Microsoft Page Jacking.

[Hans 01]

I run Win98 and recently downloaded the latest Ms Mediaplayer. This changed my Internet Explorer so that I'm stuck with msn.com as my default page. Also, the 'General Tab' was removed from my internet options, so I can no longer change the default page, nor can I delete cockies and history files with single clicks.
Does anyone know how to overcome this Ms predatory behaviour, ie how to get the 'General Tab' back again?
/ H

[Pieter_Arntz]

Hi Hans 01,

Please go to http://www.tomcoyote.org/hjt/, and download 'Hijack This!'.
Unzip, doubleclick HijackThis.exe, and hit "Scan".

When the scan is finished, the "Scan" button will change into a "Save Log" button.
Press that, save the log as a .txt file, and copy and paste its contents into your next post.

Most of what it lists will be harmless, so do not fix anything yet.

Regards,

Pieter

[Hans 01]

Tried the HijackThis as suggested. When I opened it, it displayed the DivX start pic and advised a new version of DivX player is available. I picked 'Download Later' and got a message 'couldn't open, pls check if it's a DivX or AVI file !!!
What did I do wrong?

[Pieter_Arntz]

Hi Hans 01,

Please download and install the free trial of http://www.winzip.com/ or a similar program to open the .zip file.

Regards,

Pieter

[Hans 01]

List as created by HijackThis :
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KERNEL32.DLL
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSGSRV32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MPREXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\mmtask.tsk
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSTASK.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\TREND MICRO\PC-CILLIN 2002\PCCIOMON.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\TREND MICRO\PC-CILLIN 2002\PCCPFW.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\TASKMON.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SYSTRAY.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\AOTRAY.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\LOADQM.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\TREND MICRO\PC-CILLIN 2002\PCCGUIDE.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\TREND MICRO\PC-CILLIN 2002\PCCCLIENT.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\TREND MICRO\PC-CILLIN 2002\POP3TRAP.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\AHEAD\INCD\INCD.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\SCANSOFT\OMNIPAGESE\OPWARE32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\DCFSSVC.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\STIMON.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\MSN MESSENGER\MSNMSGR.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\KODAK\KODAK EASYSHARE SOFTWARE\BIN\EASYSHARE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RNAAPP.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\TAPISRV.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\TREND MICRO\PC-CILLIN 2002\WEBTRAP.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DDHELP.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\OUTLOOK EXPRESS\MSIMN.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\PSTORES.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\INTERNET EXPLORER\IEXPLORE.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\WINZIP\WZQKPICK.EXE
C:\UNZIPPED\HIJACKTHIS\HIJACKTHIS.EXE

