Manual Removal Guide for Win32.Qhost

Friday

Active member
Alpha Testers
The following instructions have been created to help you to get rid of "Win32.Qhost" 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:
  • trojan
Description:
Win32.Qhost drops malicious Visual Basic script into a program directory. Once run it connects to a remote web server and creates several hosts redirects for Russian mail servers.​
Removal Instructions:

Files:

Please use Windows Explorer or another file manager of your choice to locate and delete these files.
  • The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\photo will appear\Top Dog of the Week\cat\WichitaKansase.bat".
  • The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\photo will appear\Top Dog of the Week\dog\besthoice.paws".
  • The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\photo will appear\Top Dog of the Week\dog\seaonbyonethisweeken.vbs".
  • The file at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\photo will appear\Top Dog of the Week\dog\teenageboyandhisparents.vbs".
Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If Win32.Qhost uses rootkit technologies, use the rootkit scanner integrated into Spybot-S&D 2.x 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!

Important: There are more files that cannot be safely described in simple words. Please use Spybot-S&D to remove them.

Folders:

Please use Windows Explorer or another file manager of your choice to locate and delete these folders.
  • The directory at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\photo will appear\Top Dog of the Week\cat".
  • The directory at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\photo will appear\Top Dog of the Week\dog".
  • The directory at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\photo will appear\Top Dog of the Week".
  • The directory at "<$PROGRAMFILES>\photo will appear".
Make sure you set your file manager to display hidden and system files. If Win32.Qhost 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!

Hosts:

The host file is a local address book for Internet pages. It is sometimes used by malware to block certain domains, or to silently redirect them.
Spybot-S&D or RunAlyzer will show its content to you; you can also us a text editor to locate and edit the file "hosts" (most likely in C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\).
  • Check the hosts file entry for the domain "*".
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.
 
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