Trojan thing

HenryD
You may find this hard to believe, but in reality, we've all been
there and done that and SURVIVED. Most of us know absolutely nothing
about computers but we have to manage our way out of being hit by a
virus. We do as you did and seek help and then are inundated with
advice. And it all sounds so alien, sometimes conflicting. The key is
to know which advice to follow, and in this respect I would suggest,
if you are uncertain, that you repost your understanding of the
advice, seeking confirmation before implementing the recommendations.
In this particular case, you have an MVP, Gary Terhune, who has
confirmed that Hugh Candlin's very specific instructions are the
solution to your problem. It may be an intimidating task because you
don't understand most of it, but what have you got to lose. You are at
the point of considering the purchase of a new computer anyway. If
successful, your confidence builds and the resolution won't seem so
daunting the next time you crash.

"HenryD" wrote in message
...
"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
Most of this thread is collateral babble about entirely unrelated
affairs, Henry. Ignore it. The one person who has given you very
specific instructions, besides Mikhail, who gave more general
advice
that obviously didn't resolve the problem, is Hugh Candlin. Have
you
done the things he suggested? Yes, the Registry is a mighty
complicated
affair, which is why Hugh gave such specific instructions. Yes,
you are
going to find a lot of advice about these things in lots of
places, and
only some of it is going to be right or even have a clue as to
what is
right.


Thank you Gary, that goes some way to reassure me (particularly
about my
E-Mails).

Last night I tried some of the things previously mentioned and got
absolutely nowhere.

I have not yet had the chance to try what Hugh said, as I came in to
work
this morning and found all the "babble", as you called it, with
Hugh's
suggestions buried in the middle of it all.

I will give that a try when I can spend some time at it, though I am
not
sure if, even with those very specific words, I can fathom it out.

I had a look at the forum pages suggested by PA Bear and they looked
very
very scary.

I have noted all you said about McAfee, Norton etc. and about the
future of
Win98. Until all this started, I was very hesitant to change to a
new
machine using XP because of all the scary stories in the press
abouts its
supposed lousy security, and thought that I might be safer staying
with 98,
now I just don't know what I should do.

This thing on my machine seems to be getting worse and worse. Last
night I
saw what seemed to be a new version which put a file se.dll in my
TEMP
folder, and this file refused to delete.

Interestingly, someone at work suggested Grisoft AVG7 and I did
download it
last night, but it took so long that I have not had a chance to try
it
properly to see if it will sort this out. It is only a 30 day
version
though.

I feel very very lonely and vulnerable out here. 25 years ago, I
understood
computers (at least thought I did) but that was in the days of 8080
and Z80
processors, BASIC held in ROM, RAM, cassette tape storage and wires
connecting the computer to the tv - how things have changed.

Since it was posted here and not in an Anti Virus newsgroup there is peripheral information
being offered and the OP, Henry, has become confused. The chances would have been reduced
if posted in the following News Groups since the query was about the Trojan
"StartPage-DU.dll".

microsoft.public.scripting.virus.discussion
microsoft.public.security.virus
alt.comp.virus
alt.comp.anti-virus

Much advice given, much mis-information.


--
Dave




"Dan" wrote in message ...
| The user could cross-post with one or more of these groups as well as our
| group. The 98 general newsgroup certainly has a lot of smart people here.
| :

"Henry" wrote in message
...
My God! You are all scaring the hell out of me.

Sorry. That was not my intent.

I asked for some understandable advice, but I am afraid that all I am
getting is a deluge of, what to me, is complete gibberish.

Then take it from the top, line by line.

Rather than vaguely dismiss the assistance that you have received
without any hint of exactly what it is that you do not understand,
just repeat the instruction(s) that you do not understand
and explain what you do not understand about it.

You must agree that it is unfair to criticize us for being somewhat
unclear, when you provide no relevant feedback whatsoever.

I am just a simple user aged 61, I know virtually nothing of all these
highly technical things that you are all on about.

Your age is irrelevant to your capabilities, if I may speek candidly.

I have followed blindly
what advice I have been able to understand, and it just seems to be going
from bad to worse.