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = http://www.xxxtoolbar.com/ist/scripts/searchpages_manager.php
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page_bak = about:blank
R3 - URLSearchHook: (no name) - _{6E6DD93E-1FC3-4F43-8AFB-1B7B90C9D3EB} - (no file)
R3 - URLSearchHook: (no name) - _{CFBFAE00-17A6-11D0-99CB-00C04FD64497} - (no file)
O1 - Hosts: 217.116.231.7 aimtoday.aol.com
O1 - Hosts: 217.116.231.7 aimtoday.aol.com
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\ADOBE\ACROBAT 5.0\READER\ACTIVEX\ACROIEHELPER.OCX
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {F7F808F0-6F7D-442C-93E3-4A4827C2E4C8} - C:\WINDOWS\NEM214.DLL
O3 - Toolbar: ISTbar - {5F1ABCDB-A875-46c1-8345-B72A4567E486} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\ISTBAR\ISTBAR.DLL (file missing)
O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSDXM.OCX
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Welcome] C:\WINDOWS\Welcome.exe /R
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ScanRegistry] C:\WINDOWS\scanregw.exe /autorun
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TaskMonitor] C:\WINDOWS\taskmon.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SystemTray] SysTray.Exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LoadPowerProfile] Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AOTray] AOTray.Exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LoadQM] loadqm.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [pccguide.exe] "C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\PC-cillin 2002\pccguide.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [PCCIOMON.exe] "C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\PC-cillin 2002\PCCIOMON.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [PCCClient.exe] "C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\PC-cillin 2002\PCCClient.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Pop3trap.exe] "C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\PC-cillin 2002\Pop3trap.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [InCD] C:\Program Files\Ahead\InCD\InCD.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Omnipage] C:\Program Files\ScanSoft\OmniPageSE\opware32.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Dcfssvc] C:\WINDOWS\System32\Drivers\dcfssvc.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [StillImageMonitor] C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\STIMON.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IST Service] C:\Program Files\ISTsvc\istsvc.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [LoadPowerProfile] Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [SchedulingAgent] mstask.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [PCCIOMON.exe] "C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\PC-cillin 2002\PCCIOMON.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [PCCPFW] C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\PC-cillin 2002\PCCPFW.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [MsnMsgr] "C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger\MsnMsgr.Exe" /background
O4 - Startup: Microsoft Office.lnk = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\OSA9.EXE
O4 - Startup: WinZip Quick Pick.lnk = C:\Program Files\WinZip\WZQKPICK.EXE
O4 - Startup: Kodak EasyShare software.lnk = C:\Program Files\KODAK\Kodak EasyShare software\bin\EasyShare.exe
O6 - HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel present
O9 - Extra button: Related (HKLM)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Show &Related Links (HKLM)
O12 - Plugin for .spop: C:\PROGRA~1\INTERN~1\Plugins\NPDocBox.dll
O12 - Plugin for .mpeg: C:\PROGRA~1\INTERN~1\PLUGINS\npqtplugin3.dll
O12 - Plugin for .mpg: C:\PROGRA~1\INTERN~1\PLUGINS\npqtplugin3.dll
O15 - Trusted Zone: http://chat.msn.com
O16 - DPF: {AE1C01E3-0283-11D3-9B3F-00C04F8EF466} (HeartbeatCtl Class) - http://fdl.msn.com/zone/datafiles/heartbeat.cab
O16 - DPF: {F58E1CEF-A068-4C15-BA5E-587CAF3EE8C6} (MSN Chat Control 4.5) - http://fdl.msn.com/public/chat/msnchat45.cab
O16 - DPF: {7D1E9C49-BD6A-11D3-87A8-009027A35D73} (Yahoo! Audio UI1) - http://chat.yahoo.com/cab/yacsui.cab
O16 - DPF: {2B323CD9-50E3-11D3-9466-00A0C9700498} (Yahoo! Audio Conferencing) - http://us.chat1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/chat/applet/v45/yacscom.cab
O16 - DPF: Yahoo! Chat - http://cs6.chat.sc5.yahoo.com/c381/chat.cab
O16 - DPF: {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} (Shockwave Flash Object) - http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab

[Pieter_Arntz]

Hi Hans 01,

Check the items listed below in HijackThis, close all windows except HijackThis and click Fix checked:

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = http://www.xxxtoolbar.com/ist/scripts/searchpages_manager.php

R3 - URLSearchHook: (no name) - _{6E6DD93E-1FC3-4F43-8AFB-1B7B90C9D3EB} - (no file)
R3 - URLSearchHook: (no name) - _{CFBFAE00-17A6-11D0-99CB-00C04FD64497} - (no file)

O2 - BHO: (no name) - {F7F808F0-6F7D-442C-93E3-4A4827C2E4C8} - C:\WINDOWS\NEM214.DLL
O3 - Toolbar: ISTbar - {5F1ABCDB-A875-46c1-8345-B72A4567E486} - C:\PROGRAM FILES\ISTBAR\ISTBAR.DLL (file missing)

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IST Service] C:\Program Files\ISTsvc\istsvc.exe

O6 - HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel present

Then reboot and delete (if still present):
C:\PROGRAM FILES\ISTBAR <= entire folder
C:\Program Files\ISTsvc <= entire folder

Regards,

Pieter

[Hans 01]

G'day Pieter,

Many thanks for your help. It worked perfectly, I now have a 'General Tab' again.

To anyone else reading this - these blokes are the best. They got me out of Microsoft's claws and deserve a big flower.

I salute you.

Regards,
/ H

[Pieter_Arntz]

Glad we could help Hans 01. :)
Actually Microsoft had very little to do with it (except for providing vulnerabilities)

This was your main problem:
http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/ISTbar.html

Regards,

Pieter