Manual Removal Guide for Benjamin

The following instructions have been created to help you to get rid of "Benjamin" manually.
Use this guide at your own risk; software should usually be better suited to remove malware, since it is able to look deeper.

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Threat Details:

Categories:

• worm

Description:

Symantec information: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.benjamin.worm.html
McAfee information: http://vil.mcafee.com/dispVirus.asp?virus_k=99495

Supposed Functionality:

A worm working with the P2P network KaZaA. Cloaks itself with filenames of popular downloads. If downloaded, creates a new folder in your System directory, shares it, and makes multiple copies of itself in it.

Links (be careful!):

Symantec: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.benjamin.worm.html
McAfee information: http://vil.mcafee.com/dispVirus.asp?virus_k=99495

Removal Instructions:

Files:

Please use Windows Explorer or another file manager of your choice to locate and delete these files.

• The file at "<$SYSDIR>\Explorer.scr".

Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If Benjamin uses rootkit technologies, use our RootAlyzer or our Total Commander anti-rootkit plugins.
You will have to use a global search for files without a name specified. Be extra careful, because just the name might not be enough to identify files!

Folders:

Please use Windows Explorer or another file manager of your choice to locate and delete these folders.

• The directory at "<$WINDIR>\Temp\Sys32".

Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If Benjamin uses rootkit technologies, use our RootAlyzer or our Total Commander anti-rootkit plugins.
You will have to use a global search for files without a name specified. Be extra careful, because just the name might not be enough to identify folders!

Registry:

You can use regedit.exe (included in Windows) to locate and delete these registry entries.

• Delete the registry value "syscod" at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\".

If Benjamin uses rootkit technologies, use our RegAlyzer, RootAlyzer or our Total Commander anti-rootkit plugins.

Final Words:

If neither Spybot-S&D nor self help did resolve the issue or you would prefer one on one help,

1. Please read these instructions before requesting assistance,
2. Then start your own thread in the Malware Removal Forum where a volunteer analyst will advise you as soon as available.