It would, if you just followed what you understood, and ignored
that which you did not understand. This is a package deal, all or nothing.

I have downloaded lots of things to try and track it
down, but I don't really know what I am doing

Then you should be engaged in dialog here until you do.
Would you close your eyes and drive down the M1?

- for all I know these things
I have been advised to use (not just here) might be adding to the problem.

You are correct.

The thing seems to have attacked my McAfee now and I can't even get into
that properly.

That's a common habit of bad guys. They disable virus protection.

I am scared stiff to send any E-Mails from home in case I pass all this on
to anyone else. It is just a very very frightening mess.

You won't.

I just want to be able to use my computer to look things up about nature
study, astronomy, my language studies, my diabetes and interesting things
like that, as well as doing my grocery orders, write letters and print my
holiday photos.

None of this is relevant or helpful, other than to serve as an example
of the level of detail and feedback that we need from you
"concerning the problem itself and nothing but!".

If this is what it takes to explain how to rid my machine of these pests,
I
might as well just give up now and throw it in the garbage can.

You asked for specific instructions. You got specific instructions
at a level that I deemed appropriate.

If you are unwilling to follow them step-by-step, we cannot help you.
Period.

If you are willing to follow them step-by-step, but unable to follow them
step-by-step, we can help you. Guaranteed. But you need to help us,
by explaining step-by-step what it is that you do not understand
so that we can see things as you see them and correct the issue.

I normally spend about 2 hours a week at my computer.

You get a heck of a lot done in 2 hours.

My wife is getting
fed up with me spending hours a day trying to sort this out and keeps on
saying "why don't you just throw it away and get a new one" - and I have a
full time job to do (that's where I am now).

Explain to the missus that you would have to transfer your "stuff"
from the old machine to a new one, and the bug would come along too.

Would my local PC World where I bought the PC in 2000 (I am in England by
the way) be likely to have the capability to sort this out?

No. They will use the scorched earth technique.
Or try to sell you a new computer.
With a 3 year "service" warranty.

Just tell us, in plain English, what you cannot follow, and we will do the
rest.

And cheer up, mate. This isn't life or death you know.

It's much more serious than that !!

You're right, I missed that post.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"David H. Lipman" wrote in message
...
I disagree.
I gave Henry SPECIFIC instructions, using TrendMicro Sysclean, to
remove the
"StartPage-DU.dll" Trojan.

