CTFMON32 Hijackthis

[omux7]

Hello,
I already tried running CWShredder, Spybot S&D, and Adaware6, but I cant get rid of this problem. My IE homepage has been hijacked. Can you please help with this problem. Here is my hijack this logfile:

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.0
Scan saved at 12:57:29 AM, on 2/15/2005
Platform: Windows XP (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 (6.00.2600.0000)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\Security Center\UsrPrmpt.exe
C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\ctfmon.exe
C:\Program Files\ATI Multimedia\RemCtrl\ATIX10.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\CSRSSU.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\CTFMON32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\rundll32.exe
C:\Desktop Works\Dock\YzDock.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\Ati2evxx.exe
C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\navapsvc.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\wuauclt.exe
F:\Downloads\hijackthis\HijackThis.exe

O2 - BHO: SEDP Class - {3BA765C2-08DB-4fe2-9279-311CA10D582A} - C:\WINDOWS\sehlp.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\msdxm.ocx
O3 - Toolbar: Norton AntiVirus - {42CDD1BF-3FFB-4238-8AD1-7859DF00B1D6} - C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\NavShExt.dll (file missing)
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Symantec NetDriver Monitor] C:\PROGRA~1\SYMNET~1\SNDMon.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SSC_UserPrompt] C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\Security Center\UsrPrmpt.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\System32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ATI Remote Control] C:\Program Files\ATI Multimedia\RemCtrl\ATIX10.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [CSRSSU] C:\WINDOWS\System32\CSRSSU.EXE
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [CTFMON32] C:\WINDOWS\System32\CTFMON32.EXE
O4 - Startup: Shortcut to YzDock.lnk = C:\Desktop Works\Dock\YzDock.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\Office10\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: ATI TV - {44226DFF-747E-4edc-B30C-78752E50CD0C} - C:\Program Files\ATI Multimedia\tv\EXPLBAR.DLL
O16 - DPF: {6414512B-B978-451D-A0D8-FCFDF33E833C} (WUWebControl Class) - http://v5.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/v5consumer/V5Controls/en/x86/client/wuweb_site.cab?1093326107653
O16 - DPF: {74D05D43-3236-11D4-BDCD-00C04F9A3B61} (HouseCall Control) - http://a840.g.akamai.net/7/840/537/2004061001/housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/xscan53.cab
O16 - DPF: {963BE66B-121D-4E6C-BF9F-1A774D9A2E41} (MSN Money Charting) - http://moneycentral.msn.com/cabs/pmupdate2.exe
O23 - Service: Ati HotKey Poller - Unknown - C:\WINDOWS\System32\Ati2evxx.exe
O23 - Service: ATI Smart - Unknown - C:\WINDOWS\system32\ati2sgag.exe
O23 - Service: iPod Service - Apple Computer, Inc. - C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
O23 - Service: Norton AntiVirus Auto Protect Service - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Norton AntiVirus\navapsvc.exe
O23 - Service: ScriptBlocking Service - Symantec Corporation - C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\SYMANT~1\SCRIPT~1\SBServ.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Network Drivers Service - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SNDSrvc.exe
O23 - Service: SymWMI Service - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\Security Center\SymWSC.exe
O23 - Service: X10 Device Network Service - Unknown - C:\PROGRA~1\ATIMUL~1\RemCtrl\x10nets.exe (file missing)

[omux7]

Can this problem be removed through System Restore?

[crunchie]

It might be, but you may lose some important stuff like updates, emails etc.

[omux7]

I ran System Restore and it worked luckily. What can I do to protect myself from IE hijacking?

I tried the Windows update and all it had for me to get was updates for "Windows Family" edition or something like that. Should I get that?

[caperjack]

the link to software tools in my signature ,check it out

[dlh6213]

Windows Update:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/sp1/default.mspx

Internet Explorer Update:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=1e1550cb-5e5d-48f5-b02b-20b602228de6&displaylang=en

[nordmann]

I ran System Restore and it worked luckily. What can I do to protect myself from IE hijacking?

