Cannot go to safe mode

Hi,

* Go here to run an online scanner from ESET.
  • Tick the box next to YES, I accept the Terms of Use.
  • Click Start
  • Make sure that the option Remove found threats is UNchecked.
  • Click Scan
  • Wait for the scan to finish

Post the report & a description of any remaining problems.
 
Good. Those will be removed after ComboFix is uninstalled and system restore resetted.


Are you still noticing any problems? If not, it's time to secure your system to prevent against further intrusions.


THESE STEPS ARE VERY IMPORTANT

Let's reset system restore
Reset and Re-enable your System Restore to remove infected files that have been backed up by Windows. The files in System Restore are protected to prevent any programs changing those files. This is the only way to clean these files: You will lose all previous restore points which are likely to be infected. Please note you need Administrator Access to do clean the restore points.

1. Turn off System Restore.
On the Desktop, right-click My Computer.
Click Properties.
Click the System Restore tab.
Check Turn off System Restore.
Click Apply, and then click OK.

2. Reboot.

3. Turn ON System Restore.
On the Desktop, right-click My Computer.
Click Properties.
Click the System Restore tab.
UN-Check *Turn off System Restore*.
Click Apply, and then click OK.
NOTE: only do this ONCE,NOT on a regular basis



Now lets uninstall ComboFix:
  • Click START then RUN
  • Now copy-paste Combofix /uninstall in the runbox and click OK


Please download OTC and save it to desktop.
  • Double-click OTC.exe.
  • Click the CleanUp! button.
  • Select Yes when the
    Begin cleanup Process?
    prompt appears.
  • If you are prompted to Reboot during the cleanup, select Yes.
  • The tool will delete itself once it finishes, if not delete it by yourself.

Note: If you receive a warning from your firewall or other security programs regarding OTC attempting to contact the internet, please allow it to do so.



UPDATING WINDOWS AND INTERNET EXPLORER

IMPORTANT: You Need to Update Windows and Internet Explorer to protect your computer from the malware that is around on the Internet. Please go to the windows update site to get the critical updates.

If you are running Microsoft Office, or any portion thereof, go to the Microsoft's Office Update site and make sure you have at least all the critical updates installed (Free) Microsoft Office Update.


Make your Internet Explorer more secure

This can be done by following these simple instructions:
From within Internet Explorer click on the Tools menu and then click on Options.
Click once on the Security tab
Click once on the Internet icon so it becomes highlighted.
Click once on the Custom Level button.
Change the Download signed ActiveX controls to Prompt
Change the Download unsigned ActiveX controls to Disable
Change the Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe to Disable
Change the Installation of desktop items to Prompt
Change the Launching programs and files in an IFRAME to Prompt
Change the Navigate sub-frames across different domains to Prompt
When all these settings have been made, click on the OK button.
If it prompts you as to whether or not you want to save the settings, press the Yes button.
Next press the Apply button and then the OK to exit the Internet Properties page.



The following are recommended third party programs that are designed to keep your computer clean. A link as well as a brief description is included with each item.

  • hosts file:
    • Every version of windows has a hosts file as part of them.
    • In a very basic sense, they are used to locate webpages.
    • We can customize a hosts file so that it blocks certain webpages.
    • However, it can slow down certain computers.
    • This is why using a hosts file is optional!!
    Download it here. Make sure you read the instructions on how to install the hosts file. There is a good tutorial here
    If you decide to download the hosts file, the slowdown problems can usually be avoided by following these steps:
    1. [*]Click the start button (at the lower left hand corner of your screen) [*]Click run [*]In the dialog box, type services.msc [*]hit enter, then locate dns client [*]Highlight it, then double-click it. [*]On the dropdown box, change the setting from automatic to manual. [*]Click ok
  • Run Secunia vulnerability check here and fix its findings.
  • Get Anti Virus Software and keep it updated - Most AVs will update automatically, but if not I would recommend making updating the AV the first job every time the PC is connected to the internet. An AV that is using defs that are seven days old is not going to be much protection. If you do not update your anti virus software then it will not be able to catch any of the new variants that may come out. Good free antivirus programs are:
    Antivir
    Avast!
    Good commercial ones are from:
    Kaspersky and
    ESET
  • Use a Firewall - I can not stress how important it is that you use a Firewall on your computer. Without a firewall your computer is susceptible to being hacked and taken over. Simply using a Firewall in its default configuration can lower your risk greatly. For more info, check this webpage out.
    If you don't have a 3rd party firewall or a router behind NAT then I recommend getting one. I recommend either Online Armor Free or Comodo Firewall Pro (If you choose Comodo: Uncheck during installation Install Comodo HopSurf.., Make Comodo my default search provider and Make Comodo Search my homepage and install firewall ONLY!). Both providers have support forums that help with configuration related questions.


