VadaVaka

Well, since I messed with my comp so much trying to fix it the past week (I didn't know it was a virus until the campus told me, just figured it was something else), I've noticed some weird stuff with IE. First and most importantly (at least for my convenience) is that I can't seem to get to websites without typing the http://www. in the address bar. Before, and I'm sure with most everyone, you could just type in like espn.com and get the page. But when I do that and hit enter, nothing happens. It needs the full URL. I have no idea how to change this and didn't even realize it was a setting.

Second, I can't seem to copy text from other programs (i.e., MSN, Word) and paste into the address bar, and vice versa. That can be a pain when trying to show someone a link. However, for some reason, I can copy and paste between AIM and IE.

Third, and this is relatively minor if not for the copy/paste problem, I can't click on links in MSN Messenger and get sent to a page.

I figure someone here will know.

what OS you have?

XP Home.

I'm actually finding more annoying problems within Windows itself... I can't seem to click and drag stuff... I can't seem to play files with Windows Media Player... no copying and pasting...

The biggest problem is that I want to burn files I want to keep (music, not allowed to download through peer-to-peer programs on campus, documents, etc.), but I'm having trouble doing this because I can't drag the files... so I try moving it by right clicking and send to... nothing happens, like I didn't do anything at all. Can't copy and paste... I'm not sure if I have a program for making data cd's, probably do, but never use it, and would prefer not to, it's a shitload easier to click and drag. So now I can't even seem to backup my programs and just format my computer and reinstall windows and all the drivers and everything.

And Norton is not working... completely installed, but when I open it up it stays open for about 15 seconds and then just disappears, stops running, can't liveupdate. I don't think Norton is the problem because the computer has been a bit weird even before installing it.

did you reformat? how did you get rid of the virus?

Most viruses out now will disable your anti-virus program. G-boy...if I was in your shoes....total format and clean install.

As to the www in front of URL's....that is determined by the host of the website. When you set up a website on a server...you have to add host-header names to identify the folder that the site request is trying to go into on the server. Hence...you can have hundreds of websites from one server at one IP address. The thing that determines WHICH site (which folder to go into for the website files) is the name assigned to that site. If the administrator ONLY puts www.sitename.com in the hostheader settings for a website, you HAVE to type in www.sitename.com. If he adds a second header entry for just sitename.com in addition to the original with the www. then the person trying to find the site will hit it with both entries. If this setting is not set... sitename.com will not resolve to a site...only www.sitename.com. I know this doesn't help your virus problem, but it educates you in how webservers do the URL thingy.

If you think you are infected...search your registry for wierd entries.

Goto START/RUN
Type in REGEDIT in the box and hit OK.
Expand the HIVE KEY HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Expand SOFTWARE under this.
Expand Microsoft under this.
Expand Windows under this.
Expand CurrentVersion under this.
Then click once on the RUN folder under this. (Dont expand...click once.)

Look on the right frame now. These alr ALL the programs that start everytime you login. Most are ok and are needed. You can see the name of the program on the left under the Name column. To the right under the Data column you see the actual path to find that program. Look for a random letter Name in the Name column that looks out of place. If the path is to something you don't recognize, do a google search for the Name you see and see if anything comes up malicious. If you want to remove it, right click the Name and select delete. This is where the majority of viruses and spyware crap gets installed so that they start up when you boot. If you can kill it here, you can get your norton up to find it.
Go to the symantec.com site and look up the removal processes for viruses listed...they will usually tell you this exact process. You might want to look under the dozen NetSky viruses that are killing us and see what the registry entries look like and compare them to yours. Note: if you start in safe mode...you can keep alot of these from running so you can remove them.

Lemme know if you need any help. You can even call me if you want. Post in the cDh forums if you want this and I'll give you my cell number.

I got rid of the virus with stinger.exe because the university detected the virus and that's the program needed to get rid of it.

The plan is to reformat, but I'm not going to ditch my essential files.

The IE address bar thing is not due to the website's settings, because it's every site, ones that weren't like that before. And it's not like I hit enter and it says site not found or something, it just does absolutely nothing, like I didn't click or hit enter at all.

can you not go back to your last 'good' save on XP auto back up?

ALSO.....install and run Ad-Aware to make sure no spyware is changing your IE settings.
I've seen this alot lately.

Goto www.lavasoft.de
and get the free version 6. Run it and see what it finds.

Ive seen them change your default homepage to some ad...all kinds of frustration.

ad-aware is good, i find like 30 things whenever i run it, which is frequently. If the virus is gone you can always try reinstalling the programs IE and windows ect.

You find those 30 everytime cuz you didn't buy the pro version and it blocks them from coming back.
stay off those x-rated sites Anon.:blink:

I'll pretend I didnt read that :P

g-boy,Mar 18 2004, 10:02 PM Wrote:I got rid of the virus with stinger.exe because the university detected the virus and that's the program needed to get rid of it.

The plan is to reformat, but I'm not going to ditch my essential files.

The IE address bar thing is not due to the website's settings, because it's every site, ones that weren't like that before. And it's not like I hit enter and it says site not found or something, it just does absolutely nothing, like I didn't click or hit enter at all.

Firstly, going back to last good save won't fix this. Secondly, download a commandline version of a virus scanner if you really need to and then run that against your hard drive via a bootable floppy if and only if your drive is FAT32 not NTFS. Thirdly, the address bar thing is a feature of IE. The best solution you actually have to fix it, is to grab IE 6 SP1 and install it. You are probably already on that version, but it will reset various registry settings that will in turn resolve it. As far as not being able to click on links the above should fix that too.

Do you happen to know exactly which virus the University said you had ? Because if so that will help in knowing what to possibly look for in other problems.

Ad-Aware is good, but SpyBot Search & Destroy is better (found 16 critters that adaware missed). Sounds like you're toasted... if you can't burn a CD you can't reformat your drive without losing everything, but you gotta kill that bug. Go ahead, nuke it!

Of course you can get away without nuking. You just need the right tools. Btw, it's better to use both Adaware and S&D since they both leave things behind that the other picks up.

Bagle was the worm.

Have you any idea which Variant ? This disinfector will work standalone. However, you can also get a commandline scanner to check out whether your system is infected.