Simple: don't use IE. Like most other Microsoft technologies, it is willfully non-standards-compliant, badly-broken software that introduces endless opportunities for crackers to take over your computer. Once you get used to Firefox/Netscape 7.2, you'll never return to MSIE/Outlook Express unless your employer forces you to do so as a condition for keeping your job.

In fact, the same could be said of Windows itself. There just seems to be no computer that has sufficient power to run XP. Sure, it's blazing fast right out of the box before you actually install any software on it and start using it. But that's only because it is neglecting to do the background housekeeping that a real OS does to, for examples, keep the virtual memory system optimized for any given processing load and keep the hard drive defragmented. And let's not even talk about the hideous registry bloat you get after just six months of real-world use. So after paying out several hundred dollars for this convicted monopoly's OS, you have to shell out another couple hundred for all sorts of extra software to band-aid over all your computer's security holes and to force it to do all the self-maintenance that it would be doing in any case if it were a good OS.

My advice: try Linux. Don't be afraid. It won't bite. In fact, it won't even suck (like Windows). The major distros have become as easy or easier to install than Windows, and are better looking and more fun to use. With a little persistence, you can even download Linux for free. All it will cost you is the time to download it, install it, and play around with it. Pull out one of those old "clunkers" gathering dust in your closet, wipe the broken bloatware from Redmond off the hard drive, and liberate that machine with Linux. Don't be surprised if that puny 300MHz processor and 128MB of RAM under linux ends up computing circles around your recently-bought 3.2GHz supercomputer with a full gigabyte of RAM struggling along under Windows!

So as soon as you've installed Firefox, your first stop should be www.linuxiso.org.

Happy computing!

[caperjack]

Simple: don't use IE. Like most other Microsoft technologies, it is willfully non-standards-compliant, badly-broken software that introduces endless opportunities for crackers to take over your computer. Once you get used to Firefox/Netscape 7.2, you'll never return to MSIE/Outlook Express unless your employer forces you to do so as a condition for keeping your job.

In fact, the same could be said of Windows itself. There just seems to be no computer that has sufficient power to run XP. Sure, it's blazing fast right out of the box before you actually install any software on it and start using it. But that's only because it is neglecting to do the background housekeeping that a real OS does to, for examples, keep the virtual memory system optimized for any given processing load and keep the hard drive defragmented. And let's not even talk about the hideous registry bloat you get after just six months of real-world use. So after paying out several hundred dollars for this convicted monopoly's OS, you have to shell out another couple hundred for all sorts of extra software to band-aid over all your computer's security holes and to force it to do all the self-maintenance that it would be doing in any case if it were a good OS.

My advice: try Linux. Don't be afraid. It won't bite. In fact, it won't even suck (like Windows). The major distros have become as easy or easier to install than Windows, and are better looking and more fun to use. With a little persistence, you can even download Linux for free. All it will cost you is the time to download it, install it, and play around with it. Pull out one of those old "clunkers" gathering dust in your closet, wipe the broken bloatware from Redmond off the hard drive, and liberate that machine with Linux. Don't be surprised if that puny 300MHz processor and 128MB of RAM under linux ends up computing circles around your recently-bought 3.2GHz supercomputer with a full gigabyte of RAM struggling along under Windows!

So as soon as you've installed Firefox, your first stop should be www.linuxiso.org.

Happy computing!