Just a final reminder for you. I am trying to stress these two points.
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE!!! Make sure you do this about every 1-2 weeks.
Make sure all of your security programs are up to date.
Visit Microsoft's Windows Update Site Frequently - It is important that you visit http://www.windowsupdate.com regularly. This will ensure your computer has always the latest security updates available installed on your computer. If there are new updates to install, install them immediately, reboot your computer, and revisit the site until there are no more critical updates.


Once again, please post and tell me how things are going with your system... problems etc.

Have a great day,
Blade :cool:
 
Hi again,

Thank you! I've done the steps up to secunia check. Tomorrow I'm flying to another city till Friday. I wonder if this thread gets archived if nothing appears here till the weekend. I have to leave the rest of the steps till the weekend when I come back.

Thank you and have a nice day! Hopefully, we'll get in touch by the end of the week or next week.
 
Hi Blade,

I'm almost done with the updates: the computer showed me a long list of updates and they are being downloaded now (I'm a bit concerned that the yellow shield in the right bottom corner has been showing same it's 8% for a while). Anyway, assuming that the updating goes fine, I'd like to mention the following.
Fixed:
1) Search engines re-direct fixed.
2) I can open the Windows/system32 folder without the computer crashing.
3) I can go to safe mode.
Concerns:
1) When going to safe mode, the conputer still asks if I want to press Esc in opred to skip running the SPTD driver. the SPTD.sys is still in the windows/system32/drivers folder (even though I tried to uninstall it with Start > run > devmgmg.msc > uninstall SPTD [as I've written in my first post]). I've googled and read a bit about sptd.sys. Apparently, it is a vertual drive related file from deamon or something. I used to have deamon, but haven't had it for a while. The sptd.sys might have been left after I'd uninstalled the deamon virtual drive.
2) Again about virtual drives, when I ran combofix it said at the beginning something like this: you have emulation drivers, combofix is going to temporarily stop them. Sorry if this does not make any sence to you, I may have forgotten the message too much. I guess it means something about virtual drivers. So, what I'm trying to say is: how can I get rid of these old virtual drive files that I don't need any more?

I see that updates download has moved up to 13%, so at least I know it's not frozen.

Thank you very much.

Regards,
Guych.
 
Hi,

To uninstall that virtual driver, download this and start it. Click "uninstall" to remove the driver.
 
I've started the program that you provided. But it said that no SPTD version was detected, and the "uninstall" button was inactive.
I think I have uninstalled the virtual drive itself a while ago. I think some files, like the SPTD was left on the computer after that. Is there anything that can be done, please? I know it doesn't prevent the computer from working OK, but it kinda bugs me...
Thank you.
 
I've started the program that you provided. But it said that no SPTD version was detected, and the "uninstall" button was inactive.
I think I have uninstalled the virtual drive itself a while ago. I think some files, like the SPTD was left on the computer after that. Is there anything that can be done, please? I know it doesn't prevent the computer from working OK, but it kinda bugs me...
Thank you.
 
Hi,

Please download the Registry Search tool by clicking on the
hard drive
icon halfway down this page:
http://www.billsway.com/vbspage/
Save it to the desktop and run it. If you get an alert from your antivirus about scripting, choose to allow the script to run. Search for sptd.sys and click OK. Post the logfile from the tool here for me.
 
Hi,

I've run the search and for 3 times it say that it did not find anything. Then on the next time it did....

Here is the report:

REGEDIT4
; RegSrch.vbs © Bill James

; Registry search results for string "sptd.sys" 30/03/2010 11:18:50

; NOTE: This file will be deleted when you close WordPad.
; You must manually save this file to a new location if you want to refer to it again later.
; (If you save the file with a .reg extension, you can use it to restore any Registry changes you make to these values.)


[HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-2025429265-1935655697-839522115-1003\Software\Microsoft\Search Assistant\ACMru\5603]
"000"="sptd.sys"
 
Hi,

Click Start then Run
Type in regedit
Click Ok.

In left pane of registry editor, Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\sptd

Let me know if you can find that and note down value of "Start".
 
Good. Try to right click sptd there and select delete option. See if it gets deleted.
 
Hi,

There're chances that you might get rid of it if you first use the installer (SPTD file) I linked earlier to install and then uninstall the driver. If that doesn't solve it then I'd let the thing be since it won't cause any issues there.
 
Hi Blade,

Thanks, I did this and sptd.sys is not in the windows/system32/drivers folder any more. Additionally, the computer doesn't ask me if I want to press esc to skip downloading sptd.sys when I go into safe mode.
However, sptd is still in the registry editor and I still cannot delete it from there. Anyway, you'd know better if it is worth the efforts to get rid of it fully.
There were about 80 updates for windows and I've got free Avira's AntiVir running (previously, Kaspersky had been outdated for a few months). So hopefully, I'm a bit more secure now.
Thank you very much!
Have a nice weekend!
Guych.
 
You're welcome :)

I'd leave that registry entry alone since it won't affect anything. It's hard to get removed.
 
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