Serious attack .

[Parangles]

Kids laptop. Its affecting MSN Messenger- " message cannot be
sent to recipient" Cant get into msconfig, AVG, Trendmicro, etc.
they open momentarily and close in a split second before you can
move the cursor onto anything. Ran Adaware and SpybotS&D but no help.
The FF Google homepage was hijacked by 'VirushelpZone.com"
but that was corrected .There is some certificate request coming up
for c.msn.com that looks suspicious.
Anybody had this?

EDIT: Going to try it in Safe Mode later and will report back.

[Parangles]

Ran them all in Safe Mode -nothing found. Deleted everything in StartUp.
Rebooted and VirusHelpZone has again hijacked the Homepage.
When I Google ' HijackThis' , Firefox closes and I'm back at the desktop.
Maybe I can load it from another machine?
There seems to be a law against everything except breathing, here in the USA,
how come these guys can do this ?
Any remedy ?

[rjfvillarosa]

What OS is running on that laptop?

[pam123]

Ran them all in Safe Mode -nothing found. Deleted everything in StartUp.
Rebooted and VirusHelpZone has again hijacked the Homepage.
When I Google ' HijackThis' , Firefox closes and I'm back at the desktop.
Maybe I can load it from another machine?
There seems to be a law against everything except breathing, here in the USA,
how come these guys can do this ?
Any remedy ?

I did some googling and found this : http://www.bullguard.com/forum/8/Virus-wont-let-me-run-hijackth_29021.html

As for laws, yes there are federal as well as state.
Who's your local DA?
There's also the FTC : The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint or to get free information on consumer issues, visit www.ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

[Parangles]

rjf: thanks- XP on the laptop.
Found a small tool ' MsnVirRem ' with a Google.
Seems to have removed a variation of the W32.chod.D worm, OK.
I'll watch it and get back if not.

Its interesting that there are 62 different threads started since yesterday
in the Malware section of Major Geeks forum by people who are infected.
Very few here at PcMech . Lots of posts here- just very few in 'Security'

Pam- sorry about the whine ! These infections are big time wasters.
Why should I have to file a complaint with FTC ? Dont they use computers ?
They MUST know whats going on.

Cheers,
Chris

[glc]

What is the FTC going to do about stuff that comes from offshore? There are countries out there that frankly don't care - it's like offshore gambling and banking. A litttle palm greasing goes a long way.