I speak as a little more than an average user,I tried firefox ,along with IE ,firefox corruped for some reason and i loast all my links and favorites,and tweeks and had to set it up allover so I haven't used it since ,I like IE and have my system setup secure ,and have none of the problems like the people we help here on DaniWeb .I have a Celeron 2.4 and 512 meg ram 32meg agp video 49 gig HD,and I find winxp runs as fast now as it did before i loaded 30 or 40 or more program on it .and i use a P2P filesharing progrm and Bittorrent as well .the bittorent a bit of a hog !![a little more than a bit actually ]
I agree on one point , about microsoft memory management ,but as for slowing down after you load up the software ,i think most of the problems then are porly written software that dont release the memory .
I have tried a couple of linux versions mostly knoppex cd ,but find i have nothing to do because i don't have axcess to all my regular burning and photo programs .are there program for lenux to copy dvds' and a photo program equel to photoshop in linux .what would you suggest as the best linux to use as a relitive newbie!1thanks
I use a dvd burner ,and also use Photo shop program to alter'repair old photos ,

[nordmann]

...I have tried a couple of linux versions mostly knoppex cd ,but find i have nothing to do because i don't have axcess to all my regular burning and photo programs .are there program for lenux to copy dvds' and a photo program equel to photoshop in linux .what would you suggest as the best linux to use as a relitive newbie!1thanks
I use a dvd burner ,and also use Photo shop program to alter'repair old photos ,

Hi Caperjack,

I have heard that if you keep on top of Windows and keep running various utilities to clean up after it, you can avoid the slowdown that most people experience after a few months. As for memory leaks, they come in two varieties--those in the programs you run (in user space) and those in the kernel itself. No matter how badly a user-space program has been written and how much memory it leaks, the OS is supposed to reclaim ALL of the memory it hogs up once you shut that program down. If opening and closing programs repeatedly leads to a gradual reduction in the amount of memory available, then this would be the kernel not managing memory correctly. MS seems to have cut way down on the amount of memory leaked by the kernel, and I'm glad for that.

But it still has one habit that I find incredibly annoying: If I'm running a big program (say, Photoshop or Dreamweaver), and switch to doing something else for a while, when I switch back, the stupid memory manager has paged most of the program onto the disk and wiped the RAM clean--even when the system has plenty of free RAM available to use. So now I have to sit there waiting for sometimes a full minute for the OS to put what I was doing back into RAM where it should have stayed in the first place. This is just bad design, and there's no excuse for it given how much money MS could theoretically afford to spend tuning up this sort of basic functionality.

I'm surprised and sorry to hear that your Firefox experience was dissappointing. The only time I ever had trouble with any Mozilla version was a couple of years ago when I tried what was apparently a not-so-good release of Netscape 6.x. The thing I miss most when using MSIE is tabbed browsing, and I'm really surprised that MS hasn't hopped on this particular bandwagon yet.

As for available software for the things you do, your problem in Linux is likely to be one of too many choices to make, rather than too few available options. For CD burning I usually just use the command-line tools mkisofs followed by cdrecord. I find this to be a remarkably reliable way of burning CD's even on old, slow hardware that fails under most commercial CD burning software. But I understand that there are numerous (mostly free) GUI CD burners for Linux. Here's a link:

http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/LinuxTutorialCDBurn.html

Photoshop is very nice, but The Gimp is just as good (does some things better, some things worse), although you would need to learn a new tool and way of working, which is not a trivial matter if you're used to Photoshop.

As for DVD's and movies, I really don't know much about them. At this point I'd be pretty surprised if there were no professional-grade Open Source product that would meet your needs very nicely.

My favorite Linux distro is SuSE. Its installer is the easiest to use of any OS installer I've seen. You'll be up and running in no time and you'll skip the white knuckles and bitten fingernails often associated with OS installs/re-installs. Red Hat and Mandrake are also very good popular distros. I've heard about some of the others, but have no experience with them, except for debian and slackware, which are a bit more oriented towards the hard-core unix geeks

Also, that SuSE installer has an amazing command of all the different hardware out there, and it likes to let you in on what it has found. So if you inherit some old no-name junker and want to find out every last detail about what's inside that beige box, run the SuSE installer on it, and it will gladly tell you all about what it finds, right there in a GUI installer application that is easy to navigate and easy on the eyes, to boot. It's amazing that this stuff is free. (Of course, once I've determined that I like a distro I do like to support the company by buying a boxed set.)

[caperjack]

Hi Caperjack,

http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/LinuxTutorialCDBurn.html

t.)

thankyou !!