Its got me beat !!

Hello Greg,
AVG is pretty good for a free anti virus program but, it doesn't have what it takes to combat some of the more agressive viruses. Free will only get you so far. Invest in Norton or McAffe anti virus for more complete protection.
Dialer will usually put a dialerxxx.exe, or some variant of the name, in the root of C: or the root of the Windows directory. Boot the computer in Safe mode and do a search for "dialer", without the quotation marks. Windows has a dialer file that is legit, dialer.exe. To verify the authenticity of any dialers the search uncovers for you, right click on each executable dialer and sellect "Properties". Under "Version" you will find if this is a Microsoft file or an imposter. Rename the file extension, of any non Microsoft dialers to bad, such as dialerxxx.bad. Next, run msconfig and uncheck any box that refers to dialer. Now go to the Control Panel>Internet Options and delete your Temporary Internet Files and clear the History. While under the Internet Options, click on the Programs tab and reset your programs to Default, including your Home page. Now you can open Internet Explorer and click on Favorites and remove anything from your Favorites list that you do not want there. Check this list closely.
Check your host file for redirects. Do a search on host and double click the file " hosts " without a file extention at the end of it. Make sure that the listing is -
127.0.0.1 localhost
remove any other entries.
OK, boot back into Normal mode, whatever that is suppose to infer, and go to :
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/
and click on Check for security risks. Do an online virus scan of your computer and follow Symantec's removal instructions for any viruses the scan may find.
...... continued

...... from previous post
Once you are certain that your system is virus free, remove AVG and install a fresh copy of either Norton or McAfee. Get all the updates available and then get all of the Windows Critical Updates. Considering your download speed(?), you will be better off ordering the update disk from Microsoft. A small shipping charge is the only fee.

I hope this helps you.

I worked on PC with same problem, tried the spybot,adware, cwsheredder and no luck. Finally spyblaster program. Took care of it.
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

or
http://majorgeeks.com/download2858.html
Hope this helped.

If you dont wanna spend money. Get stinger.exe by mscaffee. It's a free download and will remove any new viruses. Once that is gone. updte and run avg you should then be fine.

hummm if you use an always on DSL connection and you don't have a router, but use Windows XP Home's built in firewall AND have more than one computer connecting to the internet, I suggest you get one. Routers have the ability to block at the WAN port ICMP ping, IGMP multicast, PPTP, L2TP along with providing NAT to LAN computers. Think of a router as the first layer, and the firewall on the LAN computer as the second layer, the spybot programs as a 3rd layer, the AV program the 4th layer, and machine security like requiring passwords, and machine security settings as the 5th layer of protection. The more layers they have to go through the harder it is to get in.

Some bug/virus/trojan writers are now using the IGMP broadcast to get their programs out. So if you leave your computer running [sometimes even when it's not running it can happen] while away on vacation thinking you've got a firewall and AV and your safe, that might not be the case.
taken from IGMP article on
IGMP Overview http://www.zyxel.com/support/supportnote/ves1012/app/igmpsnoop.htm

Traditionally, IP packets are transmitted in one of either two ways - Unicast (1 sender to 1 recipient) or Broadcast (1 sender to everybody on the network). Multicast delivers IP packets to just a group of hosts on the network. If your computer firewall doesn't block IGMP broadcast traffic, your vunderable. multicast traffic is treated in the same manner as broadcast traffic, that is , it is forwarded to all ports

Notepad will open the host file.

Are you saying that you do not know which application will open the host file or will it not open with notepad?

What is your OS?

Let me know with a comment, please. I feel rejected enough already. *smile*

With a very tight budget, i've tried several of spyware scanners (demos only), found out that spysweeper (freeware version) combined with the url below works well, if not good enough.

http://www.spywareguide.com/txt_onlinescan.html

hope this helps

Unidentified

I know you don't want to format your PC and have to reinstall all of your system updates, etc., however....with the time you have spent on this problem, you could have done that a couple of times over!

I suggest you FDISK and format, reinstall your operating system and then, take your CPU to a friends house who has a broadband connection. Plug into their network and download all of the patches, etc. within a few minutes.

I did this for a friend of mine, and not only does the system start fresh and clean, but we got to have a couple of drinks while the process completed!

Don't forget to backup any necessary documents, folders, settings, etc., prior to formatting.

I just think this is something that will keep getting worse before it gets better! ;)

Good luck!

Install Zone Alarm (it's free and good) and try to block unknown or suspicious outbound traffic. Some malware uses innocent sounding names close to Windows services and apps. Chase name down using search function and look for publisher info under properties as described in prior response.

XP firewall is for incoming only and not very effective.

If the critter can't call home, you may be able to remove it once and for all.

Addendum to above.

When you run Ad-Aware select custom scanning options and enable all.

Apparently, AVG will not run in safe mode. Don't know why, but it doesn't.

Just make sure that u always update your scanner's reference file just like updating your virus definition.

When using trial versions of softwares keep in mind that it is limited in clout as the full version, (ad-watch in adaware is not loaded in trial version) which is sort of like Vshield.

Plus browsing the internet makes you very susceptible to this attack specially downloading files.

This may sound tasky but u always have to update and scan repeatedly

Have you checked Run and RunOnce in the registry? Startup? And might as well check Autoexec.nt, config.nt , win.ini, and system.ini.

Rural,

Try this. go to Hauriusa.net and download the trial version of Hauri Anti Virus. Make sure to update the virus defs.

Then...disable your system restore
scan with hauri and delete all files that it catches, clean your cache, temp files, history folder, cookies folder, recycle bin, reboot, then re-enable system restore.

Good Luck~!!

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