--
Dave




"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
| Most of this thread is collateral babble about entirely unrelated
| affairs, Henry. Ignore it. The one person who has given you very
| specific instructions, besides Mikhail, who gave more general advice
| that obviously didn't resolve the problem, is Hugh Candlin. Have you
| done the things he suggested? Yes, the Registry is a mighty
complicated
| affair, which is why Hugh gave such specific instructions. Yes, you
are
| going to find a lot of advice about these things in lots of places,
and
| only some of it is going to be right or even have a clue as to what
is
| right.
|
| Two things I'd like to add--
|
| 1.I consider McAfee a bad program to have. Both McAfee and Norton
| antivirus are major players, and both of them used to be quite
good--but
| they have long since been made obsolete by newer players on the
field,
| antivirus applications that do not muck about so deeply in the
system,
| frequently causing more problems than they solve. Norton and McAfee
and
| a few others have been relying on market position and aggressive
| marketing through packaging with new systems in order to stay in
| business. They're as bad as AOHell. As a replacement, may I suggest
| eTrust EZ Armor, an antivirus and firewall combined. You can get a
free
| year's trial that has some limitations, or a very good deal on the
first
| year, he
| http://www.my-etrust.com/microsoft There are other free antivirus
apps
| (AVAST and AVG are two that get recommended often) but I think you
might
| find them a bit more hands-on than you might like.
|
| 2. Windows 98, 98SE and ME are very near the end of their useful
lives,
| even in the hands of knowledgeable people. You would, indeed, be
wise to
| consider getting a new machine with up-to-date hardware and Windows
XP
| Home Edition. Don't go for the most cutting edge technology, and try
to
| get several opinions from knowledgeable persons before making the
| purchase. Alas, whether you use it 2 hours per week or 24/7 like I
do, 5
| years is about as long as an any user can expect to get from a
computer
| system.
|
| Lastly, don't worry about your emails. If there was anything bad
going
| out via your emails, you wouldn't know about it. Those types of
viruses
| use your email apps in stealth mode, they don't attach themselves to
| your real emails. (And, in any case, that isn't the kind of problem
| you're having.)
|
| --
| Gary S. Terhune
| MS MVP Shell/User
|
| "Henry" wrote in message
| ...
| My God! You are all scaring the hell out of me.
|
| I asked for some understandable advice, but I am afraid that all
I
| am
| getting is a deluge of, what to me, is complete gibberish.
|
| I am just a simple user aged 61, I know virtually nothing of all
these
| highly technical things that you are all on about. I have
followed
| blindly
| what advice I have been able to understand, and it just seems to
be
| going
| from bad to worse. I have downloaded lots of things to try and
track
| it
| down, but I don't really know what I am doing - for all I know
these
| things
| I have been advised to use (not just here) might be adding to the
| problem.
| The thing seems to have attacked my McAfee now and I can't even
get
| into
| that properly.
|
| I am scared stiff to send any E-Mails from home in case I pass all
| this on
| to anyone else. It is just a very very frightening mess.
|
| I just want to be able to use my computer to look things up about
| nature
| study, astronomy, my language studies, my diabetes and interesting
| things
| like that, as well as doing my grocery orders, write letters and
print
| my
| holiday photos.
|
| If this is what it takes to explain how to rid my machine of these
| pests, I
| might as well just give up now and throw it in the garbage can.
|
| I normally spend about 2 hours a week at my computer. My wife is
| getting
| fed up with me spending hours a day trying to sort this out and
keeps
| on
| saying "why don't you just throw it away and get a new one" - and
I
| have a
| full time job to do (that's where I am now).
|
| Would my local PC World where I bought the PC in 2000 (I am in
England
| by
| the way) be likely to have the capability to sort this out?
|
|
|
|

Would my local PC World where I bought the PC in 2000 (I am in England by
the way) be likely to have the capability to sort this out?

Possibly.

Or you might ave them backup your personal data then format and reinstall
Windows. They should also:

- Install all Windows Updates via Windows Update

- Install and properly configure a reliable anti-virus application

It sounds like you downloaded the trial version of AVG7 Pro. There's also a
free version, Henry: http://free.grisoft.com/.
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (Shell, IE/OE) & Security


Henry wrote:
My God! You are all scaring the hell out of me.

I asked for some understandable advice, but I am afraid that all I am
getting is a deluge of, what to me, is complete gibberish.

I am just a simple user aged 61, I know virtually nothing of all these
highly technical things that you are all on about. I have followed
blindly what advice I have been able to understand, and it just seems to
be going from bad to worse. I have downloaded lots of things to try and
track it down, but I don't really know what I am doing - for all I know
these things I have been advised to use (not just here) might be adding
to the problem. The thing seems to have attacked my McAfee now and I
can't even get into that properly.

I am scared stiff to send any E-Mails from home in case I pass all this on
to anyone else. It is just a very very frightening mess.

I just want to be able to use my computer to look things up about nature
study, astronomy, my language studies, my diabetes and interesting things
like that, as well as doing my grocery orders, write letters and print my
holiday photos.

If this is what it takes to explain how to rid my machine of these pests,
I might as well just give up now and throw it in the garbage can.

I normally spend about 2 hours a week at my computer. My wife is getting
fed up with me spending hours a day trying to sort this out and keeps on
saying "why don't you just throw it away and get a new one" - and I have a
full time job to do (that's where I am now).

Would my local PC World where I bought the PC in 2000 (I am in England by
the way) be likely to have the capability to sort this out?

You are right David, that would be the best thing for the original poster to
do in the future but the original poster could include our 98 general
newsgroup too in that list.

"Much advice given, much mis-information" I agree with your thought too.


