norton Internet Security, that was disabled, and also no longer current. Norton, as well as just about all of the other software firewalls are complicated, and thus prone to failure. Don’t get me wrong, I like Norton Internet Security, but like McAfee, and Zone Alarm, and all the rest … software firewalls break the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) rule, and thus are prime suspects when you have problems.

Sure enough. I removed Norton Internet Security ( 2004 version, I think), and the file sharing then worked.

Thanks for stopping by.

At WatzaNetwork? we offer you help with your PC, Mac, Blackberry, Palm, Router, DSL, or Cable modem.

We provide at your site services in Montgomery, and Frederick counties MD, including

Gaithersburg, Montgomery Village, Germantown, Rockville, Potomac, Darnestown, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring (including Liesure World), Clarksburg, Urbana, Ijamsville, and Frederick, MD.

Or see our computer products store. We sell PCs ( XP and Vista ), Macs, Routers, etc.

March 23, 2008 Posted by Bob | Computer Repair, computer virus, network problem | , , , , | No Comments Yet