Manual Removal Guide for Zinblog

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

If this guide was helpful to you, please consider donating towards this site.

Threat Details:

Categories:

• trojan

Description:

Zinblog disguises as "Task Manager" to run at system start and eats up system resources. Also changes the startpage of the Internet Explorer. Also loads CoolWWWSearch.OleHelp on the victim´s PC.

Removal Instructions:

Autorun:

Please use Spybot-S&D, RunAlyzer or msconfig.exe to remove the following autorun entries.

• Entries named "Task Manager" and pointing to "<$WINDIR>\svhost32.exe".

Files:

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

• The file at "<$DESKTOP>\zin.exe".
• The file at "<$WINDIR>\svchost.exe".
• The file at "<$WINDIR>\svhost32.exe".

Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If Zinblog 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!

Registry:

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

• Delete the registry value "Search Page=http://zinblog.com" at "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\".
• Delete the registry value "Start Page=http://zinblog.com" at "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\".

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

Browser:

The following browser plugins or items can either be removed directly in your browser, or through the help of e.g. Spybot-S&D or RunAlyzer.

• Please check your bookmarks for links to "http://64.26.25.75".
• Please check your bookmarks for links to "http://lucyblog.com".
• Please check your bookmarks for links to "http://unitedreporters.org".
• Please check your bookmarks for links to "http://zinblog.com".

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.