"David H. Lipman" wrote in message
...
: Since it was posted here and not in an Anti Virus newsgroup there is
peripheral information
: being offered and the OP, Henry, has become confused. The chances would
have been reduced
: if posted in the following News Groups since the query was about the Trojan
: "StartPage-DU.dll".
:
: microsoft.public.scripting.virus.discussion
: microsoft.public.security.virus
: alt.comp.virus
: alt.comp.anti-virus
:
: Much advice given, much mis-information.
:
:
: --
: Dave
:
:
:
:
: "Dan" wrote in message
...
: | The user could cross-post with one or more of these groups as well as our
: | group. The 98 general newsgroup certainly has a lot of smart people
here.
: | :
:
:

Great advice as usual, Gary.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
...
: As I said, for certain functionalities, other browsers than IE might be
: preferable. Personally, I don't see that encryption stronger than
: 128-bit is all that important to me. As for tabbed browsing, I do just
: fine with multiple instances of IE. Just how are "tabs" all that
: different from taskbar buttons?
:
: From my point of view, the worst part of Microsoft's having one the
: browser wars in years past is that they "rested on their laurels".
: There's lots of other things I'd rather see (or rather, a lot more
: things I'd rather not see) in IE, but stronger encryption and tabbed
: browsing aren't on my list.
:
: My primary point in the previous, however, is that lots of people whine
: about IE's ActiveX being this huge security risk, when in fact it's easy
: to turn the damned thing off if you're inclined toward that much
: paranoia.
:
: --
: Gary S. Terhune
: MS MVP Shell/User
:
: "Dan" wrote in message
: ...
: Gary, did you know that Mozilla Firefox has 256 bit encryption. Also,
: I do
: like the tabbed browsing and the ability to examine things more
: in-depth than
: IE allows.
:
: "Gary S. Terhune" wrote in message
: ...
: : Considering that most vulnerabilities in IE are ActiveX issues, and
: that
: : you can totally turn off ActiveX in IE Settings...
: :
: : Adding another layer, unless it's for additional functionality,
: seems
: : strange to me.
: :
: : --
: : Gary S. Terhune
: : MS MVP Shell/User
: :
: : "jane" wrote in message
: : ...
: :
: : " There is no such thing as a totally secure browser, Jane.
: : --
: : ~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
: : MS MVP-Windows (Shell, IE/OE) & Security
: :
: :
: : Hello Robert,
: : Yes I agree, It would just be another line of defence along
: : with all other anti-spy stuff, but it all helps.
: :
: : regards Jane
: :
: :
: :
:
:
:

Gary S. Terhune wrote:
Hey, I tested my IE at that page and got a 404 (or similar.) What gives?
{;)


IE does not support IDNs.
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;842848

"CAUSE
This issue occurs because Microsoft Internet Explorer does not support
IDNs. IDNs use non-ASCII characters, and Internet Explorer cannot
resolve a URL whose domain name contains non-ASCII characters."

If you use one of the plugins they recommend in that KB, you will be
vulnerable to IDN spoofing lickety-split.

MM

LOL! Thanks. From that article (dated 12/03/04):
"Internet Explorer does not currently support IDNs, but we are
investigating the integration of IDN support in Internet Explorer and in
other Microsoft products."

Lose some, win some, eh?

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User
"Clean Boot--What it is and why you need it."
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/cleanboot.htm
"Security!"
http://www.grystmill.com/articles/security.htm

"Mostly Me (MM)" wrote in message
...
Gary S. Terhune wrote:
Hey, I tested my IE at that page and got a 404 (or similar.) What
gives?
{;)


IE does not support IDNs.
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;842848

"CAUSE
This issue occurs because Microsoft Internet Explorer does not support
IDNs. IDNs use non-ASCII characters, and Internet Explorer cannot
resolve a URL whose domain name contains non-ASCII characters."

If you use one of the plugins they recommend in that KB, you will be
vulnerable to IDN spoofing lickety-split.

MM

Gary S. Terhune wrote:
LOL! Thanks. From that article (dated 12/03/04):
"Internet Explorer does not currently support IDNs, but we are
investigating the integration of IDN support in Internet Explorer and in
other Microsoft products."

Lose some, win some, eh?

Yeah...never seems to end.